Baltimore prosecutors on Tuesday dropped charges against Adnan Syed, the man whose legal saga rose because of the hit true crime podcast, "Serial." After Syed's murder conviction was overturned last month, the State Attorney's Office had been weighing whether or dismiss the case from the 1999 death of Hae Min Lee or to retry him for her death, The Baltimore Sun reports. Prosecutors moved to have his conviction thrown out after they said a year-long investigation uncovered two alternative suspects. Syed's attorney, Erica Suter, confirmed prosecutors dropped her client's charges but declined to comment further.
Syed was 18 when he was sentenced to life in prison for the death of his ex-girlfriend, Lee, whose body was found in the woods in 1999, BBC reports. Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn said she was vacating his conviction "in the interest of fairness and justice," adding that the state had failed to share evidence that could have helped his defense at trial. The decision does not mean he is innocent. Every appeal Syed has filed over the last two decades has been denied, including his latest attempt in 2019. Neither of the alternative suspects has been named, but officials said that both have documented records of violence toward women, including convictions that occurred after Syed's trial.