NEW YORK • Serial, the hit American Internet radio sensation and most downloaded podcast in history, is back for Season Three.

This time, it will focus on explaining to listeners how ordinary American criminal justice functions.

The action in the new season takes place in Midwestern city Cleveland, the product of a year spent watching ordinary American criminal justice in action.

Different cases will be told across two or three episodes. The first homes in on a bar fight in which a woman is slapped on the rear, but winds up in jail. The first two episodes are currently available for free download.

Serial, a mix of investigative journalism, first-person narrative and dramatic storytelling, was launched in 2014. The first season focused on a man convicted of his 18-year-old ex-girlfriend's murder in 1999.

The 12 episodes were downloaded more than 175 million times, a world record.

The serial brought global attention to the case and, in March, an appeals court in Maryland ordered a new trial for Adnan Syed, although the appeals process is not yet finished.

He was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Hae Min Lee, whose body was found buried in the woods of Baltimore, Maryland. She had been strangled. He has always maintained his innocence.

Season Two focused on a soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, who deserted in Afghanistan, only to be held captive by Taleban-linked militants for five years.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE