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ANNAPOLIS, Md. Prosecutors dropped charges against Adnan Syed on Tuesday in the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee after additional DNA testing excluded him as a suspect in a case chronicled by the hit podcast “Serial.”
Marilyn Mosby, the state’s attorney for the city of Baltimore, said her office would continue to pursue justice for Lee but that it had closed its case against Syed, who spent 23 years in prison for the killing. She said the decision was made after additional DNA testing excluded Syed as a suspect in the strangulation of Lee, whom Syed had dated.
“This case is over. There are no more appeals necessary,” Mosby said during a news conference.
“It is my responsibility to acknowledge and to apologize to the family of Hae Min Lee and Adnan Syed. . … Justice is never denied, but justice be done. Today, justice is done,” Mosby said, noting that her administration didn’t handle the prosecution of Syed.
Syed’s attorney Erica Suter celebrated the news, noting that Syed wasn’t ready yet to speak about it publicly.
“Today’s the day that Adnan Syed and his loved ones have been waiting for 23 long years,” Suter said during a Zoom call with reporters. “The results of the DNA testing excluded Adnan and confirm what Adnan and his supporters have always known: that Adnan Syed is innocent. The state of Maryland has dropped the charges. Adnan Syed is free.”
Suter said Syed’s legal team would begin working with the state attorney’s office as soon as possible to formally certify his innocence. She said it was premature to say whether they would seek compensation for wrongful conviction.
A Baltimore judge last month overturned Syed’s murder conviction and ordered him released from prison, where the 41-year-old had spent more than two decades.
