Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam, a 64-year-old man of Indian origin, faces deportation to India after being exonerated of a murder conviction that kept him imprisoned in the United States for over 40 years. Vedam's case has sparked outrage and raised questions about justice, immigration, and the long-term consequences of wrongful convictions.
Vedam's ordeal began in 1982 when he was arrested at the age of 19 and charged with the murder of his friend and former roommate, Tom Kinser. Kinser had disappeared in 1980, and his body was discovered nine months later with a gunshot wound. Despite Vedam's consistent claims of innocence and the lack of concrete evidence, he was convicted in 1983 and sentenced to life in prison. Authorities seized his passport and green card, denying him bail due to being labeled a "foreigner likely to flee".
Throughout his incarceration, Vedam maintained his innocence and tirelessly appealed his conviction. While in prison, he demonstrated a commitment to self-improvement and helping others, creating literacy programs for fellow inmates and earning three degrees with magna cum laude honors, including an MBA with a perfect 4.0 GPA. He became the first inmate in over 150 years in Pennsylvania to earn a graduate degree while in prison.
In 2021, new evidence surfaced that cast serious doubt on Vedam's conviction. The Pennsylvania Innocence Project uncovered an FBI report that had been withheld by prosecutors during the original trial. This report indicated that the bullet wound in Kinser's skull was too small to have been caused by the .25-caliber pistol that was allegedly used in the crime.
On October 2, 2025, a Centre County judge overturned Vedam's conviction, and the district attorney dismissed all charges, citing the "passage of time," missing witnesses, and Vedam's decades-long imprisonment. Vedam was finally free, but his freedom was short-lived.
As he was about to leave prison, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents took Vedam into custody. ICE cited a 1988 deportation order that was based on his now-vacated murder conviction and a prior drug offense. The agency described him as a "career criminal" with a long rap sheet.
Vedam's family and legal team are fighting to prevent his deportation. They argue that deporting him to India, a country he barely knows, would be a further injustice after his wrongful imprisonment. Vedam was born in India but has lived in the U.S. since he was nine months old. His niece, Zoë Miller-Vedam, stated that India is a completely different world to him and that his entire family resides in the U.S. and Canada. His lawyer, Ava Benach, emphasized that Vedam had "forfeited four decades of his life to a prison sentence for a murder he didn't commit" and should be allowed to rebuild his life in the U.S..
Vedam's family has filed motions to reopen his immigration case and halt his deportation while proceedings are ongoing. They hope that his decades of wrongful imprisonment and his contributions to prison education and rehabilitation will persuade authorities to allow him to remain in the U.S. Vedam is currently being held at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania.
