ALIBI

Adnan Syed’s Lawyers Ask Supreme Court to Take Up Case

The podcast “Serial” brought his case back into the spotlight in 2014.

Lawyers for Adnan Syed, the subject of the popular Serial podcast, have filed an appeal to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to re-examine his case and reverse a ruling by Maryland’s court of appeals. Syed, who is serving a life sentence, was convicted in the 1999 slaying of high-school student Hae Min Lee, whom he dated. The petition argues that the case is about “the proper standard for evaluating prejudice under this Court’s decision in Strickland v. Washington,” referring to the 1984 Supreme Court decision about what to do when a convicted person claims their legal counsel has not assisted them effectively. Syed’s current attorneys say that his trial lawyer did not call alibi witness Asia McClain, and did not meet the standard set by the Supreme Court in Strickland. Syed needs at least four out of nine justices to agree to hear his appeal. Maryland’s court of appeals reinstated charges against Syed in March.