(NewsNation) — The release of Adnan Syed from prison following a Baltimore judge overturning his 1999 murder conviction for the killing of high school student Hae Min Lee has sparked controversy among Democratic attorneys in Maryland.
Syed is somewhat of a star in the true crime entertainment world; his case was featured on the debut season of the popular podcast “Serial” in 2014. His case, and his release, have garnered huge media attention.
Maryland State Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who has been mired in controversy of her own after she was indicted on two counts of perjury in January for making false statements about the purchase of Florida vacation homes, has been at the center of the fallout from Syed’s release.
Mosby said her office was still waiting on DNA analysis to determine whether to set a new trial for Syed or throw out his case entirely.
The timing of Mosby’s actions related to Syed, particularly how they align with the timeline of her own controversy, has other Maryland attorneys, including the state’s Attorney General Brian Frosh, raising red flags.
“The timing of the investigation, right on the commencement of what was to be the trial against her… the timing looks, shall I say, unusual,” Frosh said.
Former Baltimore prosecutor Jeremy Eldridge agreed the timing was odd.
“Sometimes, things are a little too coincidental to be coincidence,” Eldridge said Thursday on “Dan Abrams Live.” “The fact that this statement regarding the vacating of the conviction was made within a day of jury selection for federal court just three blocks from the announcement, I don’t think there was an attorney in Baltimore city who didn’t think that this a bit of a red herring to potentially taint a federal jury that was going to be hearing her case.”
Mosby said in return that Frosh’s office intentionally sat on evidence for years that could have helped free Syed, saying Frosh should speak to his office’s “willful decision to sit on exculpatory evidence for the last seven years.”
Frosh remained unconvinced.
“Maryland courts have repeatedly found that Adnan Syed committed this murder and I have to say, if state’s attorney Mosby were concentrating as hard on trying murder cases and putting murderers behind bars as she has on this case, I think our state would be quite a bit safer,” Frosh said.
Eldridge said the reason Frosh is so upset is because one of the original prosecutors on the Syed case is now an attorney in Frosh’s office. Frosh was angry Mosby did not consult with his office before moving forward with the Syed case.