Judge orders Adnan Syed to be released from prison

>>> LIVE FROM TELEVISION HILL, THIS IS WJZ BREAKING NEWS. >> WE ARE FOLLOWING BREAKING NEWS RIGHT NOW. WITHIN THE LAST HOUR A JUDGE ORDERED ADNAN SYED TO BE RELEASED FROM PRISON. WJZ CAMERAS TO CAPTURE THE MOMENT SYED WAS GETTING INTO A CAR JUST OUTSIDE THE COURTHOUSE. WE’LL SHOW YOU THAT IN A LITTLE BIT. I’M RICK RITTER. >> I’M NICKY ZIZAZA. >> IT IS THE BIG STORY WE ARE FOLLOWING TONIGHT AT 5:00. WE COME ON THE AIR TONIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MORE THAN TWO DECADES, ADNAN SYED. >> THIS IS THE LATEST IN A CASE

WJZ HAS BEEN FOLLOWING FOR YEARS. WJZ IS LIVE WITH COMPLETE COVERAGE. >> LET’S BEGIN WITH WJZ INVESTIGATOR MIKE HELLGREN JUST OUTSIDE THE COURTHOUSE WITH WHAT COMES NEXT. >>. >> Reporter: PROSECUTORS HAVE 30 DAYS TO DECIDE WHETHER THEY WILL INDEED MOVE FORWARD WITH A NEW TRIAL. THEY ARE NOT DISMISSING THE CHARGES AT THIS POINT. ADNAN SYED, AS YOU MENTIONED AT THE VERY BEGINNING, HE DID WALK OUT OF COURT TO A WAITING CAR HERE. HE WALKED OUT OF COURT TO TEARS, WHILE MARYLAND MOSBY, THE STATE’S ATTORNEY, WAS SPEAKING. ADNAN SYED IS GOING HOME AFTER BEING BEHIND BARS

FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS. AT THE AGE OF 17 HE WAS CONVICTED IN THE 1999 MURDER OF HAE MIN LEE, HIS FORMER GIRLFRIEND AT WOODLAWN HIGH SCHOOL. PROSECUTORS ARE NOT

ASKING TO DISMISS THE CASE, BUT AT THIS POINT HE WILL REMAIN ON HOME DETENTION AWAITING A NEW TRIAL. HIS OLD CONVICTION HAS BEEN VACATED BY THE JUDGE. >> SINCE THE INCEPTION OF MY ADMINISTRATION I’VE MADE IT CLEAR THE SOLE MISSION OF MY OFFICE IS TO SAFEGUARD COMMUNITIES AND BALTIMORE THROUGH THE EFFECTIVE PROSECUTION OF CRIMES. IN ORDER TO FULFILL THIS MISSION OUR PROSECUTORS HAVE BEEN SWORN TO

NOT ONLY AGGRESSIVELY ADVOCATE ON BEHALF OF VICTIMS OF CRIMES, BUT WHEN THE EVIDENCE EXISTS, TO EXONERATE THOSE THAT HAVE BEEN FALSELY ACCUSED, AND CONVICTED. THE PUBLIC MUST KNOW THAT THE JUDGE — >> Reporter: IN COURT, LEAH’S BROTHER WEPT AND SAID HE FELT BLINDSIDED. THAT HE HAS LIVED A NIGHTMARE FOR YEARS. SUPPORTERS OF SYED SAID IT IS NOT JUSTICE TO KEEP HIM LOCKED UP. HE CONTINUES TO MAINTAIN HIS EVIDENCE. THEY DISCOVERED AWESOME. OF A SECOND SUSPECT AS WELL. THEY SAY THEY WERE SHOT, ALONG WITH EVIDENCE OF POSSIBLE POLICE WRONGDOING, FAULTY CELL PHONE RECORDS, AND UNRELIABLE WITNESSES.

SYED’S ATTORNEY TOLD THE JUDGE THEIR SYMPATHY GOES OUT TO THE FAMILY OF THE VICTIM , BUT HE IS INNOCENT. WE WANT TO GO STRAIGHT TO SOME VIDEO. ADNAN SYED LEAVING THE CIRCUIT COURTHOUSE HERE TO CHAIRS. AGAIN, HE MAINTAINS HIS INNOCENCE. HE DID NOT GIVE AN INTERVIEW OR TALK TO THE PRESS. HE DID WAVE TO SUPPORTERS. THAT WAS THE MOMENT IN THIS BOMBSHELL CASE THAT HAS MOVED AT LIGHTNING SPEED, NOT JUST THE SPEED OF THE HEARING TODAY, BUT ALSO JUST GETTING THIS HEARING STARTED. WE ONLY LEARNED LAST WEEK THAT THE PROSECUTORS WERE MOVING TO VACATE HIS

CONVICTION, AND NOW IT HAS BEEN VACATED AND THEY SAY THAT THEY HAVE TWO POSSIBLE SUSPECTS, BUT THEY HAVEN’T NAMED THEM AND THEY HAVEN’T RELEASED — CHARGE THEM WITH ANYTHING AT THIS POINT. ADNAN SYED’S FAMILY WEPT IN THE COURTROOM. THEY JUST WALKED OUT OF COURT. AVA-JOYE BURNETT SAW THEM. I SAW YOU, AVA-JOYE. YOU WERE RUNNING ACROSS THE STREET. YOU ALSO TALKED TO SOME PEOPLE THAT SERVED TIME WITH ADNAN SYED. TELL ME WHAT REACTION YOU HAVE BEEN GATHERING. >> Reporter: SO MANY MOVING PARTS. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE FAMILY FIRST. WHEN ADNAN SYED CAME OUT THE FRONT OF

THE COURTHOUSE MANY OF THE FORMER CAMERAS WERE FOCUSED. I STARTED TO FOLLOW AND HIS MOM AND BROTHER CAME AROUND THE SIDE OF THE COURTHOUSE. HIS BROTHER RECOGNIZED ME BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN SPEAKING WITH THEM FOR SO MANY YEARS. AS THEY DECIDED TO HOP INTO A VEHICLE, I NOTICED THAT ADNAN SYED WAS SITTING IN THE BACK OF THE VEHICLE. NO SPACE IN THE BACK FOR ANYBODY ELSE BUT HIS MOTHER AND BROTHER. THEY HOPPED IN AND THERE WERE OF COURSE THAT INTERACTION BETWEEN THEM. I AM NOT QUITE SURE IF THEY HAD BEFORE THAT MOMENT, BUT THAT IS

ONE OF THE VERY FIRST MOMENTS THAT THEY HAVE BEEN ABLE TO EXCHANGE HUGS WITH THEIR FAMILY MEMBER AFTER MORE THAN TWO DECADES. EARLIER TODAY, RIGHT AFTER THE MOTION CAME DOWN FROM THE JUDGE, WE ALSO SPOKE WITH TWO MEN WHO SAID THEY SERVED TIME WITH SYED WHILE THEY WERE INCARCERATED. HERE’S A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT THAT SIDE OF THE STORY. CHEERS ERUPTED IN THE COURTHOUSE WHEN A JUDGE ANNOUNCED ADNAN SYED SHOULD BE RELEASED BECAUSE THERE IS GROUNDS TO VACATE HIS MURDER CONVICTION. MORE THAN 100 PEOPLE PACKED INTO THE COURTROOM TO HEAR THE MOMENT THE JUDGE ISSUED

HER RULING. AMONG THEM WERE PEOPLE WHO SAID THEY SERVED TIME WITH SYED. >> JUST SO HAPPY FOR HIS FAMILY. SO HAPPY. HE’S THE BEST HUMAN BEING YOU’LL EVER MEET. >> Reporter: THE VICTIM’S BROTHER TOLD THE COURT THAT THE LAST 20 YEARS HAVE BEEN LIKE A NIGHTMARE FOR HIM. THAT HE FEELS BLINDSIDED. >> UNFORTUNATELY WHEN I HEARD THE VICTIMS, I THINK IT WAS HER BROTHER WHO SPOKE. IT WAS HEARTBREAKING. WAS HEARTBREAKING BECAUSE TO HAVE A FAMILY KEEP HAVING TO GO BACK AND FORTH THROUGH THIS SAME SITUATION OVER AND OVER AGAIN, I CAN ONLY IMAGINE WHAT THEY

ARE GOING THROUGH. THE FAMILY IN THE VICTIM IN MY CASE WENT THROUGH THE SAME THING. IT’S TOUGH. I KNOW IT IS TOUGH FOR THEM, BUT ON ONE HAND I CAN ONLY ASK THAT THEY ACCEPT THE RULING, AND EXCEPT THAT THE STATE PRESENTED EVIDENCE TO SHOW THAT IT WASN’T ADNAN. >> Reporter: THAT IS ANOTHER ANGLE OF THE STORY THAT MIKE HELLGREN ALSO TOUCHED ON. THE FACT THAT THE BROTHER OF THE VICTIM, HAE MIN LEE, SPOKE EARLIER TODAY IN COURT. AT TIMES HE WAS EXTREMELY EMOTIONAL SAYING SORRY AT TIMES BETWEEN WHAT SOUNDED LIKE SOBS BECAUSE HE APPEARED

IN FRONT OF THE COURT ON ZOOM. THIS IS SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED AT A TIME PERIOD WHERE THE COURT HAD TO GO INTO RECESS IN ORDER FOR THE ATTORNEY FOR HAE MIN LEE’S FAMILY TO GET THE BROTHER ON ZOOM SO THAT HE COULD THEN GIVE HIS SORT OF AN IMPACT STATEMENT TO THE COURT. THE JUDGE OF COURSE THANKED HIM FOR APPEARING IN FRONT OF THE COURTHOUSE. THE GENERAL MAN WHO WE SPOKE WITH EARLIER TODAY, THERE WERE JUST TWO OF THE MORE THAN 100 PEOPLE SHOWED UP TODAY FOR THIS HEARING TODAY. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO START AT

2:00. WE GOT HERE AT LEAST AN HOUR EARLY, POSSIBLY 90 MINUTES BEFORE, PEOPLE WERE ALREADY FILING INTO THE COURTROOM. OF COURSE ATTORNEYS, ALSO MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC, BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO SEE WHAT WOULD HAPPEN HERE. REMEMBER, THIS CASE GAINED WORLDWIDE ATTENTION AFTER THE “SERIAL” PODCAST SO MANY PEOPLE WERE VERY WELL INVESTED INTO THIS. I WAS ABLE TO TWEET THE MOMENT THAT ADNAN SYED AND HIS BROTHER , OR ADNAN SYED BROTHER AND HIS MOTHER HOPPED INTO THE VEHICLE WHERE SYED WAS SITTING IN THE BACK OF THAT VEHICLE. YOU CAN GO TO MY TWITTER PAGE TO TAKE

A LOOK AT THAT. OF COURSE WJZ WILL CONTINUE TO FOLLOW THE STORY AND UPDATE YOU IN THE LATER SHOWS. BACK TO YOU. >> THANK YOU, AVA-JOYE.