BALTIMORE — Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh says his office should be representing the state in ongoing litigation of the Adnan Syed case.
Frosh and Syed's defense team have been back and forth in court trying to get each other disqualified from the appeals process.
Syed's team has accused Frosh's office of "prejudging" the case, and "demonstrating a bias," that prevents them from performing their constitutional duty.
In response, the Attorney General's Office said they are "constitutionally designated to represent the State of Maryland in the appellate courts."
Frosh has conceded the outcome of the appeal likely would not impact Syed, hence the motion to strike his defense team as a party.
On October 11 Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby optedto drop all charges against Syed, who'd previously been convicted in 1999 of murdering Hae Min Lee.
Although Frosh has admitted to being at odds with Mosby on how the decision was handled, his office said they have no intention of arguing the merits to vacate Syed's life-time sentence.
As partial reasoning for her decision to free Syed, Mosby cited the Attorney General's Office's failure to disclose evidence during the original trial.
RELATED:Timeline: Adnan Syed's 23-year journey to freedom
Frosh's office has denied the allegations, but said they're "not interested in using this appeal to litigate culpability."
What they are interested in is whether Mosby's office "complied with the laws governing the treatment of victims."
Frosh claims Lee’s family was only given two days notice, prior to Mosby's office filing a motion to have Syed's conviction tossed.
The family also was apparently not told about their right to speak at the hearing, which they'd only been made aware of one business day in advance.
An attempt by Lee's family to have the hearing postponed was denied by a Baltimore Circuit Court judge, who instead ordered the family to testify virtually rather than in person.
Lee's family appealed to halt the proceedings but was rebuffed bringing the case to where it is now, before the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.
Meanwhile, Syed is a free man. Mosby's office insists the investigation into Lee's murder is ongoing, as it looks into other potential suspects. She released the statement below, in response to Frosh's latest court filing.
"Attorney General Brian Frosh and his office mishandled and sat on exculpatory evidence for years and his recent attempts to save face are a complete disservice to the family of Hae Min Lee and to Adnan Syed who was wrongfully incarcerated for 23 years. We stand by our investigation and our ultimate finding that there is no credible evidence that Mr. Syed was involved in the death of Ms. Lee. Our investigation is extensive, and only a portion of our findings were outlined in the motion in order to present enough compelling evidence for the court to consider our request, without compromising the rest of this open and pending investigation.
It is extremely troubling that the Attorney General, who is clearly biased and is in self-preservation mode to protect himself as well as the original prosecutor and post-conviction attorney in the case, is legally asserting that prosecutors don’t have to disclose to the defense an alternative suspect that threatens to kill the victim because the person reporting the threat was not sure if the threat was serious or not. The problem is that the Attorney General’s argument is completely contrary to the law and is the reason why a Judge rightfully concluded that it was a Brady violation.
Our office has always and will continue to treat the family of Hae Min Lee with respect. We not only notified the family prior to filing the motion, we provided them a copy of the motion, explained the reasons for the decision, offered counseling, provided personal cell phone numbers with multiple invitations to call or text at any time, and when the court set the matter in for a hearing, we secured a means for any member of the family to observe the hearing virtually. In our pursuit of justice for their loved one, my office stands ready to talk to the family at any time."
