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prison's injustice initiative. sayed spent 23 years behind bars for the killing of his ex-girlfriend. it contained international attention after the serial podcast. he was exonerated after dna of her shoes and clothing ruled him out. the initiative on the georgetown addresses root causes of mass incarceration and offers educational programs to insaeuts. syed also hopes to attend law school. infamous french serial killer is now walking free. charles was released from prison in nepal friday and is now back in france, according to afp. the 79-year-old was serving a life sentence for killing two tourists in 1975 but many of his alleged murders remain unsolved. his story inspired the award-nominated series "the per sent." he was released because he has heart disease and needs open
about all the unreliable evidence in the podcast, which was taken into the courtroom, so that is the direction of travel there? but they lost in the courtroom. that is the important thing to understand, the state of maryland's highest court of appeal rejected arguments put forth. amazingly, but not surprisingly, i say amazingly because from the perspective of a layman but not surprisingly from the perspective of a lawyer, the high court found that syed's lawyer at trial was incompetent, but basically, that he had waived certain claims by not raising them earlier. she was incompetent, because she failed to examine an alibi witness but they said the guilt was overwhelming against him, and that syed waived his claim that cell tower evidence was faulty and could not have properly linked him to this case. so they found...
disturbed, except disturbed unless there was something extraordinary, and they did not find this extraordinary. let me ask you then, how frequent do you think these sorts of, if i can put it, miscarriages ofjustice are? is this a major, widespread, fundamental problem in the states, or are these just one—offs? i think it is a major problem. i've seen it, there are too many stories of this that do not get reversed, because basically procedural roadblocks are put in place to allow for, to allow, to prevent appellate courts from looking at the things that could clear somebody, but really, but for this podcast casting light on this, and again, notwithstanding the podcast, syed lost in court. it was with the change of administration and finally re—examining or examining dna evidence, that cleared him and now, the state's attorney, the local baltimore prosecutor, is going to file a motion
but they lost in the courtroom. that is the important thing to understand, the state of maryland's highest court of appeal rejected arguments put forth. amazingly, but not surprisingly, i say amazingly, because from the perspective of a layman but not surprisingly from the perspective of a lawyer, the high court found that syed's lawyer at trial was incompetent, but basically, that he had waived certain claims by not raising them earlier. she was incompetent, because she failed to examine an alibi witness but they said the guilt was overwhelming against him, and that syed waived his claim that cell tower evidence was faulty and could not have properly linked him to this case. so they found... but they excused all that and excused prosecutors because in this country, a jury verdict is considered sacrosanct, it's believed, it's not to be
the podcast, a lot of people would not have known about this, and it's that podcast that basically, that one, as well as the netflix documentary, making a murderer, that has shed light or put sunlight upon prosecutors or law enforcement in a way that it's never been done before because tv shows like law and order make prosecutors to be these holy or godlike warriors. and so, while i am a former prosecutor, i've been a defence attorney nearly half my life, and this is a good thing that has come about. there was dna evidence that was tested that could have been tested a long time ago that syed's dna was not on her clothing, there was dna from four other people. sorry to interrupt you, these are details that 300—odd million people who downloaded this podcast know far better than i do, i haven't followed the podcast, but they presumably learned
the landmark podcast "serial." an attorney for adnan syed said he will spend his time truly being free without the burden of having to wear an ankle monitor, this after prosecutors made it official and dropped the charges against syed for the 1999 murder of his girlfriend after releasing him from prison last month. they did it after receiving new dna test results on items that had never been tested before which they say excluded syed from evidence collected at the crime scene. all of this the result of syed's case gaining national attention on the first season of the "serial" podcast in 2014. he was already serving a life sentence but new evidence came to light, much of it shown in that podcast. previous prosecutors on the case had failed to tell syed's defense attorney about evidence that would have allowed him to
defend himself, including that there were two other possible suspects in the case. syed served 23 years behind bars before his release last month. the state did have a 30-day period to decide whether or not to refile the case but once that dna evidence came in late last friday, the decision was made to officially drop it. >> he is elated. he is joyful. he is still processing this. i mean, i think you can imagine this has been -- there have been so many ups and downs over the past 23 years so he is really just taking it all in, but he's incredibly grateful for all of the people who have supported him and believed in him over the years. >> although my administration was not responsible for neither the pain inflicted upon hayman lee's family, nor was my administration responsible for the wrongful conviction of mr. syed. as a representative of the
years because syed was sentenced to life in prison back in the year 2,000 for allegedly killing his ex-girlfriend. true crime podcast "serial" made his case the center of its first season, garnering support for the accused murderer nationwide while also raising questions about the handling of that investigation back of a judge says there were discrepancies with how evidence was handled. prosecutors will now have 30 days to drop the charges or retry the case because syed will remain under gps surveillance until the decision is made paper at a florida prosecutor, who was removed by governor ron desantis has been denied his request to be reinstated to andrew warren was suspended as suspended as hillsborough county's top prosecutor after refusing to enforce the state's abortion ban, or loss on transgender health cover miners. stood desantis. that case will now head to trial. >> todd: a democrat texas
our north america correspondent david willis has the story. cheering, screaming. adnan syed allowed himselfjust the faintest of smiles as he left court after 23 years in jail. his supporters have long maintained his innocence, yet every appeal over the course of the last two decades has been denied. adnan syed was found guilty of strangling his former high school sweetheart, hae min lee, and burying her body in a shallow grave. she was 18 at the time of her death, he was 17. and were it not for one of the foremost true—crime podcasts, mr syed might have been destined
adnan syed allowed himselfjust the faintest of smiles as he left court after 23 years in jail. his supporters have long maintained his innocence, yet every appeal over the course of the last two decades has been denied. adnan syed was found guilty of strangling his former high—school sweetheart, hae min lee, and burying her body in a shallow grave. she was 18 at the time of her death, he was 17. and were it not for one of the foremost true—crime podcasts, mr syed might have been destined to spend the rest of his life behind bars. the most popular podcast in the world at the time, serial not only focused worldwide attention on the case but raised serious questions about the validity of his conviction — doubts prosecutors in mr syed's home town of baltimore came to share when they set about re—examining the evidence. at their behest, a judge has now