The murder conviction against Adnan Syed has been reinstated by Maryland's appeals court just months after he was freed. Syed was convicted of murdering 18-year-old Hae Min Lee, who was his ex-girlfriend at the time, and sentenced to life in prison in 2000.
Advocates of Syed, whose case gained attention from the podcast Serial, claimed that the evidence used to convict him was not reliable and the possibility of other potential suspects was ignored. However, last year, Baltimore officials conducted a new round of DNA testing on Lee's belongings from the night of her murder. They claimed they found DNA that belonged to multiple contributors. Syed's DNA was not among what was found.
There were also two other potential suspects in Lee's murder, one who had even threatened to kill her. Upon the new DNA evidence and other unreliable factors of the case, a judge moved to vacate Syed's conviction in September 2022.
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Now, after Lee's family filed an appeal that they weren't properly notified of the efforts to release Syed, the court ruled in their favor and reinstated the murder conviction. A new hearing will be held regarding the decision to vacate Syed's conviction.
