Less than a month ago, a judge vacated Adnan Syed’s murder conviction and granted him a retrial. His primary reasoning was that Syed received ineffective counsel because his attorney didn’t cross-examine the state’s expert about cell tower data.
Now, Maryland’s attorney general has filed documents saying they plan to appeal the decision and ask that the retrial be put on hold while the appeal process plays out.
Experts have noted that an appeal could push Syed’s retrial back at least several months.
Syed has been in prison since 2000 serving a life sentence after being convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, but his case didn’t begin to garner attention until the story was featured on season one of the Serial podcast in 2014.
Both Syed’s lawyer and a spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office have declined to comment.
