A Maryland appeals court upheld a ruling granting a new trial for his client, Adnan Syed, who was convicted in 2000 of killing Hae Min Lee and burying... (Associated Press) 
 
 BALTIMORE (AP) — A Maryland appeals court on Thursday upheld a ruling granting a new trial to a man whose conviction in the murder of his high school sweetheart became the subject of the popular podcast "Serial." The opinion, which found Syed’s previous counsel had failed him in deciding not to call a key alibi witness at his trial two decades ago, could be appealed to the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court. Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh’s office, which represents the state in the case, said that it is “currently reviewing today’s decision to determine next steps,” including whether to appeal. “I firmly believe that he is innocent, and our goal is to get him out of prison.” 
 
 Brown said he spoke to Syed after the opinion came down, and that Syed asked him “to convey his deep gratitude and thanks from the bottom of his heart for all those people who supported him this long, and all those people who have believed in him” — including his family and those who have championed his cause since his case was spotlighted by “Serial.” 
 
 Syed was convicted in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison for the killing of his former girlfriend, Woodlawn High School classmate Lee, whose body was found in Leakin Park. Syed maintained his innocence, and his case attracted international attention in 2014 when it was featured on the “Serial” podcast, which was downloaded millions of times and prompted legions of listeners to scrutinize the case online. "If the state is so confident in their case, and if they're so confident that Syed is guilty, they should just try the case. “We continue to believe justice was done when Mr. Syed was convicted of killing Hae.” 
 
 In the court’s opinion Thursday, Chief Judge Patrick L. Woodward wrote that a “deficient performance” by Syed’s attorney during his initial trial — namely, her failure to call a witness named Asia McClain — “prejudiced Syed’s defense.” 
 
 Woodward was joined in his opinion by Judge Alexander Wright Jr., while Judge Kathryn Graeff wrote a dissenting opinion. Four months later, retired Judge Martin Welch, who had denied Syed's previous request for a new trial, vacated his conviction and ordered a new trial. The higher court rejected the argument that the mishandling of cellphone tower evidence was grounds for a new trial, as the lower court had found. Woodward found that, “there is a reasonable probability that McClain’s alibi testimony would have raised a reasonable doubt in the mind of at least one juror about Syed’s involvement [in] Hae’s murder, and thus ‘the result of the proceedings would have been different.’” 
 
 The Court of Special Appeals had considered the case during a hearing last June. In a 2-1 decision, the three-judge appeals court panel agreed with Brown that his trial lawyer was ineffective for failing to investigate a potential alibi witness who said she saw Syed at a public library in the town of Woodlawn, Maryland, around the time the state claimed Syed killed Hae. During a hearing in June, Thiru Vignarajah, a special assistant attorney general arguing on behalf of the state, said it was reasonable not to seek out McClain because Syed's lawyer was focused on an alibi placing him at Woodlawn High School, not the library.
– Serial subject Adnan Syed moved a step closer to a new trial Thursday when Maryland's Court of Special Appeals upheld a 2016 decision to overturn his murder conviction from 2000 and grant him a retrial. Prosecutors, who objected when a lower court vacated the conviction, haven't said whether they'll appeal the decision from the state's second-highest court to its highest court, the Court of Appeals, reports the AP. The case of Syed, who was 17 years old when he was convicted of killing ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, came to national attention with the 2014 Serial podcast, which cast doubt on the conviction. The appeals court panel decided 2-1 that Syed's lawyer in 2000 failed him by neglecting to investigate an alibi witness who said she saw him in a library around the time Lee was murdered. Syed's attorney, C. Justin Brown, tells the Baltimore Sun that the court's decision is "incredible." "It's been a really long wait, and that's been hard and it's been stressful, obviously not just for us but for Adnan, who's now been in prison for 19 years, going on 20 years," he says. "I firmly believe that he is innocent, and our goal is to get him out of prison." Syed has been in custody since his February 1999 arrest. A judge denied a request to release him on bail after the conviction was first overturned, and Brown says he plans to talk to Syed about filing a fresh request.