Adnan Syed, Fighting Victim's Family, Says His Suffers, Too

With an appeals court weighing the reinstatement of Adnan Syed's murder conviction in the 1999 death of Hae Min Lee, the newly freed man said he hopes his family's pain is taken into consideration. "We definitely understand Hae's family has suffered so much, and they continue to suffer," Syed said outside the Maryland court. "And it's just that we suffer, too." He was released in September after a judge overturned his conviction. Syed, whose case became famous thanks to the podcast "Serial," had been imprisoned for more than two decades in the slaying of his former girlfriend, who was 18. His comments Thursday were his first public statements since his release, CBS News reports.

Lee's family wants a court hearing on whether the conviction should stand. The family's filing faults prosecutors on a couple of issues. They gave Lee's brother less than a day's notice of the hearing, it says, and he lives on the West Coast. And they didn't provide enough information for him to counter their arguments to reverse the conviction, it says. "We take no position as to whether or not Adnan Syed is guilty or innocent," said David Sanford, the Lees' attorney. "What we do take a position on is trying to substantiate the rights of the victim and the victim's family here." There's disagreement about whether Lee's family has a right to participate in the hearing, per NBC News. Lee's brother Young was in court Thursday but did not comment afterward. (More Adnan Syed stories.)