The post-conviction hearing of Adnan Syed will continue Monday in Baltimore after a bit of weekend maneuvering by the state and a rare statement from the family of Hae Min Lee, for whose murder Syed was convicted 16 years ago.  The family of Hae Min Lee said Sunday that the people who are seeking a new trial for her convicted killer have been misinformed by online discussion of the case at the center of the popular "Serial" podcast, and it is now "more clear than ever" that justice was served the first time. "It remains hard to see so many run to defend someone who committed a horrible crime, who destroyed our family, who refuses to accept responsibility, when so few are willing to speak up for Hae," the family said in a statement released by the office of the attorney general. “She stood up for what was right, regardless of popular opinion.” 
 
 Serial fans' eyes on Baltimore as new ruling approaches for Adnan Syed Read more 
 
 The family then directly address fans of the podcast, saying that “unlike those who learn about this case on the internet, we sat and watched every day of both trials – so many witnesses, so much evidence”. Syed's attorneys are also raising questions over whether his defense team overlooked a critical note warning of the unreliability of cell phone records used to tie Syed's phone to the park where Lee's body was found. Syed’s argument relies heavily on the testimony of Asia Chapman, then Asia McClain, who claimed she was with Syed when the murder occurred but was never contacted by his attorney. The defense’s case was interrupted Friday in order to accommodate the schedule of FBI special agent Chad Fitzgerald, the state’s expert in cell tower analysis. Lee’s family addressed Chapman by her maiden name in the letter, writing: “We wish Ms Asia McClain had watched [the trials] too, because then she would not do what she is doing. “Whatever her personal motives, we forgive her, but we hope she will not use Hae’s name in public, which hurts us when we hear it from her. She did not know Hae, and because of Adnan she never will.” 
 
 Since Syed’s lawyer, Justin Brown, was not able to finish his cross examination of Fitzgerald, the special agent is expected to continue his testimony on Monday. Also scheduled is additional testimony by David Irwin, an attorney who stressed that defense attorneys have an ethical requirement to contact any potential alibi witnesses, even if their statements contradict something the defendant has already told police. They had maintained a public silence until after the first day of Syed's hearing, when they released a statement through Deputy Attorney General Thiru Vignarajah. The office of the attorney general also released its own statement: 
 
 "The testimony and records that are already in evidence reveal that Syed received a tenacious and dogged defense in 1999 and 2000 by a team of some of Maryland's best lawyers," Vignarajah said. “To think there was an oops or an oversight back then, let alone a failure of constitutional dimension, is just not consistent with what we are now seeing in the defense’s file.” 
 
 Adnan Syed to argue his innocence at hearing to consider new evidence Read more 
 
 Brown declined to comment on either of the statements, but Syed’s supporters have voiced their views online.
– "The events of this past week have reopened wounds few can imagine." So begins a statement released Sunday by the family of Hae Min Lee, a Baltimore high school senior who was strangled to death in 1999. The letter comes as the post-conviction hearing of Adnan Syed, the ex-boyfriend convicted in her murder, is set to continue Monday, the Guardian reports. For the millions who came to know the case via the Serial podcast, the family writes: "Unlike those who learn about this case on the internet, we sat and watched every day of both trials—so many witnesses, so much evidence." Gary Proctor, an attorney for alibi witness Asia Chapman, accused the Attorney General's office, which released the family's statement, of "attempting to try this case in the court of public opinion," the Baltimore Sun reports. Syed's attorneys argue that his original defense team ignored Chapman, who says she was with Syed at the school library when the murder occurred. Of Chapman, the family, who did not appear on Serial, writes: "Whatever her personal motives, we forgive her, but we hope she will not use Hae’s name in public. … She did not know Hae, and because of Adnan she never will." They continue: "It remains hard to see so many run to defend someone who committed a horrible crime, who destroyed our family, who refuses to accept responsibility, when so few are willing to speak up for Hae." Supporters of Syed, however, are "very hopeful and very excited about what's happening," his brother, Yusuf, tells the Sun.