Adnan Syed attorney Erica Suter on justice & the Innocence Project

By Tom Hall,

Malarie Pinkard-Pierre, Teria Rogers, Rob Sivak

Published September 22, 2022 at 12:00 PM EDT

Adnan Syed, center, leaves the Cummings Courthouse in Baltimore on Monday. A judge has ordered the release of Syed after overturning his conviction for a 1999 murder that was chronicled in the hit podcast <em>Serial</em>. — Adnan Syed, center, leaves the Cummings Courthouse in Baltimore on Monday. A judge ordered the release of Syed after overturning his conviction for a 1999 murder that was chronicled in the hit podcast, "Serial." (AP Photo by Brian Witte)

It’s Midday on the Law.

On Monday, Adnan Syed was released from prison and allowed to go home, with a GPS monitor, after 23 years behind bars. His conviction for murdering Hae-Min Lee in 1999 was vacated. He was not exonerated of the crime, although that may happen.

Mr. Syed’s case was chronicled in the podcast, Serial, and in an HBO documentary series. Mr. Syed remains, at this moment, charged with killing Hae-Min Lee, his high school classmate and former girlfriend.

The Baltimore City States Attorney’s Office has 28 days to decide whether or not to re-try Mr. Syed. Mr. Syed has always maintained he was not the person who murdered Ms. Lee.

Tom's guest today is Erica J. Suter, the director of the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law, and Assistant Public Defender in the Maryland Office of the Public Defender.

Ms. Suter is the lawyer for Adnan Syed, and it was her advocacy and the work of Becky Feldman, the Chief of the Sentencing Review Unit in the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, that persuaded Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn to overturn Mr. Syed’s conviction.

Erica J. Suter joins us here in Studio A…

Defense attorney Erica J. Suter, who is serving as public defender for Adnan Syed, is a Professor of the Practice at University of Baltimore Law School and director of the Innocence Project Clinic. The Innocence Project is a collaboration between U Balt Law and the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, where Erica Suter also serves as an ASssistant Public Defender. (UBalt Law photo) — Defense attorney Erica J. Suter, who is serving as public defender for Adnan Syed, is a Professor of the Practice at University of Baltimore Law School and director of the Innocence Project Clinic. The Innocence Project is a collaboration between U Balt Law and the Maryland Office of the Public Defender, where Erica Suter also serves as an Assistant Public Defender. (UBalt Law photo)