Adnan Syed

Adnan Syed was convicted in 2000 of killing his former girlfriend and Woodlawn High School classmate Hae Min Lee. This was the topic of the popular podcast 'Serial'. Syed has been serving life in prison since and appealed his conviction in 2016. Months later, a judge granted him a new trial. The State appealed but the ruling was upheld by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals. The State then appealed that decision. Now the Maryland Court of Appeals will decide whether to reinstate the original murder conviction. Appeal Issues: Criminal Law - 1) Did CSA err in holding that defense counsel pursuing an alibi strategy without speaking to one specific potential witness violates the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of effective assistance of counsel? 2) Did CSA draw itself into conflict with Curtis v. State, 284 Md. 132 (1978), when it found that Respondent waived his ineffective assistance of counsel claim based on trial counsel’s failure to challenge cell-tower location data, where the claim implicated the fundamental right to effective counsel and was therefore subject to the statutory requirement of knowing and intelligent waiver?.