PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Syed, 41, who was released in September after serving 23 years in prison for the murder of Hae Min Lee in 1999, had his conviction vacated by a Baltimore judge. It was found out that prosecutors failed to tell Syed's defense attorneys about evidence that would have allowed him to defend himself, including details that established two other people had threatened Lee's life."
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STORY: "DNA test results lead Baltimore prosecutors to drop charges against Adnan Syed, public defender says, by Digital Reporter Lisa Robinson, published by WBAL-TV, on October 11, 2022.
GIST: "DNA test results led Baltimore prosecutors to drop charges against Adnan Syed, 11 News has confirmed.
Syed, 41, who was released in September after serving 23 years in prison for the murder of Hae Min Lee in 1999, had his conviction vacated by a Baltimore judge.
It was found out that prosecutors failed to tell Syed's defense attorneys about evidence that would have allowed him to defend himself, including details that established two other people had threatened Lee's life.
In a statement released late Tuesday morning by the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office announced it would not further prosecute the case based on DNA test results that excluded Syed from the DNA recovered from evidence.
The public defender's office confirmed that Syed is now off home detention.
The state had a 30-day period to decide to refile the case or to nolle pros. Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said last month her office was awaiting DNA testing after the conviction was vacated, saying: "The investigation is separate and apart from the 30-day mandate. What we are currently waiting for is DNA analysis. So we are going to try to expedite that."
Erica Suter, Syed's defense attorney, assistant public defender and director of the Innocence Project Clinic at University of Baltimore Law School, said in a statement: "Finally, Adnan Syed is able to live as a free man. The DNA results confirmed what we have already known and what underlies all of the current proceedings: That Adnan is innocent and lost 23 years of his life serving time for a crime he did not commit."
An appeal brought by the Lee family in the Court of Special Appeals remains pending.
"While the proceedings are not completely over, this is an important step for Adnan, who has been on house arrest since the motion to vacate was first granted last month," Suter said. "He still needs some time to process everything that has happened and we ask that you provide him and his family with that space."
Syed was subject of the popular podcast, "Serial." His first trial ended in a mistrial. A jury convicted him in a second trial. Syed had been in jail since his arrest in February 1999.
The motion to vacate from prosecutors said the evidence against Syed in the previous trial was largely circumstantial, and they lacked confidence "in the integrity of the conviction."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.wbaltv.com/article/adnan-syed-charges-dropped-baltimore/41585971
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. 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/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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