“Serial’s” Adnan Syed’s case is being reopened and it’s a very, very big deal

Adnan Syed’s case is being revisited. No, we’re not talking about another Serial season. We’re talking about something life-changing for Syed: An official re-opening next week. Back in November, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Martin Welch granted a request to reopen the case. . . And now it’s going to happen.

The State of Maryland v. Adnan Syed post-conviction hearings will be held from February 3rd to the 5th. That means over 15 years after his conviction for the alleged murder of his high-school ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, Syed, who has been serving a life sentence since 2000, may have the chance to prove his innocence.

According to CNN, Syed’s attorney — Justin Brown — claims that the post-conviction hearing will focus on potential new evidence. It will be examining whether Syed’s previous representation was adequate (or not), as well as possible misuse of cell tower data by the prosecution.

The reopening also may have hinged majorly on Asia McClain, Syed’s former classmate who has a possible alibi testimony for Syed. McClain claims that she had spoke with Syed in a library at the time of Lee’s murder.

McClain filed an affidavit in January saying she’d be willing to testify; she hadn’t before because, she says, an assistant state’s attorney involved in Syed’s case had discouraged her from going back in 2012. During Syed’s hearing back in 2000, his defense attorney, Cristina Gutierrez, never contacted her.

“They were happy tears,” Rabia Chaudry, a public advocate for Syed and author of Adnan’s Story, told CNN back in November about the re-opening. “I was feeling very positive with our chances. But this is what we have been trying to get since 2009 in the post-conviction trial. It’s taken years to get to this point.”

Now, we’ve finally got a date, and Syed’s life may very well change forever next week.
(Image via St. Martin’s Press)