Judge to decide on sentence reduction for Adnan Syed after prosecutors end efforts to toss his murder conviction

By Lauren del Valle, CNN

(CNN) — A Maryland state court judge is set to decide whether Adnan Syed will remain free despite his conviction for the 1999 murder of his high school ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, after Baltimore’s top prosecutor said he is no longer seeking to vacate the murder conviction.

Syed’s attorneys have petitioned the court for a sentence reduction to time served under Maryland’s Juvenile Restoration Act, a 2021 state law allowing individuals who were minors at the time of their crimes and have served at least 20 years in prison to seek a reduced sentence. Syed was 17 at the time of Lee’s murder.

Syed was convicted in 2000 for the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee. In 2014, the “Serial” podcast raised significant questions about the conviction and Syed’s legal representation. Syed’s conviction was vacated in 2022 and he was released, but Lee’s family challenged the decision and the parties have been litigating the issue ever since.

After a lengthy hearing on Wednesday, Judge Jennifer Schiffer said she has “very heavy considerations” to weigh but assured that she wouldn’t take “too long” to issue a written decision about the sentence reduction.

Hae Min Lee’s family “suffered through the defendant’s rise to celebrity from a viral podcast,” the judge said Wednesday.

“Whether this court grants the defendant relief, I hope that everyone understands that Hae Min Lee and her family are the two victims.”

If the judge denies his motion for a sentence reduction, Syed could be sent back to prison to continue to serve the life sentence he was issued in 2000.

The Baltimore City State’s Attorney Ivan Bates supports Syed’s motion to reduce his sentence, despite withdrawing a previous motion to vacate his conviction in a court filing Tuesday night. The prosecutor’s reversal came just hours before Syed was due in court.

“After a thorough review of the Motion to Vacate Judgment filed by the previous administration in the case of Adnan Syed, my office has determined that it contains false and misleading statements that undermine the integrity of the judicial process,” Bates said in the announcement of the decision.

Last August, the Maryland Supreme Court upheld a lower appellate court’s decision to reinstate Syed’s conviction, ruling that the rights of Lee’s family were violated because her official representative, her brother Young Lee, was not properly notified of the 2022 hearing to vacate the conviction. The high court’s ruling meant Bates, who took office in 2023, had to decide whether to continue his predecessor’s efforts.

Bates said in court Wednesday that he wouldn’t have made the same moves as Marilyn Mosby, his predecessor, but Syed should still remain free.

“I will agree that he should not have been out in any way, shape, form or fashion, but that was the previous administration, I had nothing to do with that, and we can’t, I think, penalize Mr. Syed because he was,” Bates said.

“But actually, Mr. Syed is taking that opportunity and chance and shown the court and shown everybody that if given this opportunity and chance, he will be a positive member of society.”

Syed’s attorney, Erica J. Suter, sharply criticized the reversal, saying the current state’s attorney “got it wrong.”

“His decision to withdraw his office’s motion to vacate Adnan’s conviction ignores the injustices on which this conviction was founded. We will continue to fight to clear his name through all legal avenues available to him,” Suter said in a statement to CNN.

The defense attorney said their focus is now on “ensuring that (Syed’s) freedom is not taken away from him again.”

“After spending 23 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Adnan is not bitter. He is rebuilding a life for himself and his family, while continuing to profess his innocence,” said Suter, who is also director of the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore Law School in Maryland.

David Sanford, an attorney for Hae Min Lee’s family, asked the judge to deny Syed’s motion to reduce his sentence, reminding the court that he remains a convicted murderer and hasn’t expressed remorse or accepted responsibility for the crime.

Hae Min Lee’s younger brother gave an emotional address speaking about his grief over the loss of his sister and the betrayal he felt when prosecutors began advocating for Syed’s release in 2022.

Judge Schiffer empathized with Hae Min Lee’s brother, telling Young Lee, “I can’t even imagine the betrayal that you felt that you just referenced. I am so sorry for what your family has been through and I can say that your words are not lost on me and my heart goes out to you and your family.”

A video statement given in Korean by Hae Min Lee’s mother was also played in court. An attorney representing the family read an English translation of the emotional statement into the record.

Syed addressed the court at the end of the hearing, at times growing emotional, acknowledging the second chance he’s been given. He addressed Hae Min Lee’s family, saying he tries his best to stay out of the media spotlight to avoid causing them more pain.

“I just acknowledge their pain and I just, I really, I don’t mean to cause more pain for them,” Syed said.

CNN’s Hanna Park contributed to this report.

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