When he finished reading the letter to the judge, Adnan Syed folded the piece of paper in his hands, took a deep breath, then went off script.

People who filled a courtroom in the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse in Baltimore had heard wrenching testimony from the mother and brother of Hae Min Lee, his ex-girlfriend and classmate at Woodlawn High School. Her family spoke about the anguish that Syed had caused them and a new heartache from his sudden and unexpected freedom.

Syed said he wanted to acknowledge the Lee family as well as the trauma that they’ve endured. Though he emerged from prison as a celebrity, Syed said he has declined interviews and sought to escape the spotlight.

His case received worldwide attention in 2014 with the release of the podcast “Serial” and was the subject of an HBO documentary series called, “The Case Against Adnan Syed.”

“I didn’t want to cause them any more pain,” Syed said. “I didn’t want them to see me and be upset.”

His remarks concluded an hourslong hearing on Wednesday in Baltimore Circuit Court to determine whether he will remain a free man.

Circuit Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer said she will issue a written opinion on his motion to reduce his murder sentence.

If Schiffer grants the motion and reduces his sentence to time served and probation, Syed will not have to return to prison.

Schiffer said it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that Syed stands convicted of a “brutal, premeditated and senseless killing.”

Though a jury found him guilty of “vicious crimes,” Schiffer said, that did not stop Syed from becoming a celebrity or end 20 years of legal wrangling.

Syed, she said, has changed and matured and achieved some success in society. But Lee “never had the chance to do any of these things,” Schiffer said.

“Hae Min Lee and her family are the true victims in this case,” said Schiffer, who added that their suffering cannot be overstated.

Outside the courthouse, Syed declined to speak to a waiting crowd of reporters.

“Adnan’s fight for justice continues, but we are relieved he remains free,” said Assistant Public Defender Erica Suter, Syed’s attorney and director of the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

Suter called six witnesses who spoke about her client’s character and reentry into society. They described him as a trusted confidante and excellent communicator who remained positive and hopeful during his imprisonment.

Anita Boss, a clinical and forensic psychologist in Alexandria, Virginia, testified that Syed poses a low risk of reoffending.

His brother, Yusuf Syed, described him as being “like a father figure there to guide me.”

“If there’s anything good you see in me as a human being, it’s because of his influence,” he said.

Willie Hamilton first met Syed when they both were incarcerated at what was then called the Maryland House of Correction-Annex.

Hamilton served more than 30 years in prison before he was released under the Juvenile Restoration Act.

“Mr. Syed was different. He wasn’t tainted by the environment,” Hamilton testified. “He kind of already had his course.”

In the community, Syed, he said, has been a “great contributor.”

Syed is indispensable in his role as a program associate, said Marc Howard, a professor and director of the Prisons and Justice Initiative at Georgetown University.

“Adnan completes every task on time. He’s punctual. He’s diligent. He’s kind. He exemplifies the values we strive for as an organization,” Howard said. “We support him. We value him.”

Later, Howard added, “We love him dearly.”

Swirling over the hearing was Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates’ 88-page, last-minute filing on Tuesday that unraveled arguments from the prior state’s attorney that Syed had been wrongfully convicted.

Bates supports Syed’s request for a sentence reduction.

But Bates is no longer pursuing a motion to throw out Syed’s conviction, which was filed under the previous administration.

The motion, Bates alleged, contained “false and misleading statements that undermine the integrity of the judicial process.”

A jury found Syed, now 43, guilty in 2000 of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and false imprisonment. He was sentenced to life in prison, plus 30 years.

Lee’s body was found Feb. 9, 1999, in Leakin Park in Baltimore. She was 18.

At the time of the killing, Syed was 17. He has always maintained his innocence.

The Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office in 2022 filed a motion to throw out Syed’s conviction, reporting that an almost one-year investigation revealed prosecutors did not turn over exculpatory evidence and uncovered information about two possible alternative suspects.

Circuit Judge Melissa M. Phinn later granted the motion and ordered Syed to immediately be released from prison. Since then, he’s remained free.

The Baltimore state’s attorney at the time, Marilyn Mosby, then dropped the charges.

In 2024, the Maryland Supreme Court in a 4-3 decision reinstated Syed’s conviction and ordered a new hearing before a different judge.

The state’s highest court ruled that he could remain free pending that new hearing.

Meanwhile, Syed’s attorneys then filed a motion for reduction of sentence under the Juvenile Restoration Act. The law allows people 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.

David Sanford, Young Lee’s attorney, urged the judge to deny the motion for reduction of sentence.

“Absolutely nothing, not a popular podcast, not an HBO documentary, not worldwide press coverage, not the support of Mr. Syed’s family and friends, not the state’s wholly unsupported motion to vacate, not the cultural hysteria surrounding this tragic matter and not the zealous and compassionate defense by Mr. Syed’s experienced legal team changes the fact that Mr. Syed remains convicted of premeditated murder due to overwhelming evidence,” Sanford said.

Under the Juvenile Restoration Act, Sanford said, judges have to consider 11 factors. Seven of them, he said, weigh against the request for resentencing.

Syed, he said, has “never accepted responsibility for the crime of which he was unanimously convicted.”

Next, Young Lee said his sister was very important to him.

He said he thought that justice was served. When “Serial” came out, Young Lee said, he felt like he was living the same nightmare over and over.

“For me,” he said, “it’s real life.”

Sanford then played a videotaped statement from Youn Wha Kim, Hae Min Lee’s mother, in which she spoke in Korean. Another attorney for the family then read a translation in English into the record.

On Jan. 13, 1999, Kim said, her daughter went missing. She returned home about one month later as a cold body.

Kim said she felt like she was thrown into a prison without bars. She told the judge that Syed had smiled when he walked into his trial.

“The image of Adnan smiling became a nightmare for me. I could not sleep,” she said.

She felt proud of the U.S. criminal justice system when the jury returned a guilty verdict.

Years passed and she tried to heal while Syed became a pop culture celebrity. Then came the whirlwind hearing that set him free to a cheering crowd. And the grieving mother went back down the path of despair, she told the judge.

“We have a saying,” she said, “that a frog is hit and killed by a carelessly thrown stone in the pond.”

She said she had become that frog.