New Hearing in Serial Case: Asia Will Finally Testify

If you listened to Serial and raged about the injustices of the American justice system, your wish to see the case re-opened may be coming true. Adnan Syed’s Motion to Re-Open Post-Conviction proceedings was granted on Friday by the state of Maryland. Syed stood trial and was convicted of murdering Hae Min Lee, his ex-girlfriend. Asia McClain, who Serial fans know as the potential alibi-giver that was never called to the stand, will be allowed to testify after she wrote and submitted an affidavit that would seem to contradict the state’s timeline for the murder. The affidavit says that she spoke to Syed between 2:20 and 2:40 PM on the day of Lee’s murder; the state says Lee was dead by 2:36. Prosecutor Kevin Urick said that McClain told him that the note was written under duress. McClain disputes that claim. "I never told Urick that I recanted my story or affidavit about Jan. 13, 1999," she writes in the new affidavit. "In addition, I did not write the March 1999 letters or the affidavit because of pressure from Syed’s family. I did not write them to please Syed’s family or to get them off my back. What actually happened is that I wrote the affidavit because I wanted to provide the truth about what I remembered. My only goal has always been to provide the truth about what I remembered." The cell-tower evidence used to facilitate Syed’s conviction will also be reviewed at the hearing. Syed’s attorney now says the evidence is less reliable than the court was led to believe. Syed was sentenced to life in prison in 2000. Season two of Serial will be out this month.