US Supreme Court denies new trial for ‘Serial’s’ Adnan Syed

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the request of Adnan Syed’s new legal team for a new trial. Syed was convicted in 2000 and is serving a life sentence for the murder of 17-year-old Hae Min Lee.

Prosecutors in his trial claimed Syed had kidnapped and strangled Hae Min after she had broken off a relationship with him.

The Syed case garnered national attention in 2014 after an American podcast called “Serial” dedicated its first season to his story.

Adnan Syed's lawyers, Christopher Nieto, left, and attorney Justin Brown, right, speak to the media during a press conference in Baltimore, Md., Thursday, March, 29, 2018.

“We are deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court, but by no means is this the end of Adnan Syed,” defense attorney C. Justin Brown told The Associated Press. “There are other legal options and we are exploring each and every one of them.”

Syed’s new legal team argued that he deserves a new trial because his former lawyer failed to bring a witness to the stand who claims she saw Syed in their high school library at the time prosecutors argue he was strangling his victim.

Syed’s legal counsel believes that legal misstep, made on the part of his trial lawyer Cristina Guitierrez, violated his right to have competent legal representation. Guitierrez passed away in 2004.

In this Dec. 10, 2014 file photo, prison artwork created by Adnan Syed sits near family photos in the home of his mother, Shamim Syed, in Baltimore.

Two Maryland courts agreed with arguments made by Syed’s legal team, but the Maryland Court of Appeals still denied Syed a new trial. The court of appeals did, however, recognize his trial lawyer’s work was lacking.

Rabia Chaudry poses for a portrait during the 2019 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019 in Pasadena, Calif.

Rabia Chaudry, an attorney and friend of Syed’s family who brought his case to the attention of “This American Life,” which developed the podcast, said Monday that the Supreme Court’s decision “was fully expected.”

“We were just waiting. It was just a technicality. Now it’s done, so we can move forward,” she said of the high court’s move. “He is doing fine. He is hanging in there. He knows that none of us are basically giving up. He has a great legal team. He was a lot of public support and walking away is not an option.”