A Baltimore judge threw out the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, the subject of the first season of the popular podcast “Serial,” determining the prosecution withheld key exculpatory evidence that may have swayed a jury, the Baltimore Banner reports. Per the judge’s order, Syed will be immediately released from prison after 22 years.
Syed was convicted in 2000 for the murder of Hae Min Lee, his ex-girlfriend who was found buried, dead by strangulation, in a shallow grave in a city park. Prosecutors withheld evidence that another man had threatened Lee’s life and there was a serial assaulter active in the neighborhood.
While they are quick to say the court’s reversal does not exonerate Syed, prosecutors must decide whether they want to re-charge Syed for the crime.