One of the first stopsAdnan Syedmade following his release from prison appears to be the refrigerator.
After over 20 years behind bars serving a life sentence, the 41-year-old was a free man on Monday, Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn vacating Syed’s 2000 first-degree murder convictionfor the 1999 kidnapping and murderof his 18-year-old Baltimore high school classmate and ex-girlfriend,Hae Min Lee.
Hours later, longtime friendRabia Chaudryshared a video of Syed combing through a refrigerator, looking for something to eat.
“Pretty good,” Syed said.
“Leftovers at home never tasted so good!!” Chaudry captioned the post on Twitter, which came with a picture of Syed flashing a peace sign outside the courthouse moments after his release. “We did it. WE FREED ADNAN!”
rabia O’chaudry/twitter
“One last picture and I’m heading home,” she later wrote, posting a selfie with Chaudry and another close ally. “Mission accomplished. Exhausted. Thrilled. Thankful. Starving 🤣.”
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One more photo of them came on Tuesday morning. “I arise full of joy,” Chaudry wrote.
News of Syed’s release came after prosecutors filed a motion to vacate his murder conviction, arguing that it was riddled with problems. Prosecutors asked that he receive a new trial, according to motions filed in circuit court.
Since his 2000 conviction, Syed has always maintained his innocence, which was explored in the 2014 podcastSerialand later, anHBO documentary.
There was also a “substantial and significant probability that the result would have been different,” Phinn said, since new evidence came to light since the trial ended more than two decades earlier.
Adnan Syed.JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
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Prosecutors said that they will continue their investigation, and “bring a suspect or suspects to justice,” but also are not saying “at this time” that Syed is innocent.
Adnan Syed.Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun/TNS via Getty
They also asked for Syed to be released on his own recognizance as the investigation continues. “We have spent 23 years fighting the state and now the state is saying they got it wrong, maybe, and the state is saying he did not deserve to be convicted,” longtime Syed family friend Rabia Chaudry tells PEOPLE, her voice wavering with emotion. “To not have to fight the state is incredible.”
source: people.com
