Adnan Syed’s murder conviction in Maryland has been reinstated by a Maryland court.

ANNAPOLIS, Maryland (AP) — A Maryland appellate court reinstated Adnan Syed’s murder conviction on Tuesday and ordered a new hearing in the case, the latest development in the long-running legal saga chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial.”

Syed will not be immediately taken back into custody despite the reinstatement of his conviction.

The Appellate Court of Maryland ruled 2-1 on Tuesday that a lower court failed to provide sufficient notice to the victim’s family when it scheduled the September hearing that vacated Syed’s conviction and granted him the opportunity to get his freedom back after spending more than 20 years in prison.

The appellate court ruled that the Maryland law that guarantees victims advance notice of such hearings was broken in the case of Hae Min Lee’s brother. Syed was found guilty of murdering Lee, his ex-girlfriend from high school, whose body was discovered in a makeshift grave after she went missing in 1999.

In September, Baltimore prosecutors moved to overturn Syed’s conviction after reviewing the case and discovering alternative suspects and untrustworthy evidence used at trial. Immediately after that, the lower court set a hearing date for the state’s motion to vacate.

Young Lee, Lee’s brother, was informed on a Friday afternoon that the hearing would take place the following Monday.The appellate court determined that giving him just one business day’s notice of the hearing was insufficient to “reasonably allow Mr. Lee, who resided in California, claimed that he was entitled to attend the hearing in person but was forced to participate virtually.

After the judge denied his request to postpone the proceedings for one week to allow for his in-person attendance, Young Lee attended the hearing via Zoom.

The Lee family believed justice had been done for decades, but their lawyers claim that when prosecutors found that their case was flawed from the beginning, they were given less consideration than a footnote. The appellate court agreed in large part.

When the victim requests it and all other parties involved in the hearing show up in person, the victim has the right to attend a court hearing in person, according to the court’s ruling.

Following the reversal of Syed’s conviction, prosecutors in Baltimore had 30 days to decide whether to retry him. While the Lee family’s appeal was still pending, they announced their decision to drop the charges eight days before the deadline.

The appellate judges disputed that timeline and came to the conclusion that the state had taken action “with the intent… to prevent Mr. Syed’s attorneys later asserted that the appeal was moot because there were no underlying charges, preventing Lee from obtaining a decision on it.

During oral arguments last month, the three-judge panel spent much of their time debating whether the appeal should be dismissed.

During the hearing, Judge Stuart Berger stated, “It makes all the difference in the world if the case is moot.”

The Lee family argued in their appeal that there should be a “right to be heard” at vacatur hearings, and the judges took this into consideration. Judges ruled that victims do not have a right to meaningful participation in these hearings, rejecting that argument. They claimed that a contrary ruling would “result in a huge shift in practise.”

The judges stated that they were required to correct the violations of the lower court “as long as we can do so without violating Mr. Syed’s right not to face double jeopardy, “implying that he would face two prosecutions for the same crime.

We overturn the decision of the circuit court to dismiss Mr. Syed’s convictions, resulting in his reinstatement.”