"PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Brown is optimistic they will get a new trial. He said he hopes the state will forgo an appeal and seek to retry the case. "If we go to trial, we will win that trial," Brown told CNN. As for whether Syed will be released on bail before a new trial, Brown told CNN: "It's something we'd consider revisiting."
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STORY: "A court once again orders a new trial for Adnan Syed, the subject of a 'Serial' podcasts," by Jason Hanna and Alex Marquardt, published by CNN on March 29, 2018.
GIST: Adnan
Syed, whose murder conviction was the focus of the first season on the
extremely popular "Serial" podcast, has moved closer to a new trial. But
it's not necessarily a done deal. On Thursday, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, by a 2-1 ruling, ordered a new trial for Syed on all charges. It upheld a lower court that ruled similarly in 2016. Prosecutors have 30 days to appeal this decision to the state's highest court or proceed with a new trial.........Syed,
36, had been serving a life sentence in the slaying of his
ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. Her strangled body was found in a shallow
grave in a park one month after she went missing in January 1999. Prosecutors
relied on testimony from a friend, Jay Wilds, who said he helped Syed
dig a hole for Lee's body. To corroborate his account, prosecutors
presented cell phone records and expert witness testimony to place Syed
at the site where Lee was buried. He was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison on murder and kidnapping charges. In 2016, a Baltimore Circuit Court judge vacated Syed's conviction and
ordered a new trial, based on claims that Syed's trial lawyer failed to
cross-examine the expert witness about the reliability of cell tower
location evidence. The state appealed the 2016 order, leading to Thursday's decision by the court of special appeals. Brown is optimistic they will get a new trial. He said he hopes the state will forgo an appeal and seek to retry the case. "If we go to trial, we will win that trial," Brown told CNN. As for whether Syed will be released on bail before a new trial, Brown told CNN: "It's something we'd consider revisiting." The
first season of the "Serial" podcast, consisting of 12 episodes about
the case, was downloaded more than 40 million times in 2014. The podcast dug into a lead that would give Syed an alibi. Before
his trial, Syed gave his lawyers two letters from Asia McClain, a
fellow student who said she saw Syed at a library around the time of the
murder. Her account did not make it into the defense case, leading Syed to claim ineffective counsel for failing to contact her. The judge at the post-conviction hearing sided with Syed, and prosecutors appealed. In
Thursday's decision, two judges from the Court of Special Appeals
agreed with the merits of the ineffective counsel claim, while the
dissenting judge said there are times when lawyers have good reasons not
to contact a potential alibi witness. Syed's trial lawyer, M. Cristina Gutierrez, died before his post-conviction appeal."
The entire story can be found at:
.
"READ THE ENTIRE WIKIPEDIA ENTRY AT THE LINK BELOW: (TRIALS AND APPEALS): "Syed's family hired defense attorney Cristina Gutierrez to represent him. During Syed's first trial, jurors accidentally overheard a sidebar dispute between Gutierrez and the presiding judge in which he referred to her as a "liar".[12] After learning that the jury had heard his characterization, the judge declared a mistrial. A second trial lasted six weeks and Syed was found guilty of first degree murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and robbery on February 25, 2000.[13] Syed was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years.[14] Adnan first appealed his case in 2012 based on inadequate assistance of counsel because Gutierrez did not call Asia McClain as an alibi witness; this appeal was denied in 2013.[citation needed] On February 6, 2015, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals approved Syed's application for leave to appeal ("leave" meaning "permission").[15] On May 19, 2015, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals remanded the case to Circuit Court for potential hearing on the admissibility of alibi testimony of Asia McClain, who said she was talking with Syed in the library at the exact time the prosecutor said Syed attacked Lee in a Best Buy parking lot several miles away.[16] On November 9, 2015, the Superior Court decided it would hear the case.[17] According to Sarah Koenig's investigation as told in Serial, McClain's account of her encounter with Syed on the day of the disappearance would have been helpful for Syed during his trial.[15] Syed's appeals lawyer Justin Brown said 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."[18] On November 6, 2015, Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Martin Welch ordered that Syed's post-conviction relief proceedings, which determines if he deserves a new trial, would be re-opened "in the interests of justice for all parties."[19] The post-conviction relief hearing, originally scheduled to last two days, lasted five days from February 3 – 9, 2016.[20] The hearing was attended by people from across the U.S., including Koenig, and McClain testified that she talked to Syed at the library on January 13, 1999.[21] On June 30, 2016, Judge Welch granted Syed's request for a new trial, ruling that Gutierrez "rendered ineffective assistance when she failed to cross-examine the state's expert regarding the reliability of cell tower location evidence," vacating Syed's conviction.[22][23] In October 2016, Syed's attorneys requested bail be granted to Syed until the retrial started.[24] On December 29, 2016, Judge Welch denied bail for Syed.[25] On March 29, 2018, the decision to grant Adnan Syed a new trial was upheld by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals."
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/
