Adnan Syed is getting one more chance.

Syed, 34, who is serving a life sentence for the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, drew national attention last year when the podcast Serial examined the weak points in the case against him. Now the Maryland Court of Special Appeals has accepted Syed's application for an appeal.

The decision was filed on Friday and first reported Saturday.

"It's the first step in a pretty long process but we're extremely happy," C. Justin Brown, Syed's attorney, told The Baltimore Sun.

After briefings are filed, the court could hear oral arguments and decide to grant Syed a new trial, the Sun reported. It could also deny a new trial, or send the proceedings back to circuit court.

Syed, a high school senior at the time of the killing, was found guilty by a jury in 2000. The case was not widely known until Serial, a podcast spun off from This American Life, delved into the details of the 16-year-old murder.

Syed, who has maintained his innocence ever since being first questioned, began the appeals process in 2010. His first appeal to the Baltimore City Circuit Court was denied, forcing him to apply to Maryland's Court of Special Appeals.

That court announced on Jan. 13 that it was considering his application, and called on the State of Maryland to file a response. The State of Maryland recommended against granting the appeal.

Syed's hope for an appeal rested on two claims, both centering on actions of his lawyer, Christina Gutierrez. His appeal claims that Gutierrez did not adequately investigate a possible alibi witness, and that she had lied to Syed about having discussed a plea deal with the prosecutor for the case.

Though Serial brought to light new details in the case, Syed's appeals were filed before the podcast aired. But Syed's lawyer did file a supplement to the appeal in January, asking that the case be moved to district court so that the alibi witness, Asia McClain, could testify.

McClain had written letters to Syed in 1999 saying she had seen him at a library during the time prosecutors claimed he killed Lee. But McClain never testified at Syed's trial. After being tracked down by Serial host Sarah Koenig, she filed a new affidavit in January and said she'd be willing to take the stand.

On a separate track, the Innocence Project is petitioning for DNA testing on physical evidence from the case that was never tested.

Even though the podcast has ended, the controversy has continued, fueled in part by an interview that Jay Wilds, the key witness against Syed, gave to The Intercept. In that interview, Wilds changed some details of his account of the events surrounding the murder and disposal of the body, with which he assisted.

Rabia Chaudry, who first brought Syed's case to the attention of Koenig, celebrated on Twitter on Saturday.

My heart is full. My heart is full. Adnan gets a new appeal. God is good. Alhamdulillah #FreeAdnan — rabia chaudry (@rabiasquared) February 7, 2015

Here is the decision from the Maryland Court of Special Appeals:

The timeline below cross references the various accounts of the case (click to enlarge):