Serial podcast's Adnan Syed has murder conviction thrown out after 23 years in jail

A US judge has ordered the release of Adnan Syed - the man at the centre of the first series of the Serial podcast.

Syed was convicted of a murder case in Baltimore in 2000. He was 19 when he was sentenced to life in prison for the death of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, whose body was found buried in the woods in 1999.

Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn has now ordered that his conviction be vacated. She approved the release of the 41-year-old who has spent more than two decades behind bars.

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Syed has now been placed on home detention with an electronic tag. Prosecutors last week asked the court to throw out his conviction, saying a year-long case review had turned up two 'alternative suspects'.

Judge Phinn ruled that the state violated its legal obligation to share exculpatory evidence with Syed's defence. The judge also ordered the state to decide whether to seek a new trial date or dismiss the case within 30 days.

Syed, who always maintained his innocence, received widespread attention in 2014 when the debut season of Serial focused on Ms Lee's killing. He was serving a life sentence after he was convicted of strangling the 18-year-old whose body was found buried in a Baltimore park.

Baltimore Sun reporter Sarah Koenig spent more than a year digging into Mr Syed's case and reporting her findings in almost real time in hour-long segments. The smash hit podcast has gone on to have two more series, focusing on different cases in the US justice system.

It also sparked a spin off focusing on the Trojan Horse scandal in Birmingham.

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