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It is a dramatic turn in an American court case. Initially sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his high school girlfriend, a man has been released after more than 20 years in prison. The case was widely publicized thanks to a podcast.
With Guillaume Naudin, RFI correspondent in Washington, and AFP
A US judge on Monday overturned the conviction of a man jailed for 23 years for a murder he always denied and made famous on the “Serial” podcast.
If Adnan Syed walked out of the Baltimore courthouse to the cheers of dozens of people, it’s because Maryland prosecutors finally asked the judge himself. They are no longer so sure of his guilt and the fairness of the trial that he was convicted of in 2000.
At the time, Adnan Syed was 17 years old and in his last year of high school. The same thing happened with his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, who was found strangled in a local forest the year before. Adnan Syed was convicted, but he has never stopped claiming his innocence for the last twenty-three years.
Towards a withdrawal of charges?
The case was covered by a podcast called “Serial”, which became a huge hit in the crime genre. In 2014, in a season of 12 episodes, the audio production had reviewed the trial and its gray areas, in particular the problematic personality of the defense attorney, the weaknesses of the investigation or the way in which certain data had been entered in the file. .
Prosecutors now say new evidence has been uncovered and two suspects of interest have been identified. They have 30 days to request a new trial or drop the charges against Adnan Syed. Meanwhile, he is sleeping at home, wearing an electronic bracelet.
“She had a hard time believing it was real” and now “she wants to spend time with her family,” her attorney Erica Suter said outside the courthouse as her client drove away without commenting.
“Cheated”
Prosecutor Mosby insisted on the fact that justice “has not yet declared Adnan Syed innocent” and that she would wait for the results of the DNA analysis before abandoning the investigations against him or organizing a new trial, which must be decided. within a maximum period of 30 days.
Regardless of the decision, Mosby vowed to continue the investigation “to ensure that Hae Min’s relatives know for sure who the culprit is.”
During the hearing, the victim’s brother spoke by telephone to explain his consternation. He said “living a nightmare that never stopped” and also feeling “deceived” by prosecutors who claimed for years to have found the culprit.
The case began in 1999 when police found the body of 18-year-old Hae Min Lee half-buried in a Baltimore forest. Adnan Syed, then 17, was arrested and sentenced to life in prison a year later.
According to the accusation, the boy had not endured that she would leave him and would have strangled her. Syed always denied the crime and claimed to be a victim of prejudice against Muslims.
In 2014, a team of journalists carried out their own investigation, narrated throughout 12 episodes of the “Serial” podcast and which, according to the producers, generated some 300 million downloads and also inspired a documentary on the HBO network.
Alibi
The independent investigation of “Serial” showed that Adnan Syed’s defense did not take into account a mobile phone expert opinion favorable to the accused, as well as the testimony of a young woman who gave him a potential alibi.
His work led to the reopening of the case and in March 2018 a Maryland appeals court ordered a new trial, considering that the defense had given “ineffective help” to his client.
In March 2019, the Supreme Court of that state recognized the lawyer’s mistake in not presenting some elements, but at the same time estimated that “with all the evidence” the verdict would not have been different, if they had been included, therefore who rejected the request for a new trial.
Adnan Syed’s defense then turned to the United States Supreme Court and in 2019 it refused to intervene, which seemed to end Syed’s hopes of freedom.
But the Baltimore prosecutor, who has a service dedicated to correcting judicial errors, reopened the case that finally led to judicial review.
A new episode of the “Serial” podcast series will be released on Tuesday, it was announced on his Twitter account.
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