Adnan Syed seeks attorney general to open investigation
Adnan Syed shares 93-slide presentation in effort to get AG to open investigation
‘All we’ve ever wanted to do is prove that I’m innocent’
Updated: 5:04 PM EDT Sep 19, 2023
Adnan Syed said his family’s rights were violated, and he is asking Maryland attorney General Anthony Brown to open an investigation.Syed spent more than 20 years in prison after a jury convicted him in 2000 for the killing of Hae Min Lee in 1999.Syed held a news conference Tuesday, saying he invited reporters to his family home in an effort to prove his innocence and, he said, most importantly, find out who killed his friend. “All we’ve ever wanted to do is prove that I’m innocent,” Syed said.He spent some two hours raising allegations of prosecutorial misconduct under prior administrations and shared a 93-slide presentation that he said contains new information from court filings and motions that he said the public had yet to see.Syed appealed to Maryland attorney General Anthony Brown’s office to launch its own investigation into what happened under prior administrations in order to prove his innocence and find the real killer.He alleged the original trial prosecutors, Kevin Urick and Kathleen Murphy, engaged in a pattern of improper, irregular and possibly illegal behavior that continues. Syed claimed Murphy, who was working as an assistant attorney general during court proceedings in the past year, secretly made calls to find Hae Min Lee’s brother a lawyer and inserted herself in the process of crafting legal arguments behind the scenes.”We were just asking them to take our suffering into consideration, No. 1. And, No. 2, the reason why we’re asking the attorney general’s office, Mr. Brown, to open an investigation into these actions is to reiterate, again, not to have anything involving Hae’s family, but because we believe that the past year of litigation has not been about the victims’ rights. We believe that this past year of litigation has been about protecting Catherine Murphy and Kevin Durant from accountability,” Syed said.He has always maintained his innocence, and going document by document, line by line and opinion by opinion, Syed walked reporters through what he said were errors that led to his conviction.”The hardest thing to wrap my mind around is what if I was to go back to prison and — the greatest fear that I’ve ever had, my mother and father passed away and I’m still in there — and then, that’s not even speaking about the harm and the emotional suffering that it causes them. For the past year, every single day, we wake up thinking, ‘What if Adnan has to go back to prison?'” Syed said. “It’s something that keeps (my mother) up at night. Every single night, people call her, and they tell them they’re so happy that I’m home. But she knows in her heart, that at any moment, I can be taken away again.”WBAL-TV 11 News asked the attorney general office for a response and received a statement from spokeswoman Jennifer Donelan that said: “The attorney general does not have the authority to investigate allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. Unfortunately, we are prevented from commenting any further because, as you are aware, we are in the midst of ongoing litigation involving this case.”A year ago Tuesday, Judge Melissa Phinn vacated Syed’s conviction at the request of city prosecutors, who said evidence cleared him in the case. The charges were eventually dropped altogether.Lee’s brother, Young Lee, was able to take part in that hearing via Zoom and has been fighting in the courts to have the hearing redone so the Lee family can have a more meaningful part in it.In March, the Appellate Court of Maryland overturned Phinn’s ruling and reinstated Syed’s original murder conviction and sentence on the basis that the state violated the right of the victim’s family to attend the hearing on the motion to vacate charges.In May, the Appellate Court of Maryland denied Syed’s request to reconsider the reinstatement of his murder conviction.An appeals court ordered a new hearing, and now, the matter is before the Maryland Supreme Court. Oral arguments in the case are set for Oct. 5, and Syed said he will be there with his family.He said that if the high court rules against him, he’s prepared to return to prison and continue to fight.
WOODLAWN, Md. —
Adnan Syed said his family’s rights were violated, and he is asking Maryland attorney General Anthony Brown to open an investigation.
Syed spent more than 20 years in prison after a jury convicted him in 2000 for the killing of Hae Min Lee in 1999.
Syed held a news conference Tuesday, saying he invited reporters to his family home in an effort to prove his innocence and, he said, most importantly, find out who killed his friend.
“All we’ve ever wanted to do is prove that I’m innocent,” Syed said.
He spent some two hours raising allegations of prosecutorial misconduct under prior administrations and shared a 93-slide presentation that he said contains new information from court filings and motions that he said the public had yet to see.
Syed appealed to Maryland attorney General Anthony Brown’s office to launch its own investigation into what happened under prior administrations in order to prove his innocence and find the real killer.
He alleged the original trial prosecutors, Kevin Urick and Kathleen Murphy, engaged in a pattern of improper, irregular and possibly illegal behavior that continues. Syed claimed Murphy, who was working as an assistant attorney general during court proceedings in the past year, secretly made calls to find Hae Min Lee’s brother a lawyer and inserted herself in the process of crafting legal arguments behind the scenes.
“We were just asking them to take our suffering into consideration, No. 1. And, No. 2, the reason why we’re asking the attorney general’s office, Mr. Brown, to open an investigation into these actions is to reiterate, again, not to have anything involving Hae’s family, but because we believe that the past year of litigation has not been about the victims’ rights. We believe that this past year of litigation has been about protecting Catherine Murphy and Kevin Durant from accountability,” Syed said.
He has always maintained his innocence, and going document by document, line by line and opinion by opinion, Syed walked reporters through what he said were errors that led to his conviction.
“The hardest thing to wrap my mind around is what if I was to go back to prison and — the greatest fear that I’ve ever had, my mother and father passed away and I’m still in there — and then, that’s not even speaking about the harm and the emotional suffering that it causes them. For the past year, every single day, we wake up thinking, ‘What if Adnan has to go back to prison?'” Syed said. “It’s something that keeps (my mother) up at night. Every single night, people call her, and they tell them they’re so happy that I’m home. But she knows in her heart, that at any moment, I can be taken away again.”
WBAL-TV 11 News asked the attorney general office for a response and received a statement from spokeswoman Jennifer Donelan that said: “The attorney general does not have the authority to investigate allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. Unfortunately, we are prevented from commenting any further because, as you are aware, we are in the midst of ongoing litigation involving this case.”
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A year ago Tuesday, Judge Melissa Phinn vacated Syed’s conviction at the request of city prosecutors, who said evidence cleared him in the case. The charges were eventually dropped altogether.
Lee’s brother, Young Lee, was able to take part in that hearing via Zoom and has been fighting in the courts to have the hearing redone so the Lee family can have a more meaningful part in it.
In March, the Appellate Court of Maryland overturned Phinn’s ruling and reinstated Syed’s original murder conviction and sentence on the basis that the state violated the right of the victim’s family to attend the hearing on the motion to vacate charges.
In May, the Appellate Court of Maryland denied Syed’s request to reconsider the reinstatement of his murder conviction.
An appeals court ordered a new hearing, and now, the matter is before the Maryland Supreme Court. Oral arguments in the case are set for Oct. 5, and Syed said he will be there with his family.
He said that if the high court rules against him, he’s prepared to return to prison and continue to fight.
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