A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge has ordered new DNA testing in the case of Adnan Syed, whose murder conviction was the subject of the hugely popular first season of the “Serial” podcast.
Judge Melissa Phinn on Monday ordered the Baltimore Police Department to send evidence in the case to the Forensic Analytical Crime Lab in Hayward, California, within 15 days, according to court documents.
Syed is serving a life sentence after he was convicted of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and false imprisonment in February 2000 for the slaying of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee.
The pair were seniors at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County in January 1999 when she disappeared. Her strangled body was discovered in a city forest three weeks later.
Syed, now 40, has been appealing his convictions for years.
Rabia Chaudry, a public advocate for Syed, on Tuesday tweeted: “Look out killer. We are coming for you.”
Syed and prosecutors last week filed a joint motion for post-conviction DNA testing, saying that since the crime occurred more than two decades ago, “DNA testing has changed and improved drastically.”
“Ms. Lee’s clothing, shoes, and certain other evidence recovered from the scene have not been subject to DNA testing,” the motion said. “(Syed) seeks to use the most advanced DNA testing methodologies that are currently available to analyze the biological evidence collected from the scene in an effort to exculpate him.”
His legal team reached out to State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby’s office after Maryland passed a law in April allowing people who were convicted as juveniles to request a modified sentence after they’ve served at least 20 years in prison, Mosby said in a March 10 statement on Twitter.
In the 2019 HBO docuseries “The Case Against Adnan Syed,” an attorney for Syed said his client’s DNA was not found on any of the 12 samples retrieved from the victim’s body and car. That testing was not part of the official investigation by authorities. HBO, like CNN, is a unit of WarnerMedia.
At trial, prosecutors relied on testimony from a friend, Jay Wilds, who said he helped Syed dig a hole for Lee’s body. To corroborate his account, prosecutors presented cell phone records and expert witness testimony to place Syed at the site where Lee was buried.
CNN’s Rebekah Riess, Amanda Watts and Elizabeth Joseph contributed to this report.
