“This is big news,” tweeted the Serial podcast. “For the first time, Baltimore prosecutors say they have no confidence in Adnan Syed’s conviction and are asking for his release.” In a motion filed today in district court ( read it here ), the state’s attorney for Baltimore City writes that a year-long investigation by Syed’s defense team revealed new information “regarding the possible involvement of two alternative suspects’ and, further, that the legal parties ‘have identified significant credibility issues regarding the most critical evidence at trial’. The prosecutor emphasizes that the investigation is ongoing and that he will use “all available resources to investigate this case and bring the suspect or suspects to justice.” “To be clear, the State does not at this time contend that the defendant is innocent,” the motion continues, but adds that the prosecution “no longer has confidence in the integrity of the conviction.” A new trial, or a decision to drop the case against Syed, will depend on the outcome of the ongoing investigation. Meanwhile, under the proposal, Syed should be released on his own recognizance. Syed’s attorney Erica J. Suter filed a response to the State’s motion (read it here), writing: “Mr. Syed’s conviction is based on the evolving narrative of a motivated, cooperating nine-year-old co-defendant supported by inaccurate and misleading cell phone location data. This happened in 1999, when Mr. Syed was a seventeen-year-old boy. It remains so today. The most recent revelations, as detailed in the State Motion, have rightly caused the State to lose faith in the integrity of this belief. Mr. Said’s conviction should not stand.” While neither of the two legal documents filed today named other possible suspects or the “motivated” co-accused, fans of the wildly popular 2014 season of Serial could certainly offer suggestions as to their identities. The Peabody Award-winning podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, while not conclusively establishing Syed’s guilt or innocence, cast serious doubt on law enforcement and the legal case against the defendant and raised questions about the credibility of a key co-conspirator witness.
