Maryland Court Grants Adnan Syed’s Appeal

Adnan Syed, the man convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999 and subject of the wildly popular podcast Serial, finally received some positive news. Syed, who's serving a life sentence for the murder, filed an application with the Maryland Court of Special Appeals for leave to appeal the Baltimore City Circuit Court's denial of his petition for post-conviction relief. In a two page document released yesterday, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals granted Syed's application to essentially re-appeal his conviction. “The Application for Leave to Appeal be and hereby is granted,” Chief Judge Peter B. Krauser ruled on Friday. Syed's application for leave to appeal is a bit confusing. Basically, he's asking an appellate court to review his case, since there's not an option for a direct appeal as it's a criminal case. Over the course of 12 riveting episodes, Serial raised doubts about Syed's guilt by highlighting inconsistencies in testimony of a witness who said he helped bury Lee, and by highlighting errors made by Syed's original attorney. No physical evidence links Syed to Lee's slaying and no witnesses saw the killing. Syed was in the process of working on an appeals case before the podcast made its way to millions of listeners. But, the notoriety of his case from Koenig's story may have certainly catapulted his appeals request to the forefront.  We will be updating this story as we learn more.