Adnan Syed, who's story was featured in the first season of the Serial podcast will have a new trial.
Syed was found guilty of murdering his high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in 2000 in Baltimore.
This week, a judge ruled that he could have a new trial because his original lawyer - Cristina Gutierrez - failed to cross-examine a mobile phone tower expert about the reliability of that data that placed Syed's mobile phone near the burial site.
Saraj Koenig, who presents the Serial podcast, tweeted:
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<p class="x_MsoNormal">A key witness from
the Serial podcast has spoken out publicly for
the first time, saying she's sorry.
<p class="x_MsoNormal">
<p class="x_MsoNormal">Asia McClain spoke exclusively to *ABC
News* saying she's sorry for not coming forward sooner
regarding her potential alibi. She said: "I would just
personally apologise that I didn't come forward in 2010."
<p class="x_MsoNormal">Serial follows the real-life story
of Adnan Syed who was convicted of murdering high school girlfriend
Hae Min Lee in Baltimore in 1999 and has been in prison ever
since.
<p class="x_MsoNormal">The podcast story, which has recently been
re-visited in new episodes after Adnan was granted a new
hearing, examines the case and considers whether Adnan is truly
guilty - a fact he has always denied.
The recent "post-conviction relief" hearing argued that Adnan did not receive proper council from his then-lawyer Cristina Gutierrez after she didn't follow up a potential alibi witness for Adnan.
This witness is Asia McClain. In her interview with ABC she said: "I was sitting in the library bored to tears and someone walked in that I knew."
"I asked [Adnan] about his break-up with Hae. She was dating someone else, but that he just wanted her to be happy," McClain recalled.
"He didn't seem to be disturbed or angry with her."
She continued: "Do I think Adnan killed Hae? Honestly, I couldn't tell you."
"By coming forward, I hope that I was able to provide enough information to the judge for him to be able to make a rational decision. Whatever that might be, that is in his hands," she ended.
Watch the interview here:
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<p class="x_MsoNormal">[#video:https://youtube.com/embed/eqwUqzZ2lpE]
<p class="x_MsoNormal">In a newsletter to
Serial podcast subscribers this week, the show's host
Sarah Koenig said: "This week I'm going to do something
I haven't done before..."
<p class="x_MsoNormal">
<p class="x_MsoNormal">The series, which is now mid-way through
season two and following the case of Bowe Bergdhal, has
been temporarily paused in order cover season one
subject Adnan Syed in his hearing for "post-conviction relief".
<p class="x_MsoNormal">Koenig said: "[I will] duck back into
Adnan Syed's case for a few days, to report on a court proceeding
that's happening in Baltimore."
In 1999, Adnan Syed was found guilty for the murder of Hae Min Lee after witnesses placed him at the scene and data from cell towers concluded his cellphone had been used near the location where Hae's body was found. Since the series ended in August 2014, the case was reopened by a Maryland judge and the post-conviction relief trial began on Thursday.
Sarah Koenig, who is currently on the scene in Baltimore for the hearing, will be reporting on her observations from the trial in new Serial podcast episodes, the first two of which have already been broadcasted.
In the first 15-minute offering, Sarah recounts the two main talking points of the first day of the trial: the effectiveness of Cristina Gutierrez, Syed's trial attorney, after colleagues testified that she had begun to decline mentally and physically during Adnan's case (before dying in 2004). And next, the testimony of key figure Asia McClain who claimed she had spoken to Adnan Syed for 15-12 minutes at the Woodlawn library during the time when prosecutors claimed Hae Min was murdered.
Koenig recalled: "There was a lot of drama in the room when [Asia McClain] was testifying."
"She was very sure of herself and what she remembered," Koenig continued. "I don't think they're going to try to discredit her exactly. I think what they're going to say is: you think of yourself as a person with a really precise memory, but here are some ways in which we're going to show you that your memory isn't as precise as you think it is ...to show that if you have gotten on the stand at the time of Adnan's trial, it wouldn't have changed the course of the trial."
Listen to the new epsiodes of Serial here.
<p class="x_MsoNormal">Lawyers for Adnan Syed, the subject of
the hugely successful Serial podcast, will be allowed
to present new evidence in his case after a court ruling on Friday
6 November.
<p class="x_MsoNormal">
Syed, 35, is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his high-school girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999.
Serial, the podcast series which had everyone talking - especially at GLAMOUR HQ, raised questions about Adnan's case and whether he received a fair trial.
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His defence team was trying to reopen the case based on some of the findings from the podcast. Sarah Koenig, the presenter of Serial, presented the evidence, re-examined testimonies and brought new evidence to light, inviting listeners to form their own judgements and theories about what really happened. It had us gripped from start to finish.
Now, a judge in Baltimore has allowed lawyers to submit new evidence for the first time since his conviction.
Lawyers will now be allowed to present new evidence based on the reliability of mobile phone records from the original case, and the testimony of a potential alibi who was never brought to the stand.
In the 2000 trial, prosecutors relied heavily on mobile phone records that allegedly placed Syed at a park in Baltimore where Lee's body was buried. Syed, who was 17 at the time, has always maintained his innocence.
But a motion filed in court in August said a newly recovered mobile phone document showed "the cell tower evidence was misleading and should have never been admitted at trial".
Rabia Chaudry, a lawyer and friend that has also advocated for Syed's release, highlighted the importance of the ruling in the Serial podcast follow-up, Undisclosed. On Friday she tweeted...
