STORY: "Maryland prosecutors oppose ruling that overturned 'Serial' subject Adnan Syed's conviction," by reporter Justin Fenton, published by The Baltimore Sun on October 8, 2016.
SUB-HEADING: "Adnan
Syed's murder conviction in the 1999 death of Hae Min Lee, his
ex-girlfriend, had been vacated by a judge. A new trial for Syed in the
case, highlighted by the "Serial" podcast, could be at least a year
away. Syed has been serving a life sentence since a jury convicted him
in 2000. "
SUB-HEADING: State's attorneys from across Maryland say "sensationalized attention" led to bad appeal ruling.
GIST: "State's attorneys from across Maryland have filed an amicus brief opposing an appellate court's decision to grant "Serial" podcast subject Adnan Syed a new trial, arguing the outsized attention on the case led to an improper ruling. The brief calls Syed's successful post-conviction appeal "meritless," and says "sensationalized attention" surrounding the case was "fueled by supporters of a convicted murderer" and "should not bear on the just and proper resolution of this appeal," it says. The brief is signed by the elected state's attorneys of every county in Maryland, except for Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby and Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger. The coalition says it did not seek Mosby or Shellenberger's participation because the killing for which Syed is accused took place in their jurisdictions. Cecil County, where the case's original prosecutor now works, also did not sign the brief. Last month, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys' Association filed an amicus brief in favor of the defense, urging that a new trial was the "only satisfactory way to resolve the debate between the believers and doubters" and would restore confidence in the state justice system.
GIST: "State's attorneys from across Maryland have filed an amicus brief opposing an appellate court's decision to grant "Serial" podcast subject Adnan Syed a new trial, arguing the outsized attention on the case led to an improper ruling. The brief calls Syed's successful post-conviction appeal "meritless," and says "sensationalized attention" surrounding the case was "fueled by supporters of a convicted murderer" and "should not bear on the just and proper resolution of this appeal," it says. The brief is signed by the elected state's attorneys of every county in Maryland, except for Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby and Baltimore County State's Attorney Scott Shellenberger. The coalition says it did not seek Mosby or Shellenberger's participation because the killing for which Syed is accused took place in their jurisdictions. Cecil County, where the case's original prosecutor now works, also did not sign the brief. Last month, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Maryland Criminal Defense Attorneys' Association filed an amicus brief in favor of the defense, urging that a new trial was the "only satisfactory way to resolve the debate between the believers and doubters" and would restore confidence in the state justice system.
Syed's
lead attorney, C. Justin Brown, said the prosecutors' filing was
"another example of the extraordinary lengths [to which] the state is
going to avoid retrying this case." "If the state is so confident
in its case, the state should do the right thing and give Syed a fair
trial he never received the first time around," Brown said. Syed
was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2000 for killing
Woodlawn High School classmate and ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, whose body
was found in Leakin Park. After failed attempts to overturn his
conviction, the case became the subject of the blockbuster "Serial"
podcast, which raised questions about the case against him. Syed was
granted a new hearing to present an alibi witness and attack cellphone
tower evidence used at his trial. Judge Martin Welch overturned his
conviction this summer. The Maryland attorney general's office,
which argued against Syed's petition, is now appealing Welch's ruling in
the state's Court of Special Appeals. Now other prosecutors are joining the attorney general's office. "Before
this case became a 'global phenomenon,' Mr. Syed's motion for a new
trial, direct appeals, and post-conviction petitions were all correctly
rejected," the prosecutors wrote. They faulted the lower court's
decision to grant Syed a new trial "based on a completely new claim"
that Syed's trial attorney should have used "a boilerplate AT&T fax
cover sheet" to attack state cellphone evidence that trial prosecutors
said placed him near Leakin Park. "No one, including all of the
defendant's capable post-trial attorneys, made this argument until a
lawyer who blogged about the case first suggested it after the 10-year
statutory window expired," the prosecutors wrote. The questions
about the cellphone tower evidence had not been part of Syed's most
recent petition for a new trial, but were allowed to be introduced and
became the basis for Welch's ruling. Susan Simpson, a co-host of a
"Serial" offshoot podcast called "Undisclosed," discovered language on a
fax cover sheet from AT&T that said data related to incoming calls
was "unreliable." The cellphone technician who testified at Syed's trial
said it caused him to reconsider his testimony."
The entire story can be found at:
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-syed-prosecutors-oppose-20161007-story.html
See Wikipedia report at the link below; "Justin Brown, Syed's current appeals lawyer, has claimed that new evidence about the reliability of incoming call data from AT&T is suspect and should be reviewed by an appeals court, stating, "the cell tower evidence was misleading and should have never been admitted at trial."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Hae_Min_Lee
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
See Wikipedia report at the link below; "Justin Brown, Syed's current appeals lawyer, has claimed that new evidence about the reliability of incoming call data from AT&T is suspect and should be reviewed by an appeals court, stating, "the cell tower evidence was misleading and should have never been admitted at trial."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Hae_Min_Lee
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
