The killing of Hae Min Lee- Finding Justice

Hae Min Lee was a high school student in Baltimore, Maryland, who was murdered in January 1999. Her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was convicted of her murder in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison. The case gained widespread attention after it was the subject of the popular podcast "Serial" in 2014, which raised questions about Syed's guilt and the fairness of his trial.

The Life and Tragic Death of Hae Min Lee

Hae Min Lee was born in South Korea in 1980 and moved to the United States with her family when she was a young girl.

She grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, where she attended Woodlawn High School. Described as popular, outgoing, and athletic, Hae was active in sports and other extracurricular activities.

On January 13, 1999, Hae Min Lee disappeared after school. Her family reported her missing, and her body was discovered in a nearby park a month later, on February 9. She had been strangled and buried in a shallow grave.

The discovery of her body shocked the Woodlawn community and sparked a massive investigation into her murder.

The Investigation and Trial of Adnan Syed for Hae Min Lee's Murder

On February 12th, the Homicide Division of the Baltimore City Police received an anonymous phone call advising them to direct their investigation towards Adnan Masud Syed, Lee's then boyfriend.

According to one of Syed's acquaintances, Jay Wilds, Syed had confided in him about his plans to murder Lee and had even admitted to killing her on January 13th. Wilds claimed that he had assisted Syed in burying Lee's body.

On February 16th, the Baltimore Police sought cellular phone records for a phone registered to Syed. Following this, Syed was arrested on February 28th and charged with first-degree murder.

The Trial and Conviction

Syed's initial trial commenced in December 1999, but it ended in a mistrial.

Syed's second trial commenced in January and spanned six weeks. On February 25, 2000, the jury found him guilty, convicting him of first-degree murder, kidnapping, false imprisonment, and robbery. As a result, Syed received a life sentence in prison with an additional 30 years.

Post-Conviction Events

In 2010, Adnan Syed filed a petition for post-conviction relief, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. He argued that his lawyer had failed to investigate an alibi witness, Asia McClain.

In 2014, the petition was denied, but in 2015, the Court of Special Appeals remanded the case to the circuit court to consider reopening Syed's application for post-conviction relief in light of an affidavit filed by McClain.

In 2016, after a five-day hearing, the judge granted Syed's request for a new trial and vacated his conviction, ruling that his lawyer had rendered ineffective assistance. Welch denied Syed's defense team's motion for bail in the interim.

In 2018, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals upheld Adnan Syed's request for a new trial, stating that his counsel had failed to contact a potential alibi witness. Prosecutors appealed to the Supreme Court of Maryland, which in 2019 denied Syed's request for a new trial in a split 4-3 ruling, stating that while his legal counsel was deficient, the witness would not have changed the outcome of the case.

The Supreme Court of the United States rejected Syed's appeal for a new trial in 2019. Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh stated that they were pleased justice for Hae Min Lee had been done and that the evidence against Syed was overwhelming.

The Impact of the "Serial" Podcast on the Hae Min Lee Case

Starting from October 3 until December 18, 2014, the murder of Hae Min Lee, and the subsequent arrest and trial of Adnan Syed, was the primary focus of the first episode of the podcast Serial.

The podcast's episodes sparked worldwide curiosity in the case and were downloaded over 100 million times as of June 2016.

In September 2022, prosecutors filed a motion to vacate Adnan Syed's conviction, citing Brady violations and new evidence that cast doubt on his guilt. The motion detailed two chief alternate suspects and expressed concerns about the reliability of cell-phone records and witness testimony used at trial.

On September 19, the Circuit Court vacated Syed's conviction, and he was released from prison. Prosecutors subsequently dropped all charges. However, on March 28, 2023, the appellate court reinstated Syed's conviction in a 2-1 decision, citing insufficient information in the motion to vacate.