Despite maintaining the murder conviction, Judge Jennifer Schiffer agreed to the light sentence under a relatively new state law that provides a pathway to release for people convicted of crimes committed when they were minors. The judge ruled that he will be on supervised probation for five years.
“After considering the entire record, the court concludes that the Defendant is not a danger to the public and that the interests of justice will be better served by a reduced sentence," Schiffer wrote in the decision.
The judge’s ruling followed a hearing last week that included emotional testimony from Syed and relatives of the victim, Hae Min Lee, who was strangled and buried in a shallow grave in a Baltimore park in 1999.
Both prosecutors and defense attorneys told Schiffer that Syed, now 43, doesn’t pose a risk to public safety. Lee’s brother and mother urged the judge to uphold his life sentence.
Syed, who has maintained his innocence, was released from prison in 2022 after Baltimore prosecutors said they had uncovered problems with the case and moved to vacate his conviction, which was later reinstated on appeal.
David Sanford, an attorney for Lee's family, said in a statement after the ruling that the state last week acknowledged it had previously presented false and misleading information during former Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby's tenure to the court in support of releasing Syed.
“We now know there was never any new information that called into question Adnan Syed’s guilty verdict," Sanford said. "Absolutely nothing changes the fact that Mr. Syed remains convicted of first-degree premeditated murder due to overwhelming direct and circumstantial evidence. We hope that one day Mr. Syed can summon the courage to take responsibility for his crime and express sincere remorse.”
