Subject of ‘Serial’ podcast can appeal
WASHINGTON – The subject of the popular podcast “Serial” will be allowed to appeal his murder conviction, a Maryland court has ruled, a development that gives the man his best chance at a new trial or a change to his life sentence.
Adnan Syed, 34, was convicted in 2000 of strangling his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, the year prior, when both were high school students in suburban Baltimore. “Serial” examined the case in detail and raised questions about Syed’s guilt and whether he received a fair trial.
Syed argues that the attorney who represented him ignored his requests to negotiate a plea deal. He also claims she failed to interview a witness who could have provided him with an alibi.
Prosecutors have argued that Syed was never offered a plea deal, and that there was no evidence beyond his own post-conviction testimony that attorney Cristina Gutierrez failed him. Gutierrez was disbarred in 2001 and died in 2004.
On Friday, Maryland’s second-highest court, the Court of Special Appeals, granted Syed’s application for leave of appeal. That means both sides will file briefs, and the court will hear oral arguments in June.
Brian Williams takes self off NBC newscast
LOS ANGELES – Brian Williams is stepping away temporarily from the “NBC Nightly News” amid questions about his memories of war coverage in Iraq, saying it has become “painfully apparent” to him that he has become a distracting news story.
In a memo Saturday to NBC News staff that was released by the network, the anchorman said that as managing editor of “NBC Nightly News,” he is taking himself off the broadcast for several days. Lester Holt will fill in, Williams said.
“In the midst of a career spent covering and consuming news, it has become painfully apparent to me that I am presently too much a part of the news, due to my actions,” Williams said in his memo.
“Upon my return, I will continue my career-long effort to be worthy of the trust of those who place their trust in us,” he wrote.
Williams has apologized for falsely saying on the air that he was in a helicopter hit by a rocket-propelled grenade while in Iraq in 2003.
Alabama set to allow gay marriage
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama on Monday will become the 37th state where gays can legally wed unless the U.S. Supreme Court orders a last-minute stay of a federal judge’s decision overturning the state’s ban on gay marriage.
The ruling brings gay marriage to the Deep South and to a state considered one of the Bible Belt’s most socially conservative. While gay marriage is legal in much of the nation, over half of the 14 states still enforcing bans on gay marriage were located in the South, a swath of resistance stretching from roughly Texas to Kentucky.
Couples are expected to seek marriage licenses at courthouses across Alabama on Monday morning when the ruling by U.S. District Judge Callie Granade overturning Alabama’s ban goes into effect.
Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put aside the judge’s order since justices are expected to decide the issue of gay marriage on a nationwide basis later this year. As of Saturday, the high court had not ruled on the request.
Associated Press
