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Syed, 36, is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of
his former girlfriend Hae Min Lee, 18. His lawyers had sought a
new trial amid questions about the fairness of the case that
were raised by the podcast in late 2014.
Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Martin Welch ordered Syed's
conviction vacated because of ineffective legal help.
"Petitioner's request for a new trial is hereby granted," Welch
wrote in his order.
Lee's body was found buried in a Baltimore park. Syed was
convicted in 2000 of murdering her.
Welch, who oversaw a five-day hearing in February about
reopening the case, said Syed's original lawyer, Cristina
Gutierrez, had failed to cross-examine prosecutors' expert about
the reliability of cellphone tower location evidence.
During the hearing, Syed's lawyers had argued that Gutierrez had
failing skills when she defended him. She later was disbarred,
and died in 2004.
Welch rejected Syed's lawyers' contention that his original
defense team had failed to call an alibi witness, Asia McClain
Chapman.
A former high school classmate of Syed, she testified during the
hearing that she had spoken with him at a library on the day
that Lee went missing and that he appeared calm.
(Reporting by Daniel Wallis and Ian Simpson; Editing by Leslie
Adler)
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