Attorneys representing the brother of Hae Min Lee, the teenager whose 1999 killing was investigated on the hit podcast “Serial,” requested a redo of the hearing in which a judge vacated the murder conviction of Adnan Syed.
Syed had been accused of killing the teen and served more than 20 years in prison before his release in September. The judge’s decision to vacate the conviction came nearly eight years after the podcast dug into the case and raised questions about the conviction and Syed’s legal representation.
Court documents filed in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals on Friday, allege prosecutors and the circuit court (where the conviction was vacated) violated the rights of Young Lee, the victim’s brother.
The documents allege the court failed to give the brother adequate notice about the hearing, withheld evidence from the family, and did not give him a proper chance to be heard at the proceedings.
They call for Young Lee to be given the opportunity to challenge prosecutors’ evidence and witnesses, and be able to call his own.
“Mr. Lee of course does not want to see a wrongly convicted man imprisoned, but it does no one justice for the court to make such pivotal decisions without the facts,” Steve Kelly, the attorney representing the Lee family, told CNN in a statement.
The filings come after Lee’s family appealed the judge’s decision to vacate the conviction and a Maryland Court of Special Appeals earlier this year ruled the appeal can move forward and will be scheduled for consideration in February.
Following Friday’s court filings, an attorney for Syed said “Justice for Hae Min Lee means finding the actual killer, not furthering the harm experienced by Adnan Syed and his family.”
Attorney Erica Suter further disagreed with the nature of the appeal regarding proper notification of the hearings, and said the Lee’s family was properly notified.
“The closure they seek is not found in incarcerating an innocent man,” Suter said in a statement to CNN.