‘Serial’ Podcast Subject Adnan Syed Granted New Trial In Murder Case
Adnan Syed, convicted murderer and the subject of the first season of the wildly popular podcast “Serial,” has been granted a new trial, The Hollywood Reporter reports.
Syed has spent 16 years in prison after being convicted of killing his high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in 1999 and burying her body in an isolated section of park in their hometown of Baltimore. Syed was sentenced to life in prison in 2000, just one year after the murder of Lee.
THR reports that Baltimore Circuit Judge Martin Welch ruled on Thursday that “Syed deserves another trial because his attorney failed to cross-examine a cell tower expert about the reliability of data that placed Syed’s cellphone near the burial site,” a portion of the story that was a large point of contention in Koenig’s popular podcast.
“Serial” helped bring the story to national attention, and fans of the series have long questioned Syed’s guilt. Syed’s legal team has applied for a series of appeals over the years, though attention from “Serial” bolstered their claims over recent months.
READ MORE: ‘Serial,’ ‘The Jinx,’ ‘Making a Murderer,’ and the Rise of the Prestige Docuseries
Earlier this month, Investigation Discovery further investigated the case in the miniseries “Adnan Syed: Innocent or Guilty?,” which first aired on June 14.
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