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BALTIMORE, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Adnan Syed, the subject of the "Serial" podcast who saw his murder conviction overturned, has requested to be released from prison while he waits for a new trial. Syed's defense team on Monday filed the petition calling for his release.
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"Syed has been waiting 17 years to get back into court to prove his innocence," Syed's lawyers wrote. "With that moment within his grasp, there is no reason to think he would now abscond from justice and risk everything he has accomplished to date."
Syed was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison for the murder and kidnapping his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee.
Lee went missing in January 1999 and her strangled body was found in a shallow grave in a Baltimore park a month later. Syed was granted a new trial over the summer on claims his trial lawyer failed to cross-examine an expert witness about the reliability of cell tower location evidence. The Maryland Attorney General's Office has appealed against a new trial.
Syed's lawyers also cited good behavior as a reason why he should be released while awaiting for the new trial.
"Prisons are among the most violent places in our society, yet Syed has not been cited for a single violent act in 17 years in that environment," Syed's lawyers wrote.
Maryland Department of Corrections records state Syed is an "excellent" worker who "requires minimal supervision" and is "always very respectful to staff," the Baltimore Sun reported.
"Syed has now served more than 17 years in prison based on an unconstitutional conviction for a crime he did not commit, he has no history of violence other than the state's allegations in this case, and if released he would pose no danger to the community," his lawyers added. "He is also not a flight risk; it makes no sense that he would run from the case he has spent more than half his life trying to disprove."
