Biography
Adnan Syed: A Complete Timeline of His Trial, Appeal and Killing of Hae Min Lee
It’s been more than two decades since the body of Woodlawn High School senior Hae Min Lee was found at Leakin Park in West Baltimore, Maryland. Although her ex-boyfriend Adnan Syed, has been serving a life sentence plus 30 years since he was convicted in 2000, there may be just as many question marks on the case now as there were then, much of it sparked by the case gaining attention as the subject of the This American Life podcast Serial in 2014.
The only thing that’s certain: The 18-year-old victim was last seen on January 13, 1999, driving her 1998 Nissan Sentra on her way to pick up her 6-year-old cousin and then head to her job at LensCrafters, The Baltimore Sun reported at the time. She never showed up to either.
Syed has maintained his innocence during his decades in prison, yet a 2019 attempt to hear an appeal for a new trial was turned down by the Supreme Court.
The ins and outs of the timeline have been scrutinized and studied endlessly by professionals and amateurs alike. Here, we piece together the accounts as they reportedly happened in the 1999 teen murder case:
December 1998: Syed and Lee breakup
While their relationship was kept a secret because of both religious and cultural differences, classmates Syed and Lee dated in 1998, and broke up in December of that year, according to court records.
January 1, 1999: Lee and Don Clinedinst go on their first date
According to the Undisclosed podcast, Lee goes on her first date with her LensCrafter co-worker Don Clinedinst, who happens to be the son of the store manager.
January 13, 1999: Lee disappears
What happened on this particular day depends on who you talk to. As described by Syed to Serial, he goes to his photography and English classes and then calls his friend Jay Wilds, offering to lend him his car during his lunch period. Wilds then drops Syed back off at school, where he has a free period and then arrives late to his psychology class — it started at 12:50 p.m., but he entered at 1:27 p.m., as his teacher notes.
After class, he goes to the Woodlawn Public Library to check his email and chats with friend, Asia McClain. Then he goes to track practice. Wilds picks him up and the two go to a friend’s house. It’s while he’s there that Officer Scott Adcock calls Syed asking if he knew where Lee was. The student told the official that “he was suppose[d] to get a ride home from the victim, but he got detained at school and felt that she just got tired of waiting and left,” according to the 2019 appeal. Syed then picks up food on his way to meet his dad at the mosque for evening prayers, Serial reported.
As for Lee’s family, all they knew was that she didn’t show up to pick up her cousin, which is when they reported her missing. Classmates last saw her leaving school around 2:15 p.m.
February 9, 1999: Lee’s body is found in Leakin Park
Maintenance worker Alonzo Sellers, known as “Mr. S” on Serial, claimed he was drinking a 22-ounce Budweiser while driving when he made a pit stop. “I had to go to the bathroom so I pulled over and I went further in the woods so no one could see me,” he said on The Case Against Adnan Syed. “I walked around through the bushes and everything and I got back that way and I was getting ready to urinate when I looked down I seen something that looked like hair, something was covered by the dirt. And I looked real good again, and that’s when I seen what looked like a foot.” He later becomes a suspect because he walked 127 feet to find a place to use the restroom. Sellers had a previous record as an alleged streaker. Autopsy results later show that Lee was strangled, The Baltimore Sun reports.
Adnan Syed’s high school football photo
Photo: Courtesy of HBO
February 12, 1999: Anonymous calls inform the police to look into Syed
Baltimore City police detective Darryl Massey received two anonymous phone calls telling him to look into Lee’s ex-boyfriend as a possible suspect, Undisclosed: The State vs. Adnan Syed reported. There was a reward of $3,075 from CrimeStoppers for information on the case leading to the indictment.
February 28, 1999: Syed is arrested
In the wee hours of the night, Lee’s car is found around 4:30 a.m. and around 6 a.m., Syed is arrested at his home on the 7000 block of Johnnycake Road. He’s 17 at the time but charged with first-degree murder as an adult. Lee’s 16-year-old brother, Young Lee, speaking for his grandparents and mom, tells The Baltimore Sun that the news provided “some closure and some peace.” But they were just as shocked. “We were kind of surprised because she told us that he was one of her best friends,” he said.
March 1, 1999: McClain writes Syed a letter
Just after his arrest, McClain writes a letter to Syed and details talking to him in the library on January 13, Serial reported.
December 15, 1999: A mistrial is declared
The trial begins the second week of December and quickly ends as a mistrial, the court appeals papers say.
January 2000: The second trial begins
A second court proceedings begin, the papers say.
February 25, 2000: Syed is convicted
Following a six-week trial and two-hour jury deliberation, Syed is found guilty. He remains calm as handcuffs are being put on him, saying, “I’ll be alright…I have faith in the Lord. I know I didn’t kill her. The Lord knows I didn’t kill her,” The Baltimore Sun reported.
March 25, 2000: McClain writes an affidavit
Family friend and attorney Rabia Chaudry asks McClain to write an affidavit after Syed is convicted, Serial reported.
June 6, 2000: Lee’s mother gives an emotional testimony and Syed is given a life sentence
Lee’s mother, Youn Wha Kim, says she moved to America from Korea to give her kids a better life. “I would like to forgive Adnan Syed, but as of now, I just don’t know how I could,” she says. “When I die, my daughter will die with me. As long as I live, my daughter is buried in my heart.” The paper says she almost collapsed as she stepped off the witness stand and that her sobs from outside the courtroom could still be heard inside. Judge Wanda K. Heard gives Syed a life sentence plus 30 years.
Youn Kim (r), mother of Hae Min Lee, is escorted from her daughter’s Memorial Service by guidance counselor Gwen Kellam, on March 11, 1999, in Baltimore, Maryland
Photo: Elizabeth Malby/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
March 19, 2003: Syed’s appeal is denied
Syed’s first appeal is denied by the Court of Special Appeals, according to court records.
December 30, 2013: Syed’s petition for post-conviction relief is denied
After hearings in the Circuit Court between November 2010 and October 2012, Syed’s petition for post-conviction relief is denied, according to court papers.
October 3, 2014: ‘Serial’ debuts
The creators of the public radio show This American Life debut the podcast series Serial, hosted by Sarah Koenig, about the Lee murder mystery. In it, Koenig talks to Syed who says he’s innocent.
November 20, 2014: Syed’s family gives their first interview
Syed’s brother Yusef talks to CBS This Morning and admits he listens to the show. “I wake up as soon as they put it on,” he said. “Some days I’ll be like, ‘This is a really great episode,’ and some days I’ll feel down and depressed.”
February 6, 2015: Syed can appeal the post-conviction relief denial
Syed is given the chance to overturn the Baltimore City Circuit Court ruling that denied him post-conviction relief, thanks to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, Vulture reported.
November 6, 2015: The post-conviction relief case is reopened
The case is reopened to take into account McClain’s new testimony, new cell phone data and allegations of “ineffective assistance of counsel” as well as “prosecutorial misconduct,” according to Harper’s Bazaar.
February 2016: The hearing takes place
The five-day hearing includes witness testimonies from McClain, as well as a cell phone expert, Harper’s Bazaar reported.
June 30, 2016: Syed is granted a new trial
Justice Martin Welch vacates the original conviction, saying there should be a new trial. However, Syed is not allowed out on bail while he waits for the new trial. He ends up waiting more than two years.
March 8, 2019: The trial is then denied
In a sudden twist, the Maryland Court of Appeals votes 4 to 3 to reverse the decision, denying a new trial saying, “There is not a significant or substantial possibility that the verdict would have been different,” the Associated Press reported.
August 19, 2019: The Supreme Court is asked to look at the case
Syed’s lawyers asked the nation’s highest court to look into reversing the state’s decision.
November 25, 2019: The Supreme Court rejects bid for a new trial
Without comment, the Supreme Court decided not to open a new trial. “We are deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court, but by no means is this the end of Adnan Syed,” attorney C. Justin Brown told AP at the time. “There are other legal options and we are exploring each and every one of them.” Family friend and lawyer Chaudry added: “He is hanging in there. He knows that none of us are basically giving up. He has a great legal team. He has a lot of public support and walking away is not an option.”
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