Why Adnan Syed Was Released From Prison

Adnan Syed was accused of the 1999 killing of his classmate and ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, whose body was found buried in a car park in Baltimore.He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison but has proclaimed his innocence for the last 23 years.Mr. Syed was the subject of the first season of the podcast “Serial,” which painstakingly examined his case and the evidence against him.Yesterday, his conviction was overturned. On today’s episode, the “Serial” team looks at how this happened. Guest: Sarah Koenig, the host and executive producer of the “Serial” podcast.Background reading: Mr. Syed had been serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of his high school classmate Hae Min Lee. Here is the timeline of his legal journey.A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge vacated Mr. Syed’s conviction “in the interests of justice and fairness.”For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.