BALTIMORE — The Supreme Court of Maryland has agreed to hear dueling appeals from Adnan Syed and the family of the woman he was once convicted of killing.
In an order Wednesday, the state’s top court allowed the appeals from Syed and the brother of Hae Min Lee, who Syed in 2000 was found guilty of killing, to continue and laid out a schedule for further legal briefings that will culminate with oral argument in the case in October.
The decision prolongs the legal saga made famous by the popular podcast “Serial.”
Syed, 43, has been free from custody since September, when a Baltimore judge granted city prosecutors’ request to throw out his decades-old convictions. Prosecutors subsequently dropped Syed’s pending charges, but not before Lee’s brother, Young Lee, gave formal notice of an appeal.
Young Lee argued that his rights as a crime victim representative were trampled on because he wasn’t given enough warning of the hearing to be able to attend in person. Despite prosecutors dismissing Syed’s case, the Appellate Court of Maryland allowed Lee’s appeal to continue and ordered Syed’s conviction reinstated in March.
Syed appealed in May, raising several questions for the state Supreme Court’s review. Young Lee filed his own appeal in June, arguing the appellate court ruling hadn’t gone far enough for victims’ rights in Maryland.
The high court on Wednesday agreed to consider questions raised by Syed and Young Lee.
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