ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Adnan Syed, who was released from a Maryland prison this year after his case was the focus of the “Serial” podcast, has been hired by Georgetown University as an associate with the university’s prison program . and the Justice Initiative, the university said.
Syed began working this month for the initiative, which advocates for others in the criminal justice system, the university tweeted Wednesday.
In his new role, Syed will teach Georgetown’s “Making an Exoneration,” in which students reinvestigate decades-old wrongful convictions, create short documentaries about the cases and work to help bring innocent people home from prison, he wrote in an online ad. .
“The PJI team and programming have much to gain from Adnan’s experience, understanding and commitment to serving incarcerated and returning citizens,” the organization tweeted.
Syed was one of 25 students incarcerated in Georgetown University’s inaugural liberal arts program at the Patuxent Institute in Jessup, Maryland, in the year leading up to his release, the university said.
“Going from prison to being a student at Georgetown, and then actually being on campus on the path to working for Georgetown in the Prisons and Justice initiative, is a full-circle moment,” Syed said in the university’s announcement. “PJI changed my life. It changed my family’s life. I hope I can have the same kind of impact on others.”
Syed, 41, hopes to continue his education at Georgetown and eventually attend law school.
After spending 23 years in prison, he walked free from a Baltimore court in September after a judge overturned his conviction for the 1999 killing of high school student Hae Min Lee, Syed’s ex-girlfriend.
Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Melissa Phinn ordered his release at the behest of prosecutors who said they recently uncovered new evidence.
Prosecutors said a new investigation into the case turned up evidence that two alternative suspects may be involved. The two suspects may have been involved individually or together, the state attorney’s office said.
The suspects were known at the time of the initial investigation and were not properly excluded or disclosed to the defense, prosecutors said.
Baltimore District Attorney Marilyn Mosby’s office also cited new DNA test results that were conducted using a more modern technique than when the evidence in the case was first tested. Recent tests have ruled out Syed as a suspect, prosecutors said.
Syed has always maintained his innocence. His case captured the attention of millions in 2014, when the first season of “Serial” focused on Lee’s murder and raised questions about some of the evidence used by prosecutors. The program broke records for podcast streaming and downloads.
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