The judge who’s now presiding over the Adnan Syed case once oversaw the prosecution of the star witness against him in Baltimore County where she worked for more than 15 years in the state’s attorney’s office.

In 2001, Baltimore Circuit Judge Jennifer B. Schiffer, whose last name at the time was Rains, was working as an assistant state’s attorney when she supervised a student lawyer who prosecuted Jay Wilds on charges of possession of marijuana and driving on a suspended license.

That was the same Jay Wilds who earlier served as a key witness for the state against Syed as he stood trial in the killing of his ex-girlfriend and classmate at Woodlawn High School, Hae Min Lee.

Wilds testified that he helped Syed bury her in Leakin Park in Baltimore. Her body was discovered on Feb. 9, 1999. She was 18.

Syed was found guilty in 2000 in Baltimore Circuit Court of first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and false imprisonment and sentenced to life in prison — plus 30 years. He has always maintained his innocence, and the case received international attention in 2014 with the release of the podcast “Serial.”

Schiffer brought up her involvement in that case on Friday during a status conference that was held over Zoom. The purpose of the hearing was to get an update about what was happening since the Maryland Supreme Court this summer reinstated Syed’s conviction.

Syed, now 43, is free pending a new hearing in the case and appeared on the Zoom call.

In preparation for the court proceedings, Schiffer said, she asked her law clerk to find certain exhibits.

That’s when she said her law clerk uncovered a transcript from Wilds’ drug possession case in the file. Schiffer said she had “absolutely no recollection” of that hearing, which she noted took place more than 23 years ago.

“I tell you all that just because I wanted you to be aware of it, and if there was a motion for me to recuse, I certainly will keep an open mind and consider any motion,” Schiffer said. “But again, I don’t think it has any bearing on these proceedings and I, without her having found it, had no recollection at all.”

Wilds received probation before judgment after his attorney, Anne Benaroya, reported that he did not have a criminal record. But Wilds had pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder and was sentenced to two years’ probation.

Brian Zavin, chief attorney of the Maryland Office of the Public Defender’s Appellate Division, one of Syed’s attorneys, said the defense team did not have sufficient time to discuss the issue with their client.

“We appreciate Judge Schiffer’s bringing her prior role as prosecutor in Jay Wilds’ subsequent Baltimore County possession case to the parties’ and victim’s representatives’ attention,” said Assistant Public Defender Erica Suter, one of Syed’s attorneys and director of the Innocence Project Clinic at the University of Baltimore School of Law, in a statement.

“We are reviewing this information with our client to determine if any action is necessary.”

The hearing last week was neither docketed in the Maryland Judiciary Case Search nor appeared on the daily court calendar for Baltimore Circuit Court.

Schiffer has been on the bench since 2017 and presided over a number of high-profile trials, including the case of a teen who was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter and related crimes for fatally shooting a man who confronted a group of squeegee workers in 2022 near the Inner Harbor with a baseball bat.

Since “Serial” reexamined the case against Syed and raised new questions about his guilt, there have been a number of twists and turns.

In 2022, the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office filed a motion to throw out Syed’s convictions, reporting that an almost one-year investigation revealed that prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence and turned up information about two possible alternate suspects.

Prosecutors also brought up the discrepancies in Wilds’ statements and noted that they could not rely on his testimony alone.

Circuit Judge Melissa M. Phinn granted the request and ordered Syed to immediately be released from prison. But Steve Kelly, an attorney for Young Lee, Hae Min Lee’s brother, moved to appeal the decision and asked the courts to put the case on hold.

The state’s attorney at the time, Marilyn Mosby, then dropped the charges, citing the results of new DNA testing on several items that excluded Syed as a contributor.

In a 2-1 decision, the Appellate Court of Maryland in 2023 ruled that Young Lee’s rights to notice and attendance were violated and moved to reinstate Syed’s convictions. The Maryland Supreme Court this year upheld that decision in a 4-3 opinion and ordered a new hearing before a different judge.

When he first ran for office in 2018, Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates told Rolling Stone that if he was elected, he would drop the charges.

Bates, a Democrat, also participated in the HBO documentary series, “The Case Against Adnan Syed.”

“Justice has to mean that we get it right. And if we get it wrong, we hurry up, and fix it,” Bates said in the documentary. “And to me, this is a perfect example of, ‘They just got it wrong.’”

Bates was successful during his second campaign for state’s attorney and took office in 2023.

Assistant State’s Attorney Clara Salzberg, chief of the Post Conviction Litigation Unit, requested an additional 90 days to review the case and determine the next steps.

In a statement, James Bentley, a spokesperson for the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office, said it does not intend to ask Schiffer to recuse herself from the case.

Because legionella closed down the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s headquarters, prosecutors did not receive the documents from the case until Oct. 15, Bentley said. The file comprises 26 boxes of material.

Bates, he said, “stands behind his previous statement.”

“There are specific grounds on which this motion can be filed, and taking the time to do a thorough review is essential to the Lee family, Mr. Syed, and the community’s faith in the criminal justice system,” Bentley said.

Schiffer gave prosecutors until Feb. 28 to file anything supplemental in the case.