NPR's 'Serial' helps reopen 15-year old murder case

A girl, a boy and a radio program

Adnan Syed, left, was convicted in 1999 of murdering Hae Min Lee, right.

ADNAN SYED was convicted of the 1999 murder of his girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, and sentenced to life in prison. After a letter-writing campaign by Syed's family captured a journalist's attention, and Serial became the most downloaded podcast in history, public pressure pushed the state of Maryland to re-evaluate Syed's case.

Fifteen years after Lee's death, a witness has come forward to testify that may place him elsewhere at the time of the homicide.

According to the Baltimore Sun, the testimony of Asia McClain, a classmate of both Syed and Lee, challenges the timeline Baltimore prosecutors used to prove that Syed strangled Lee to death after school on Jan. 13, 1999. McClain's testimony wasn't heard at Syed's 2000 trial, when a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and false imprisonment.

Syed's attorney Cristina Gutierrez did not call her as a witness. Gutierrez, died in 2004.

Syed, now 34, is serving a life sentence plus 30 years in a Maryland state prison. Prosecutors said he killed Lee out of jealousy after she began dating someone else.

Journalist Sara Koenig

The case drew the attention of former Baltimore Sun reporter Sarah Koenig. She produced a 12-part series for public radio last year titled Serial. The series became a national pop-culture phenomenon and was downloaded by millions of listeners, discussion groups were formed and office workers gathered at lunchtime to try to unravel the the details of the case.

Public pressure and McClain's willingness to testify 

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals on Friday (Feb. 6) agreed to rehear Syed's case because of McClain's willingness to testify and public pressure.

Syed's main argument is Gutierrez, provided him ineffective counsel, and last week's court ruling gives him a chance to show the special appeals court why he believes he should be granted a new trial.

Lee was born in South Korea. She played lacrosse on her school team and was well-liked at her high school. She disappeared after school on Jan, 13, 1999, and her body was found on Feb. 9 1999. She had been strangled and left in Leakin Park in Baltimore. After a six-week trial in 2000, Adnan Syed was convicted of her murder.

Serial has been been faulted for presenting a one-sided version of events around Lee's homicide. Koenig says she tried talking to Lee's family but they wanted nothing to do with the project. 

Koenig was criticized for falling for the "model minority" myth by describing Lee and Adnan, a Pakistani American, as model students, community volunteers and honor students. One of the problems with the model minority myth is that it infers that there is a "bad minority."To Koenig, Hae's and Adnan's counterpart was Jay Wilds, Syed's friend who allegedly helped bury Lee's body. 

A conference room white board in a New York office shows the interest in the podcast, Serial

If there was any doubt about Koenig's feelings about Jay, who is African American, she says in her podcast: “Jay wasn’t in the magnet program at Woodlawn. He was ‘gen pop’ — their term, not mine — like general population at a prison.”

Wilds did not cooperate with Koenig's podcast but said in a Rolling Stone interview that she "demonized him."

If nothing else, the changes occurring in the case almost ensures that there will be a second season of Serial.