Adnan Syed is asking to have his sentence reduced so that he can remain free while his decades-old murder conviction hangs in the balance.

Attorneys for Syed filed a motion Friday under a law allowing people convicted of crimes that happened before they turned 18 to petition a court to change their penalty.

Syed was 17 when he was arrested in the killing of 18-year-old Hae Min Lee, his high school sweetheart who was strangled to death and buried in a shallow grave in Leakin Park. At the time, prosecutors argued Syed couldn’t handle it when Lee broke up with him. A jury convicted him of murder and related charges and a judge sentenced him to life in prison.

“Mr. Syed maintains his innocence as he has done since the day he was charged with Hae Min Lee’s murder,” his lawyers wrote. “But even if his innocence could reasonably be disputed, one thing cannot: Mr. Syed, the 43-year old man before this Court, is not the same person as Adnan, the 17-year old child finishing high school in 1999.”

The fate of Syed’s convictions rests with Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates, whose office is mulling what to do after the Supreme Court of Maryland reinstated Syed’s guilty findings following an appeal from Lee’s brother of an earlier proceeding that undid the convictions.

Syed’s lawyers said he and his loved ones shouldn’t have to worry about his reincarceration while he fights for his “wrongful convictions” to be undone.

“From the moment of his release, Mr. Syed, a juvenile lifer who served nearly 24 years, has successfully navigated reentry and lived a positive and productive life,” wrote his attorneys, Erica Suter and Brian Zavin, both public defenders. “For the past two years, Mr. Syed and his family have lived in limbo, uncertain if he would remain free or be returned to prison. Despite the stress of this circumstance, Mr. Syed has conducted himself admirably.”

They noted that Syed has been employed since his release at Georgetown University’s Prisons and Justice Initiative, an organization he began working with while incarcerated. They added he has been caring for his elderly parents — his father recently passed away — and those of his spouse, who he married before his release. They also said Syed is a faithful member of his mosque

“Decades of law-abiding conduct, both in and outside of prison, demonstrate that Mr. Syed is not a danger to the public,” the defense lawyers wrote. “Mr. Syed’s age at the time of this crime, his excellent institutional record, the time he has served, the life he has led since his release, his commitment to service, and contributions to his community, all indicate that the interests of justice will be better served by a reduced sentence.”

The Juvenile Restoration Act of 2021 says courts must consider in a request to reduce a sentence whether the defendant complied with the rules when incarcerated; “demonstrated maturity, rehabilitation, and fitness to reenter society”; reports on their mental or behavioral health; and the “diminished culpability of a juvenile as compared to an adult,” among other factors.

Syed’s lawyers included excerpts from a report by Dr. Joanna Brandt, a forensic psychiatrist who evaluated Syed in 2021 and wrote that the crimes he was charged with happened “well before his brain maturation was complete” and “represents a single episode of aberrant behavior.”

“Syed is an excellent candidate for reduction in sentence under the Juvenile Restoration Act,” Brandt wrote. “If released to the community, his history and current presentation suggest he will be compliant with the conditions of probation as well as any other requirements the court imposes.”

The defense lawyers also included in their motion statements from correctional officers, his employer and family members, all suggesting he had matured since he was incarcerated.

Syed’s legal saga rose to international renown with the hit podcast “Serial,” which chronicled the murder case.

He maintained his innocence as years turned to decades behind bars, with courts rejecting his numerous appeals.

Syed’s break came in 2021 when Suter reached out to the office of then-State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby about reducing his sentence under the same law he is filing under now. The subsequent review spawned a full-throttled reinvestigation of the case, which, prosecutors said, revealed alternative suspects in Lee’s killing not before disclosed to Syed.

Saying they doubted the “integrity” of his convictions, prosecutors under Mosby moved to vacate the guilty findings in September 2022.

On a Friday afternoon, Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa M. Phinn scheduled a hearing for the following Monday. Prosecutors then informed Lee’s older brother, Young Lee, saying he could watch it by Zoom, but a lawyer for Young Lee insisted his client, who lived in California, wanted to attend in person and wasn’t given enough time to travel.

Phinn went ahead with the proceeding, ordering Syed freed after 23 years of incarceration.

Young Lee appealed before prosecutors dismissed Syed’s charges in October 2022, arguing that the short notice violated his right as a crime victim and the intermediate Appellate Court of Maryland agreed in March 2023, ordering Syed’s convictions reinstated for a do-over of the hearing to vacate them.

Syed swiftly appealed to the state’s highest court, arguing that Young Lee got adequate notice and that the prosecutor’s decision to dismiss his charges nullified the appeal. Young Lee also appealed, with his lawyers arguing the appellate court’s ruling didn’t go far enough for crime victims.

The state Supreme Court’s decision was split. The three dissenting judges argued, in part, that it was up to the legislature, not the judiciary, to decide whether to clarify a crime victim’s role in such a proceeding.

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