August 2nd, 2016 by WCBC Radio

 Lawyers for the state of Maryland say a Baltimore judge was wrong to allow "a novel standalone claim" relating to cellphone evidence to be considered when he granted a new trial for a man convicted of murder in a case that was featured in the podcast called "Serial."

In its appeal of a retrial for Adnan Syed, the attorney general's office says the judge allowed Syed's attorneys to introduce a fax cover sheet that went along with cellphone tower records.

Defense attorneys said information on the cover sheet challenges the reliability of data linking Syed's phone to the burial site of his former high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, who was killed in 1999.

The state also denies that Syed's initial lawyers were ineffective.