BACKGROUND: (The BBC): "Maryland's highest court has reinstated the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, who was freed after spending more than 20 years in prison fighting charges that he killed his ex-girlfriend. The ruling marks yet another twist in the case made famous by the hit podcast Serial, as it now returns to a lower court for a new hearing. Syed was cleared of all charges in 2022, after prosecutors said he had been wrongfully convicted of strangling and killing his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee. But in March 2023, an appeals court reinstated his conviction after finding that the lower court had failed to give Young Lee, Ms Lee's brother, sufficient notice of the hearing that freed Syed. In a 4-3 opinion, Maryland's Supreme Court on Friday upheld this decision, saying the lower court judge had “worked an injustice” by not giving Young Lee reasonable notice of the hearing. The ruling means the case will be sent to a lower court for a new hearing on whether Syed's murder conviction should be thrown out. The court did not order any changes to his release, meaning he will remain free while his case is heard."
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2l47re79xo
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "The weight Hae Min Lee’s family must bear is not lost on us. As this appeal was not about Adnan’s innocence, it was also never a challenge to the suffering that the Lee family has endured. Wrongful convictions devastate the wrongly accused, their family and the family of the victim. Reinstating Adnan’s wrongful conviction does not provide Hae Min Lee’s family with justice or closure, and it takes a tremendous emotional toll on Adnan’s family, who already lost a son and brother for more than two decades."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "After spending 23 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Adnan is once again fighting for his freedom. In the past two years, since the vacatur was first granted, he has begun to rebuild a life for himself and his family. He is currently employed through Georgetown University with the Georgetown Prison and Justice Initiative and has been a model citizen. Though this latest ruling is a roadblock in the way of Adnan’s exoneration, we have faith that justice will prevail and will work tirelessly to clear his name once and for all."
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STATEMENT: Statement from Erica Suter, counsel for Adnan Syed, in response to the today. (Provided by the Maryland Office of the Public Defender on Aug 30, 20240.)
GIST: "To paraphrase United States Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, the highest court’s decision may be final but that does not make its reasoning right. Today, a nearly evenly split Supreme Court of Maryland reached a result that we could not disagree with more. However, we must respect the Court's decision, and so we look to Adnan’s future. Despite its decision, the Court states that it is not sending Adnan back to prison.
Adnan is innocent. This appeal was about the process for the vacatur, it did not challenge the substance of the vacatur – that there was a Brady violation, that the other evidence supporting his conviction has been debunked, and that subsequent DNA testing excluded Adnan.
The weight Hae Min Lee’s family must bear is not lost on us. As this appeal was not about Adnan’s innocence, it was also never a challenge to the suffering that the Lee family has endured. Wrongful convictions devastate the wrongly accused, their family and the family of the victim. Reinstating Adnan’s wrongful conviction does not provide Hae Min Lee’s family with justice or closure, and it takes a tremendous emotional toll on Adnan’s family, who already lost a son and brother for more than two decades.
After spending 23 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Adnan is once again fighting for his freedom. In the past two years, since the vacatur was first granted, he has begun to rebuild a life for himself and his family. He is currently employed through Georgetown University with the Georgetown Prison and Justice Initiative and has been a model citizen. Though this latest ruling is a roadblock in the way of Adnan’s exoneration, we have faith that justice will prevail and will work tirelessly to clear his name once and for all."
The entire statement can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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
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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;
