Court of Special Appeals of Maryland Remands Adnan Syed’s Appeal So He Can Move to Have Asia Testify

Yesterday, the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland issued an order that stayed Adnan Syed’s appeal; and remanded the case to the Circuit Court for Baltimore City based upon a conclusion that these actions were “in the interest of justice.” This remand will allow Adnan to move to reopen his postconviction proceeding under Section 7-104 of the Maryland Code of Criminal Procedure, which utilizes the same “in the interest of justice” standard. According to the court, “[t]his remand, among other things, will afford the parties the opportunity to supplement the record with relevant documents and even testimony pertinent to the issues raised by the appeal.”

When I first saw Asia McClain’s new affidavit in January, I wrote about how the Court of Special Appeals should and would remand Adnan’s appeal to the Circuit Court so that Asia McClain could testify. The Court of Special Appeals has now remanded and implied that Asia will be allowed to testify, but that decision is ultimately up to the Circuit Court. For the same reasons I listed in my prior post, I think that the Circuit Court will allow Asia to testify and possibly/probably receive additional evidence. I will be recording a special minisode of the Unidisclosed Podcast that will air later this week and contain further analysis of the issue.

-CM