Prosecutors drop charges against Adnan Syed, subject of ‘Serial’ podcast

BALTIMORE — Prosecutors on Tuesday dropped charges against Adnan Syed, whose case was featured on the popular true crime podcast “Serial,” after determining that his DNA was excluded from samples taken from the shoes of his slain ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee.

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Lee was 18 years old when she vanished in January 1999. On Feb. 9, 1999, authorities found her body buried in Leakin Park. Officials said she died of manual strangulation. Syed was subsequently sentenced to life in prison on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery and false imprisonment.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby confirmed that prosecutors had dismissed the case against Syed, now 41.

“This morning I instructed by office to dismiss the criminal case against Adnan Syed following the completion of a second round of touch DNA testing of items that were never tested before,” Mosby said, adding that officials tested Lee’s skirt, a pair of pantyhose, her shoes and her jacket.

“Although no DNA was recovered from the skirt, the pantyhose or jacket swabs, there was a DNA mixture of multiple contributors on both Ms. Lee’s shoes — the same multiple contributors for both of Ms. Lee’s shoes. And most compellingly, Adnan Syed — his DNA was excluded.”

The Baltimore Sun reported that prosecutors dropped charges during a hearing Tuesday morning.

Last month, prosecutors said that they were awaiting the results of DNA testing that was not previously available. Touch DNA testing, which allows for analysis of small amounts of skin cells left at a crime scene, became available in about 2003, years after Syed’s trial, Mosby said.

Laura Nirider, a co-director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law who accompanied Syed when he walked out of prison, said in a tweet that “the latest round of DNA testing generated results that, like previous rounds of testing, excluded Adnan Syed.”

“He has now been formally exonerated!” she wrote.

The decision to drop charges against Syed came one month after a judge overturned his conviction and ordered that he be released from prison.

Prosecutors had asked Baltimore City Judge Melissa Phinn to vacate Syed’s conviction after identifying two new suspects who might have been involved in Lee’s killing. Authorities said the suspects were “known persons at the time of the original investigation and were not properly ruled out nor disclosed to the defense.”

One of the suspects has since been convicted of attacking a woman in her vehicle, prosecutors said. One of the suspects has also been convicted of serial rape and sexual assault, according to officials.

Mosby declined to say Tuesday whether either of the suspects remained under suspicion, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation.

On Sept. 19, Phinn ordered that Syed be released to house arrest on his own recognizance with GPS monitoring. Prosecutors had 30 days from the decision to determine whether to retry the case against Syed.

Prosecutors previously said Lee and Syed had an on-again, off-again relationship that became rocky after Lee began seeing someone new in December 1998. They relied on testimony from Jay Wilds, a former friend of Syed’s, who said that Syed had admitted to strangling Lee and showed him her body in the trunk of his car. Officials also leaned on cellphone records that purportedly showed Syed in the area of Leakin Park at the time that Lee was buried there.

Last month, prosecutors said that the cellphone data cited during Syed’s trial was determined to be unreliable. The notice on the records specifically advised that the billing locations for incoming calls “would not be considered reliable information for location.”

Lee’s family later asked an appeals court to halt court proceedings for Syed, saying that the family did not get adequate notice of the hearing at which Phinn overturned Syed’s conviction, according to The Associated Press. An attorney representing the family did not immediately comment on Tuesday’s development.

Mosby said Tuesday that the appeal was made moot by the decision to dismiss charges against Syed.

“The case is over,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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