Sarah Koenig Photograph: PR

The Serial podcast ended last December, but the fight to exonerate Adnan Syed, the man at the centre of the story who was convicted of murdering his classmate Hae Min Lee, has continued. While Sarah Koenig ended the series undecided about Syed’s innocence or guilt, I haven’t wavered in my belief for the past 16 years.

As Serial was being broadcast, two attorneys, independently from me, began investigating and blogging about the case. Susan Simpson, an attorney from the DC area, and Colin Miller, a law professor from South Carolina, wrote prolifically on every angle of the investigation, prompting me to offer them all of the source documents so they could continue to dig. Over the past six months, this produced evidence suggesting that elements of the case may have been inaccurate. From the time and manner of the victim’s burial, to the cell tower evidence used to pin down Syed’s movements, to the ever-changing testimony of the state’s star (and only) witness Jay Wilds, Simpson and Miller were able to identify missteps during the trial, as well as misconduct by police, prosecutors and the defence counsel.



However, this information didn’t get much exposure; reading lengthy, heavy blogs was not in the public interest, and now that Serial was over, people were moving on. Thus our own podcast, Undisclosed, was born.

Since April of this year the podcast, which currently has 19 episodes, has garnered nearly 30 million listens. Our listeners come from across the world and, despite our rather geeky, detailed, and information-heavy show (created and hosted by three attorneys with no experience podcasting), the feedback has been phenomenal. There was still a great craving for more details about the case, for in-depth analysis, for resolution. And it’s not just the public listening. Lawyers, law clerks and, yes, even judges are listening, including local ones who have a keen interest in the Baltimore case.

Since then, there has been a remarkable turn of events in Syed’s case, from a procedural perspective. Last year, his petition for post-conviction relief, in which he would have been able to raise new evidence for the first time, was denied. His attorney immediately appealed that denial but, in the state of Maryland, such appeals are granted in fewer than 2% of cases. Syed’s appeal, however,was granted earlier this year after his attorney filed a vital supplement claiming that a key alibi witness, Asia McLain, had been persuaded against testifying by the prosecutor in the case. The same prosecutor, according to McLain’s affidavit, lied under oath about why McLain did not appear in court. McLain would never have known about the prosecutor’s statements if it wasn’t for Serial; she felt compelled to come forward after listening.

This evidence regarding the conduct of the prosecutor may have led to the higher court’s next decision. It remanded the case back down to the lower court, the same court that had denied it in January 2014, in order to admit McLain’s new affidavit and testimony. All of this happened within a span of months – a speed unheard of under normal circumstances.

Now, the same judge has been assigned to the case that originally denied the first post-conviction appeal. Syed’s attorney has also filed a new supplement: a fax cover sheet from phone company AT&T which explicitly states incoming calls cannot be used to determine the location of the cell phone receiving the call, calling into question the cell tower evidence that the state originally used against him.

Hae Min Lee. PR Photograph: PR

Most recently, Undisclosed revealed an even greater violation by the state: the potential cover up of a paid tipster – information which came to us via a listener who was able to connect with someone inside CrimeStoppers, the institution that made the payment in 1999.

Syed’s attorney will now be verifying this information and using it to file a motion for a new trial. We expect a hearing on all these issues within the next few months and are preparing to finally present Syed’s alibi witness and other evidence to the court. And yet, there is still more digging being done behind the scenes, still more people coming forward with information on the case.

While Serial was a phenomenon in its own right, this very public crowd-sourced unravelling of a murder case may lead to the first exoneration of its kind. I say that with confidence because I believe that Syed will finally be given justice in court. And it will be thanks to the millions of listeners, thousands of supporters and donors, and dozens of independent investigators behind the scenes. This is not just citizen journalism, this is citizen investigation and crowd-sourced sleuthing.