BALTIMORE — More than 70 wrongfully convicted individuals from throughout the nation have expressed their assist for Adnan Syed, whose protracted authorized saga acquired widespread consideration from the “Serial” podcast and has since pitted crime victims’ rights advocates in opposition to proponents of prison justice reform.

In a short filed Monday with Maryland’s highest courtroom, the exonerees - who collectively have spent over 1220 years in jail for crimes they didn’t commit - highlighted the devastating impacts of a flawed prison justice system. They described looming hurdles they encountered upon launch from jail, together with boundaries to employment, monetary and housing insecurity, misplaced time with household, and severed social connections.

“All exonerees and their loved ones are also victims,” wrote attorneys with Georgetown University’s Prisons and Justice Initiative, the place Syed has labored since his launch from jail final yr. “Adnan Syed should not be exposed to any further suffering by being denied the opportunity to move forward and live his life.”

Recent courtroom filings current dueling notions of the decades-old homicide case because it continues crawling by way of the attraction course of. The case is at the moment pending earlier than the Maryland Supreme Court, which can think about whether or not a decrease courtroom violated the rights of Young Lee, whose sister Hae Min Lee was killed in 1999. Syed, her highschool ex-boyfriend, was convicted of homicide the next yr and sentenced to life in jail. He remained behind bars till final September, when a decide vacated his conviction as a result of Baltimore prosecutors discovered flaws within the proof in opposition to him.

The Lee household appealed that call, asserting the rights of crime victims and in search of a redo of the continuing that gained Syed his freedom after 23 years in jail. The Appellate Court of Maryland largely affirmed their arguments, reinstated Syed’s conviction and referred to as for a brand new vacatur listening to - a choice each events have since appealed for various causes.

The Maryland Supreme Court will think about their appeals throughout oral arguments Oct. 5.

Citing a state regulation that claims victims have to be handled with dignity and respect, attorneys for Young Lee declare he acquired inadequate discover concerning the vacatur listening to, which was scheduled on a Friday for the next Monday. He was unable to attend in particular person as a result of he lives on the West Coast, although he was allowed to make a press release by way of video convention.

“The court ran roughshod over these rights in the parties’ apparent zeal to free Mr. Syed unimpeded,” Lee’s attorneys wrote in a short filed Monday, a part of the most recent iterations of courtroom papers because the case drags on.

In a supporting transient, legal professionals with the National Crime Victim Law Institute cited “blatant disregard for the victim in this case,” although in addition they acknowledged the potential challenges of creating a authorized definition of dignity.

Meanwhile, attorneys for Syed need the state’s highest courtroom to reverse the appellate courtroom determination that reinstated his conviction and ordered a redo of the vacatur listening to. Syed has remained free pending a decision to the continuing attraction proceedings, however he nonetheless faces the opportunity of returning to jail sooner or later.

“The terrifying specter of reincarceration has hung over Mr. Syed’s head every day for the past ten months,” his attorneys wrote in a latest appellate transient.

They argued the Lee household did obtain ample discover concerning the listening to and, moreover, that their attraction was rendered moot when prosecutors determined to not recharge Syed after his conviction was vacated final yr. They additionally argued that even when Young Lee’s rights had been violated, he hasn’t demonstrated whether or not the alleged violation would have modified the result of the listening to.

Both events appealed to the Maryland Supreme Court after the Appellate Court of Maryland largely sided with the Lee household. In a 2-1 determination, the courtroom discovered Young Lee acquired inadequate discover to attend the vacatur listening to in particular person. But the judges additionally stated state regulation doesn't assure crime victims a “right to be heard” in the course of the hearings - a choice that falls to the presiding decide. Allowing victims to current proof or in any other case have interaction substantively would “result in a huge shift in practice,” the judges dominated.

Lee’s attraction asks the upper courtroom to rethink that piece of the ruling and to develop the position of victims throughout such proceedings. Experts say a shift towards victims’ rights may stymie reform efforts amid a rising motion throughout the American prison justice system to acknowledge and proper previous errors, together with police misconduct and prosecutorial missteps.

In Syed’s case, Baltimore prosecutors began reviewing his information underneath a Maryland regulation concentrating on so-called “juvenile lifers” as a result of he was 17 when Hae Min Lee was discovered strangled to demise and buried in a makeshift grave. Many states have handed related legal guidelines in recent times for the reason that U.S. Supreme Court prohibited necessary life sentences for youngsters convicted of significant crimes.

The prosecutors’ overview uncovered quite a few issues, together with various suspects and unreliable proof offered at trial. Instead of reconsidering his sentence, prosecutors filed a movement to vacate Syed’s conviction solely.

If his conviction is once more vacated as soon as the attraction is resolved, prosecutors may nonetheless search new expenses and doubtlessly retry the case.

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Associated Press author Brian Witte in Annapolis contributed to this report.

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