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Adnan Syed Of ‘Serial’ Isn’t Going Home Yet Despite Retrial

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Kevin Daley Supreme Court correspondent
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Adnan Syed of podcast “Serial” fame will remain in jail while he awaits a retrial for his alleged murder of Hae Min Lee.

Syed’s attorney, Justin Brown, announced late Thursday that Baltimore Circuit Judge Martin Welch denied his petition for release on bail. If granted, Syed would have been released until the conclusion of his upcoming retrial.

“The circuit court finds that Petitioner has not met his burden to prove he will not flee and has met his burden to prove he does not pose a danger to the victim or any member of the community,” Welch wrote

Brown said that Syed remained resilient.

Syed’s was convicted of the murder of Lee, his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend. Lee was found dead on Feb. 9, 1999 in Baltimore’s notorious Leakin Park, site of the found-footage horror film “The Blair Witch Project.” Authorities determined the cause of death was manual strangulation. (RELATED: Adnan Syed’s Defense Brings On Big Law)

The case captured the public’s imagination in 2014 when the trial was chronicled over 12 episodes in the podcast “Serial,” hosted by NPR personality Sarah Koenig.

Koenig’s meticulous reporting won the series a Peabody Award. The thorough review raised a variety of issues that jeopardized the integrity of the verdict, including dubious technical evidence, conflicting timelines, and allegations of racial bias. Syed is Pakistani and Muslim, and his trial took place shortly after the 9/11 terror attacks.

A Maryland appellate court vacated Syed’s convicted and ordered a new trial in January 2015, after a witness named Asia McClain filed an affidavit extending Syed a partial alibi. McClain told the court she had been chatting with Syed in a public library at the time of Lee’s murder. The court also concluded that Syed’s trial attorney, Maria Cristina Gutierrez, should have cross-examined a key government witness.

In ordering a retrial, the court concluded Syed lacked effective counsel, and the exculpatory power of McClain’s affidavit deserved evaluation by a jury.

Gutierrez was considered one of Baltimore’s best defense lawyers until her disbarment in 2001 for unscrupulous financial practices.

Syed’s cause has attracted the support of a powerhouse Washington law firm which is currently assisting in his defense. A litigation team from Hogan Lovells announced it will dispatch a pro-bono team to serve as co-counsel with Brown.

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