Judge Vacates Murder Conviction of Adnan Syed: “At this time, we will remove the shackles from Mr. Syed”

From a New York Times story by Michael Levinson headlined “Judge Vacates Murder Conviction of Adnan Syed of “Serial’:”

In a remarkable reversal, Adnan Syed walked out of prison on Monday for the first time since he was a teenager, having spent 23 years fighting his conviction on charges that he murdered his former high school girlfriend, a case that was chronicled in the first season of the hit podcast “Serial.”

Judge Melissa M. Phinn of Baltimore City Circuit Court vacated the conviction “in the interests of justice and fairness,” finding that prosecutors had failed to turn over evidence that could have helped Mr. Syed at trial and discovered new evidence that could have affected the outcome of his case.