BALTIMORE — Baltimore City prosecutors on Tuesday dropped all charges against Adnan Syed.
In September a Baltimore judge overturned Syed's life-time sentence, ordering him to be released from prison and placed on home detention pending a new trial.
Now there will be no new trial, meaning Syed is a free man.
Syed's case gained national attention when it was featured on the podcast Serial, which questioned some evidence used to originally convict him in 1999 of Hae Min Lee's murder.
MORE: Adnan Syed's life sentence vacated, given home detention pending new trial
In justifying her decision to drop charges, Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby cited a second round of testing which failed to show Syed's DNA on Lee's clothing from the night she was killed.
Mosby said Lee's skirt, pantyhose, jacket and shoes had never undergone prior testing. The results, according to Mosby prove that Syed was "wrongfully convicted."
Prosecutors now believe two other suspects could have potentially been responsible for Lee's murder, but have yet to release more information. Her shoes did have the DNA of four individuals on them, but Mosby didn't elaborate if it belonged to any of the other potential suspects.
Erica Suter, the public defender representing Syed, celebrated the latest development in the case.
“Finally, Adnan Syed is able to live as a free man," Suter said. "The DNA results confirmed what we have already known and what underlies all of the current proceedings, that Adnan is innocent and lost 23 years of his life serving time for a crime he did not commit.”
Steve Kelly, an attorney representing Lee's family said they were blindsided by the announcement.
“Hae Min Lee’s family learned through media accounts this morning that the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office dismissed the charges against Adnan Syed," Kelly said. "The family received no notice and their attorney was offered no opportunity to be present at the proceeding. By rushing to dismiss the criminal charges, the State’s Attorney’s Office sought to silence Hae Min Lee’s family and to prevent the family and the public from understanding why the State so abruptly changed its position of more than 20 years. All this family ever wanted was answers and a voice. Today’s actions robbed them of both.”
Mosby disputed Kelly's claims, saying she did reach out before revealing her decision but received no response.
An appeals court has since given the Lee family 15 days to make their case as to why charges against Syed should be reinstated.
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh who has been at odds with Mosby filed a motion in court last Friday, defending the family's request for an appeal.
Frosh said he would argue to prevent Syed from being a party in the appeals process, which if granted could hamper his attorneys from participating or opposing the measure.
As for Mosby, she says "the case is over."
Suter acknowledged the looming appeal but said she expects to file for Syed's official exoneration, sometime soon.
“While the proceedings are not completely over, this is an important step for Adnan, who has been on house arrest since the motion to vacate was first granted last month,” Suter said. “He still needs some time to process everything that has happened and we ask that you provide him and his family with that space.”
She declined to comment on whether Syed would eventually sue for being wrongfully convicted.
