“Serial’s” Adnan Syed is returning to court today

Serial fans, it’s happening. It’s really happening. Literally right now. Adnan Syed is currently back in court to have his case revisited after more than 15 years.

Syed, who has been serving a life sentence since 2000 after his conviction for the alleged murder of his high-school ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, is returning to court after Baltimore Circuit Judge Martin Welch granted a request to reopen the case back in November. Just last week, we discovered the dates when the State of Maryland v. Adnan Syed post-conviction hearings will be taking place: February 3-5.

And now, it’s happening. The Baltimore Sun reports that earlier this morning, now-35-year-old Syed “entered the courthouse with his hands shackled in the front and wearing prison clothing” and that a small crowd “assembled in advance” of the hearing, including Serial‘s Sarah Koenig.

C. Justin Brown, Syed’s attorney, will likely be presenting an alibi witness not presented in previous trials — Asia McClain, one of Syed’s classmates who claims to have seen Syed in the library at the time Lee was murdered. She told The Baltimore Sun last year that she has no doubt whatsoever about when or where she saw him back in 2000. “All this time I thought the courts proved it was Adnan that killed her,” McClain told Koenig during the first episode of the podcast. “I thought he was where he deserved to be. Now I’m not so sure.”

She hadn’t previously testified because of pressure from the prosecuting lawyer, Kevin Urick. “I know that across offices and homes in America, and beyond, people have been discussing Adnan’s guilt or innocence,” she told The Baltimore Sun. “I can only tell you what it is I know. Whether this information means that Adnan is innocent, or deserves a new trial, is a decision for others to make.”

Brown is also expected to raise questions about the cell phone evidence used to convict Syed that linked him to the scene of the crime. When AT&T included the cell tower data back in 2000, they included a memo that read, “Outgoing calls only are reliable for location status. Any incoming calls will NOT be considered reliable information for location.”

Only time will tell whether the evidence presented will be enough to free Adnan from jail. “I think something went wrong with this case,” Koenig said back in December of 2014. “Obviously, I wish I knew. I wish I knew exactly what happened.”