Adnan Syed: Conviction overturned in serial podcast murder case

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A judge overturned the murder conviction of a Baltimore man in a case that spawned a serial true-crime podcast.

Adnan Syed was 19 years old when he was sentenced to life in prison for the death of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, whose body was found buried in the woods in 1999.

Last week prosecutors asked the court to overturn his conviction, saying a review of the case year revealed two "alternative suspects".

Syed will be released to house arrest.

May Now 41, his shackles were removed in court on Monday after nearly 23 years behind bars.

< p class="ssrcss- 1q0x1qg-Paragraph eq5iqo00">Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn said she was overturning her conviction "in the interests of fairness and justice," adding that the state had not shared evidence that could have aided her defense at trial.

Adnan Syed and Serial: What You Need to Know

The ruling doesn't mean Syed is innocent. Judge Phinn ordered a new trial.

A jury found Syed guilty in 2000 of premeditated murder, kidnapping, robbery and forcible confinement.< /p>

Prosecutors argued he was a despised lover who strangled Lee, his classmate at Woodlawn High School, and - with the help of a friend - hid his body in Baltimore's Leakin Park. They relied in part on cellphone location data which has since been shown to be unreliable.

Every appeal Syed has filed over the past two decades has been rejected, including his last attempt in 2019.

It was the 2014 Serial podcast that brought the case to worldwide attention and cast doubt on Syed's guilt. Episodes of the series have been downloaded over 340 million times. The case has also spawned other work, including...