A defense attorney and prosecutors have asked a judge to allow evidence in the murder case against Adnan Syed to undergo DNA testing using current techniques, the Washington Post reports.
Syed was convicted of the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, a case made famous through the Serial podcast. Prosecutors argued that Lee and Syed, her ex-boyfriend, argued before Lee was discovered in a grave in a park, having been strangled, the Post says. It notes Syed has maintained his innocence and has repeatedly appealed his case.
In the new motion, Syed's attorney, Erica Suter, and prosecutors in Baltimore have agreed that Lee's clothing and other evidence should undergo testing for touch DNA, an analysis that was not in use at the time of Lee's death. "We are eager to finally have access to the forensic tools to establish Mr. Syed's innocence," Suter tells the Post.
University of Baltimore's Colin Starger tells the Post that it is notable that the prosecutors signed on to the motion but say that testing could turn up nothing at all. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence," Starger adds there. "I would imagine if it comes back with nothing at all then it means nothing; it doesn't change the picture."