Conviction quashed in 'Serial' podcast murder case 

Lined Circle

Adnan Syed has maintained his innocence for almost 25 years. His case received a significant boost from a podcast, an unlikely source.

24  Sept 2022

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high school

Guilty

Adnan Syed, a senior in high school in Baltimore, Maryland, was found guilty in 2000 of murdering and strangling his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee.

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Rabia 

Rabia Chaudry, a Baltimore based lawyer and close family friend of the Syeds emailed journalist Sarah Koenig and requested her to investigate into Lee's murder 

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SARAHKoenig   

Sarah

That email led to the hit podcast 'Serial's first season . The show debuted in the fall of 2014, and each of its episodes attempted to put together a timeline of events that took place the night Lee was murdered.

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reveal

Who killed Hae Min Lee?

That's the question at the heart of the Serial podcast . Each episode revealed new details - and potential new suspects . In no time internet sleuths, armchair detectives argued their theories on social media.  

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Adnan & Sarah

The success of Serial podcast sparked a boom in podcast listening. The real crime genre and Ms. Koenig's distinctive confessional style storytelling kept fans downloading and tuning in each week.

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Did the podcast help?

Syed was given another trial in 2015, in part because to fresh information gained while recording Serial. The results of the investigations showed that there was no evidence of his DNA on Lee's corpse when he was killed.

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What about Lee's family?

The Lee family declined to take part in Serial and has consistently argued that Syed was correctly convicted and that justice was done during the initial trial.

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What's next?

With Syed's conviction overturned on September 19, 2022, prosecutors now have 30 days to decide whether they will bring a new trial or drop the charges against Syed. 

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