Adnan Syed lands job at Georgetown's Prisons and Justice Initiative 3 months after prison release
GEORGETOWN, WASHINGTON: Georgetown University has hired Adnan Syed, the subject of the popular crime podcast ‘Serial’, whose murder conviction was overturned earlier this year. After wrongfully spending two decades in prison for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Syed has landed a new job just a few months into his freedom.
Syed will assist prisoners and prison reform initiatives as a program associate for Georgetown's Prisons and Justice Initiative, according to an announcement by the DC-based university on Thursday, December 22. “To go from prison to being a Georgetown student and then to actually be on campus on a pathway to work for Georgetown at the Prisons and Justice Initiative, it’s a full circle moment,” Syed said in a statement as per New York Post. Syed, 41, was convicted of killing his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee in 1999 after being discovered dead and buried in a park in Baltimore; nevertheless, he and his family have defended his innocence since. Syed was only 17 years old when he was charged with the murder and sent to prison.
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His case shocked American audiences and garnered widespread attention after it was covered in the first season of the Grammy Award-winning audio series ‘Serial’ in 2014. After serving more than 20 years in prison, a court overturned Syed's conviction on September 19 and ordered his freedom based on DNA evidence. This month's employment change marked the end of an extraordinary year for Syed whose case has attracted significant public interest following a flurry of the recent court activity. The prosecutor added that the initial prosecutors failed to inform Syed's defense team of information that suggested two additional suspects may have been involved in the case during a reinvestigation.
Syed was enrolled in Georgetown's brand-new Bachelor of Liberal Arts program when he was released, giving Maryland offenders access to a full bachelor's degree. Syed stated that he intends to finish his undergraduate work at Georgetown before moving to law school. Syed was lately set free less than a month after a judge overturned his murder conviction. He spent two hours walking 14 University of Baltimore law students through the facts of his case. On October 18, Syed spoke as a surprise guest in professor Erica Suter's innocence project clinic. Syed's case was highlighted in the 2014 true crime podcast ‘Serial’.