Now that Adnan Syed has a new trial, the Serial focal point is powering up his legal team.
Lawyers from the Baltimore office of multinational law firm Hogan Lovells are set to join attorney Justin Brown. In a statement, Brown said the firm brings litigation know-how to the team. Hogan Lovells, which is based in the Legg Mason tower in Harbor East, is taking on the case pro bono.
“If the state elects to proceed with a retrial, we intend to tap into our extensive trial experience and many years of handling innocence cases to work to ensure that Adnan receives the best legal defense possible,” said Steve Barley, Hogan Lovells’ Office Managing Partner in Baltimore.
Meanwhile, Serial host Sarah Koenig weighed in on the decision in a blog post. Calling the judge’s decision to overturn his conviction a “long shot,’ Koenig reports that she and producer Julie Snyder simultaneously gasped and put their hands over their mouths when hearing the decision. Supplying her first jailhouse calls with Syed, she reflected on his initial postion with her: “If only someone would take another look…
“Boy oh boy did Judge Welch take another look…,” she writes.
She also points out that the family of Hae Min Lee, whom Syed was initially convicted of killing in 1999, issued a statement saying they “continue to grieve.”
“I can only imagine that’s an understatement,” Koenig writes.
