In a 2-1 decision, the appellate court found that the lower court had wrongfully denied Young Lee, the victim's brother, the opportunity to attend a crucial hearing in September at which the judge overturned Syed's conviction and ordered his release.
"This Court has the power and obligation to remedy those violations, as long as we can do so without infringing upon Mr. Syed's right to be free from double jeopardy," the court's opinion stated. "Because the circuit court violated Mr. Lee's right to notice of, and his right to attend, the hearing on the State's motion to vacate.
"We remand for a new, legally correct, and open hearing on the motion to vacate, where Mr. Lee is given notice of the hearing sufficient to enable him to attend in person, where the evidence in support of the motion to vacate is presented, and where the court states its reasons in support of its decision," it continued.
According to their lawyer Steve Kelly, the Lee family is "extremely delighted" with the decision, he said on Wednesday's "CNN This Morning."
You can't have a trial by podcast or a trial by publicity, Kelly said, arguing that the right legal procedure was not followed when Syed's conviction was overturned. "We think it truly signals a stride toward transparency and the rule of law," Kelly said.
The public airing of all the evidence is in everyone's best interests, including Mr. Syed's, Kelly added, later clarifying that the Lee family "is not spiteful."
He said, "We want the truth. "We want Adnan Syed out if he's not the one," someone said.
The Lee family was "delighted" with the court's ruling and the directive for a "transparent hearing where the facts will be presented in open court," according to David Sanford, another Lee family attorney, who similarly told CNN in a statement.
According to Syed's lawyer, he will continue to be a "free man." Syed's attorney and director of the Innocence Project Clinic, Assistant Public Defender Erica Suter, claimed that the appeals court upheld the conviction "not because the Motion to Vacate was incorrect, but because Ms. Lee's brother did not appear in person at the vacatur hearing."
According to a statement sent to CNN by the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, "We agree with the dissenting judge that the appeal is moot and that Mr. Lee's attendance over Zoom was sufficient." For the time being, Adnan is still a free man, the lawyer said, adding that there is "no foundation for re-traumatizing Adnan by returning him to the status of a convicted felon."
Suter continued, "We still believe that justice will be served. "We will fight until Adnan's convictions are completely overturned," the statement reads. "We intend to seek review in Maryland's highest court, the Supreme Court of Maryland."
About eight years after the podcast delved into the case and identified issues with the conviction and Syed's legal counsel, the decision was made to overturn Syed's conviction.
Baltimore City Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn gave two reasons for her decision to resign: the existence of two suspects who might have been wrongly cleared as part of the probe, and information from the state investigation that was not properly provided to defense lawyers.
Lee's brother had asked for a rerun of that hearing, claiming among other things that he hadn't received enough notice to show up in person. In court records, Lee's attorneys claimed both the prosecution and the circuit court that overturned Syed's conviction had violated the brother's rights. Lee was able to witness the September hearings via Zoom.
They claim that this occurred as a result of inadequate notice given to him, hiding information from the family, and failing to provide the brother a fair opportunity to speak up during the proceedings.
Prior to September's decision to overturn Syed's conviction, Sanford, the family's attorney, claimed that the circuit court and the prosecution "failed repeatedly" to do their jobs.
"The victim, or victim's representative," the lawyer declared, "has a right to be heard."
