Adnan Syed, whose murder case captivated the nation after it was featured on true-crime podcast “Serial, ” was freed from prison Monday for the first time in 23 years, his conviction vacated — at least for a now — by a judge who found deficiencies in how prosecutors had turned over evidence to defense attorneys decades ago. Acting on a request from Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn ordered Syed unshackled in the courtroom and sent home while he waits to find out whether prosecutors will seek a new trial or drop their pursuit of him. Now 42 years old, Syed emerged from the courthouse to a roaring crowd. Dressed in white with a blue tie, he smiled and waved before he was ushered into a car and driven away. But his continued freedom is not guaranteed. Phinn said prosecutors have 30 days to decide whether they will retry Syed in the killing of his ex-girlfriend, 18-year-old Hae Min Lee. Mosby, the state’s attorney for Baltimore City, said after the Monday decision that her office had not yet declared him innocent but that he was entitled to a new trial “in the interest of fairness and justice. ”Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) — whose office has previously defended the handling of Syed’s case in court proceedings — blasted the Baltimore prosecutor for acting without consulting his office, and he called the allegations that prosecutors did not hand over evidence to Syed’s defense as they should have “incorrect. ”“Neither State’s Attorney Mosby nor anyone from her office bothered to consult with either the assistant state’s Attorney who prosecuted the case or with anyone in my office regarding these alleged violations, ” Frosh said. “The file in this case was made available on several occasions to the defense. ”While he awaits prosecutors’ next move, Syed will be under GPS supervision, Phinn said. Syed has maintained his innocence since he was arrested for Lee’s murder in February 1999, when he was a 17-year-old in high school. Investigators at the time determined that she died by strangulation, and Syed was convicted of murder in 2000 and sentenced to life behind bars. He had long sought to overturn his conviction and get a new trial, but until recently, he had faced opposition from prosecutors. Syed’s case was featured on “Serial, ” which had its first season in 2014. Host Sarah Koenig detailed the events surrounding the death of Lee, raising questions about the handling of the investigation, the conduct of Syed’s defense and whether Syed might have been innocent. Over a decade after his conviction, Syed started to see some hope that he would get new legal proceedings. In 2016, a circuit court vacated Syed’s conviction, citing the “ineffective assistance” of a former attorney who failed to investigate an alibi witness, and in March 2018, the Court of Special Appeals upheld the ruling granting Syed a new trial. But in March 2019, Maryland’s highest court reinstated Syed’s murder conviction.


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