Adnan Syed, in high school

Adnan Syed, who was convicted of the 1999 murder of his high school ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee, is back in court as his defense argues that he deserves a new trial. The three-day hearing that will determine if Syed gets a retrial kicked off yesterday, and it’s all thanks to Serial, a podcast that revisited the case and cast doubt on Syed’s conviction for an audience of 68 million listeners.

Sarah Koenig’s Serial has moved on to the strange case of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl for her second season, but she is putting up fresh episodes revisiting Syed’s case during the week of the hearing.

Asia McClain, a key witness, took the stand yesterday, according to The Baltimore Sun. McClain claims to have seen him at 2:15 p.m. on the day of Lee’s murder at the same time prosecutors claim Syed killed her. They struck up a conversation in front of the library while she waited for her boyfriend, McClain said. After Syed was arrested, McClain wrote two letters to him, offering up an alibi.

Asia’s letter to Adnan Syed (Courtesy of Serial)

Syed was convicted on witness testimony—Jay, who said he helped bury the body—not any physical evidence. Syed’s defense never used her testimony, and now Syed’s legal team is claiming that he didn’t receive adequate legal representation. Serial made the case that M. Cristina Gutierrez was in declining mental and physical health when she took on his case. (As her health deteriorated, she was disbarred just a year after Syed’s conviction.) McClain said that it was only in listening to Serial that she realized that her testimony, which was dismissed at the time, could be key.

Deputy Maryland Attorney General Thiru Vignarajah said Syed’s representation was sufficient and that the defense’s decision to not use McClain’s testimony was strategic and not any indication of being “below the standard of conduct.” Vignarajah said he found notes from Gutierrez to show that she dismissed McClain’s alibi for good reason. McClain’s alibi didn’t mesh with Syed’s own account to police about where he was that day. So Vignarajah said it would have been reasonable for Gutierrez to dismiss McClain’s testimony, which actually raised “warning signs and red flags.”

Vignarajah also read a statement from Lee’s family, who plan not to attend the hearing:

Our family has lived without a heart for over 17 years. And we continue to grieve every day in private.

The immediate family members have decided not to attend this hearing. But we are grateful to all the people who are there and will be there to support us and to give Hae a voice. She is the true victim.

Although this has made us relive a nightmare we thought was behind us, we thank the State for standing up for us and continuing to seek justice. We believe justice was done when Adnan was convicted in 2000, and we look forward to bringing this chapter to an end so we can celebrate the memory of Hae instead of celebrating the man who killed her.

We ask that you keep Hae in your thoughts and prayers.

Here is a shot of Syed back in court yesterday: