Court won’t reconsider Adnan Syed sentence

A Maryland appeals court denied a request from Adnan Syed’s lawyer to reconsider last month’s decision to reinstate his controversial murder conviction — setting the stage for the case that captured the nation almost 10 years ago to head to the state’s supreme court.

The panel of three judges on Tuesday upheld the Appellate Court of Maryland’s decision to reinstate Syed’s conviction and sentence in March on the grounds that the rights of the murder victim Hae Min Lee’s family had been violated, WBALTV reported.

The judges agreed with Lee’s family that they should have been given proper notice about a hearing where Syed’s conviction was tossed in September so they could appear in person.

Lawyers for Syed had previously argued that the court broke from its own precedent by not requiring the victim’s family to prove that the outcome of last year’s hearing would change if they had been present, NBC News said.

They also questioned if the court was giving victims and their loved ones “special treatment,” the outlet said.

After Tuesday’s decision, Syed’s attorney Erica Suter said in a statement that she would be appealing to the Maryland Supreme Court.

“Appellate courts routinely assess whether an error impacted the underlying proceedings,” she wrote in a statement.

“We are dismayed that the Appellate Court of Maryland opted not to do so here.”

Syed, now 41, was only 17 when he was arrested for the Feb.1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend Lee.

He spent more than 20 years behind bars before his conviction was tossed at the September hearing — thanks in part to the widespread attention brought by the first season of the hit 2014 podcast “Serial,” which documented Syed’s case.

Syed remained free Wednesday as the case works its way through the courts.