Adnan Syed, Whose Murder Conviction Inspired Serial, Has Been Granted a New Trial

More than a year and a half after Serial publicized his story, convicted murderer Adnan Syed has been granted a new trial in the 1999 killing of his high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. According to the New York Times, Baltimore Judge Martin Welch determined that the prisoner deserves another trial because Syed's attorney failed to pursue crucial sources of evidence in the form of cross-examining a cell tower expert. Syed, age 35, has been serving his life sentence for 16 years and has been fiercely defended as innocent by loved ones, including family friend and advocate Rabia Chaudry.

Lee's family has been outspoken about its opposition to a new trial for Syed. "It remains hard to see so many run to defend someone who committed a horrible crime, who destroyed our family, who refuses to accept responsibility, when so few are willing to speak up for Hae," the family said in a statement in February according to the Times.