Courtesy: SerialThings are looking up for Serial's Adnan Syed. Or at least as close to up as they've looked for a long time.
Syed, who was convicted 15 years ago of murdering his high school classmate Hae Min Lee, has been attempting to convince the court to grant him a new trial for over a decade now. And, over the weekend, the Baltimore Sun reported that the Maryland State of Appeals agreed to hear his case. But, as with everything connected to Serial, it's not as simple as it sounds.
Syed's central argument in his quest for an appeal has been a much-discussed element of the podcast: That his lawyer, the late Cristina Gutierrez, didn't provide him with adequate representation. He's been arguing that Gutierrez didn't investigate the so-called Asia Letters (dubbed as such by Serial host Sarah Koenig), an affidavit that his classmate wrote stating that she was with him in the library during the alleged time of Lee's death. Asia McClain was never contacted by Adnan's lawyer, and he believes that would have provided him an alibi. As fans of the show know, Koenig was also perplexed by the lawyer's failure to explore the letters further.
And it seems that the court may agree. Basically, what this weekend's decision means is that the court believes Adnan's argument is worth hearing. According to The Sun, he now has until March 16 to file briefings that will prove to the court why he deserves a new trial. They'll then have a month to consider all of the evidence and decide whether to give Adnan a second chance.
It's all very iffy, but for many who have followed this case, it's a relief to get one small step towards closure. And no one should be more interested than Sarah Koenig herself. While she never officially ruled on whether she believes Adnan is innocent or guilty, she did make it clear that she thought a lot of things went wrong with the original trial. Naturally, she took to the Serial website to comment.
"In Episode 10 of the podcast, I reported that this appeal was alive by a thread," wrote Koenig. "Now, I'd say it's more of a…well-made string, maybe. Like the nylon kind. Because it means that the Court of Special Appeals judges think the issues Adnan raised in his brief are worth considering. That's a pretty big hurdle for any appellant to clear."
Since Koenig & Co. are nowhere near choosing a case to follow for the second season of the podcast, you can bet that Serial fans will be keeping a very close watch on what happens next for Adnan.