Closing the latest chapter in the legal odyssey, a Baltimore judge on Friday resentenced Adnan Syed, ensuring that the subject of the podcast “Serial” will remain free.

Circuit Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer reduced his sentence to time served plus five years' supervised probation.

In a 14-page opinion issued last week, Schiffer concluded that Syed is not a danger to the public and that the interests of justice would be better served by reducing his sentence. She wrote that she would schedule a hearing over Zoom to impose the new sentence.

The hearing lasted less than 10 minutes.

“I hope, Mr. Syed, and I trust, that this will be the last time we see each other,” Schiffer said. “I don’t have to tell you the amount of time that’s hanging over your head.”

Assistant Public Defender Erica Suter, director of the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law and one of Syed’s attorneys, asked the judge to reconsider her decision to order supervised probation versus unsupervised probation.

In the alternative, Suter requested permission for her client to travel to Virginia and Washington, D.C., without having to receive prior approval from his probation agent.

Deputy of Operations Catherine Flynn did not object to that request.

Schiffer ruled that Syed will be allowed to travel to both places without prior approval. She agreed to waive court costs but declined to set aside fees.

“I believe I’ve shown more consideration to him that anyone could have expected,” Schiffer said.

Syed, now 43, was found guilty in 2000 in Baltimore Circuit Court of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and false imprisonment in the killing of Hae Min Lee, his ex-girlfriend and classmate at Woodlawn High School.

Her body was found on Feb. 9, 1999, in Leakin Park. She was 18.

At the time of the killing, Syed was 17. From the start, he has maintained his innocence.

In 2022, the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office filed a motion to throw out Syed’s conviction after reporting that an almost one-year investigation found that prosecutors failed to turn over exculpatory evidence and developed information about two possible alternative suspects.

Circuit Judge Melissa M. Phinn granted the motion and ordered Syed to be immediately released from prison.

The Maryland Supreme Court in 2024 reinstated Syed’s conviction in a 4-3 decision after finding that the rights of Young Lee, Hae Min Lee’s brother, were violated. The justices ordered a new hearing before a different judge but allowed Syed to remain free.

His attorneys then filed a motion for reduction of sentence under the Juvenile Restoration Act, which enables those who’ve served at least 20 years in prison for crimes they committed as children to get back into court and demonstrate that they’ve changed.

Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates withdrew the motion to throw out Syed’s conviction, alleging in an 88-page memo that it contained “false and misleading statements.”

But Bates supported Syed’s request to reduce his sentence.

In a statement, David Sanford, an attorney for the Lee family, wrote that the hearing “brings to a close the long saga of Adnan Syed.”

Family members, he said, are grateful that the judge showed respect and allowed them to argue their position. They also expressed gratitude to the state’s highest court for the “historic decision in this case.”

“As a result, victims now have the right to be heard, the right to be present, and the right to meaningfully participate in criminal justice proceedings,” Sanford said.

Since his release from prison, Syed has worked at the Prisons and Justice Initiative at Georgetown University, helped other people who used to be incarcerated and volunteered at his mosque, the Islamic Society of Baltimore.