Serial’s Adnan Syed Denied Bail Ahead Of Retrial

Serial's Adnan Syed will not be leaving jail anytime soon. According to People, a Baltimore judge has denied a motion filed by Syed's lawyers to have him released on bail before his re-trial in the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. In a statement to the magazine, Syed's lead defense attorney C. Justin Brown said, “This is obviously a setback, but in the bigger picture we are looking toward a new trial and proving his innocence." Brown added, “If the appeals court rules in our favor, we will be revisiting the bail issue.” Back in October, the lawyers asked the state of Maryland to release Syed because he had "served more than 17 years in prison based on an unconstitutional conviction for a crime he did not commit.” In the filings they wrote that he had "no history of violence" and didn't pose a threat to society. Three months earlier, Syed had been granted a re-trial to fight the 2000 conviction that sentenced him to life in prison. The state of Maryland is currently fighting Syed's appeal claiming that a judge wrongly allowed new arguments over cellphone evidence.

The Baltimore Sun reported that Deputy Attorney General Thiru Vignarajah doesn't think there is enough new information to warrant a new trial. He said there is "no new evidence, no change in law, no material link to the original justification for remand, and no reason why the claim could not have been raised at numerous prior proceedings." Syed's case is now in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, but Brown told People there is no set timeline for when he may hear back from the appeals court with a ruling. “It could be tomorrow it could be four months."