BALTIMORE -- Prosecutors dropped charges against Adnan Syed on Tuesday in the 1999 killing of Hae Min Lee, a case that was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial," a true-crime series that revolutionized the genre, a newspaper reported.
A Baltimore judge last month ordered the release of Syed after overturning his conviction. Prosecutors had been weighing whether to retry the case.
The Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday that a hearing on dropping the charges was not docketed in online court records. Defense attorney Erica Suter confirmed to the newspaper that prosecutors dropped the charges.
The prosecutor’s office didn’t immediately respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
After Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn ordered that Syed’s conviction be vacated last month, she approved the release of the now-41-year-old. He had spent more than two decades behind bars.
Phinn ruled that the state violated its legal obligation to share evidence that could have bolstered Syed’s defense. Syed was placed on home detention with GPS location monitoring, and the state had 30 days to seek a new trial date or dismiss the case.
Syed has maintained his innocence for decades and captured the attention of millions in 2014 when the debut season of the “Serial” podcast focused on the case and raised doubts about some of the evidence, including cellphone tower data.
