‘Serial’s’ investigation of the Adnan Syed case is unusual for the true crime genre

Last month, a Baltimore City Circuit Court judge deemed that Adnan Syed’s murder conviction was illegitimate, citing unreliable evidence and alternate suspects in the 1999 death of his high school girlfriend. And last week, Baltimore prosecutors dropped all charges against him. After 23 years, Syed is a free man. There’s no doubt that the “Serial” podcast, which examined his case in depth and cast doubt on Syed’s guilt, was partly responsible for the overturning of his conviction, if only in the fact that it brought the case so much attention.