Sarah Koenig

A couple of his old attorneys, though, the guys who tried to get him out on bail when he was 17, I caught them out on the sidewalk, hugging.

I don't know if I would have been able to hack it if she said so.

I don't know if I could have.

I was in the courtroom for the hearing.

More than 100 people, at times shockingly quiet, as if no one was breathing.

At the beginning, Young Lee, the brother of Hayman Lee, whose murder was about to be unsolved, spoke via Zoom directly to Judge Melissa Finn.

Young Lee tried to keep it together, but he couldn't.

When I think it's over, he said, it always comes back.

A real-life living nightmare for 20-plus years.

But he also told the judge he believes in the justice system.

He's not against a new investigation.

He said to Judge Finn, make the right decision.

Then the prosecutor read the highlights of her motion into the record.

Adnan's lawyer made a brief statement.

And within about 40 minutes, the judge was ready with her decision.

On this 19th day of September 2022, she said, in the interests of justice, the motion to vacate is hereby granted.

You might be asking, what on earth happened?

I've spent the last few days trying to understand it myself.

Wherefore this motion to vacate that burst like a firework out of the prosecutor's office?

The very same office that asked the jury in 1999 to, quote, come back with a guilty finding for first-degree premeditated murder by the defendant, Adan Syed.