Adnan Syed case, subject of 'Serial,' back in court after conviction reinstatement

The case of Adnan Syed was yet again in front of a court on Thursday, the latest development in a winding legal saga stemming from his conviction for the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend that drew international attention through the "Serial" podcast.

Syed, 42, was released from jail last September when a Maryland court overturned his conviction after a DNA test excluded Syed's DNA.

But Syed's conviction was reinstated in March after a Maryland court determined that a family member of the victim, Hae Min Lee, was not given sufficient notice. Syed remained free, but his attorneys have noted that the legal situation raised the potential for him to be reincarcerated. City prosecutors formerly dropped charges after finding flaws in the evidence.

On Thursday, Syed's attorneys were appealing the reinstatement of his murder conviction and seeking to keep him from returning to jail.

"For nearly a year, Mr. Syed has lived as a free man in one sense, but not in another," wrote Syed's lawyer Erica Suter in a petitioner's brief. "The terrifying specter of reincarceration has hung over Mr. Syed’s head every day for the past ten months."

The victim's brother, Young Lee, said he was denied his rights when the court did not grant him a "meaningful opportunity to appear and be heard" at an in-person hearing.

In a statement to the court using Zoom, Lee said he felt the motion to vacate Syed's conviction was "unfair," adding that "wanted to say this in person," but didn’t know he had the opportunity, according to the appeal. Lee, who lives in Los Angeles, said Becky Feldman, the state's attorney in the case, did not inform him of the Monday hearing until the Friday before, leaving him no time to fly to Baltimore to attend it in person.

Syed's attorneys countered that his conviction was already overturned, rendering any appeal by Lee in the case moot. They also argued there was no evidence to indicate the results of the hearing would have been different had Lee attended in person.

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Legal battles draw public attention through 'Serial'

The overturning of Syed's conviction came after a decades-long legal battle that attracted intense public attention amid the "Serial" podcast's investigation of the case and the questions it raised about evidence against Syed.

After a protracted legal battle, a DNA test requested by Syed produced no forensic ties to him, triggering a motion to vacate his conviction and freeing him after 23 years in prison.

That happened three years after a Maryland court refused to give Syed a new trial.

David Sanford, pro bono counsel for Young Lee, said Thursday that victims should be treated with dignity and respect.

"The Maryland Supreme Court has an opportunity to clarify the extent of victims’ rights in Maryland. Once and for all, the Maryland Court should hold that victims have the right to receive reasonable notice of criminal proceedings, the right to appear at criminal proceedings, and the right to meaningfully participate in criminal proceedings," he said in a statement to USA TODAY.

Steve Kelly, an attorney formerly representing Hae Min Lee's family, told USA TODAY the case matters to Maryland crime victims. "The court is really deciding the degree to which crime victims have the right to participate meaningfully in post-conviction hearings," Kelly said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Adnan Syed case of 'Serial' back in court after conviction reinstated