Journalism of Courage
An Indian-origin man from Pennsylvania, Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam, who was released from prison earlier this month after spending 43 years in jail after his murder conviction was overturned, was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over a decades-old deportation order.
Vedam’s legal trouble started in 1982 when he was arrested for the alleged murder of his friend, 19-year-old Thomas Kinser, in Centre County. Prosecutors had alleged that Subu shot Kinser with a .25-caliber pistol, however, the weapon was never recovered and the entire case was based on circumstantial evidence. Vedam was convicted in 1983 for the murder of his friend and sentenced to life without parole.
Subu, who was born in India, arrived in the United States when he was nine months old. He remained for the next 43 years in jail after being convicted in the case of his friend’s murder. In 2022, the Pennsylvania Innocence Project that has joined Subu’s defence team, found undisclosed evidence in the files of the Centre County District Attorney’s Office, which included an FBI report and handwritten notes that suggested the bullet found in Kinser’s skull was too small to have been shot by a .25-caliber bullet.
In September 2025, District Attorney Bernie Cantorna dismissed the murder charges against Subu Vedam and stated that a retrial would be unjust and impossible. Subu walked free on October 3 from the Huntingdon State Correctional Institution after reportedly becoming the longest-serving exoneree in Pennsylvania’s history, reported Miami Herald.
ICE, citing a “legacy deportation order”, has said that the agency took Subu Vedam into custody immediately after his release due to his “criminal past”. ICE stated that before his arrest for murder in the 1980s, Vedam had pleaded guilty at age 19 with an intent to distribute LSD.
His family has described it as a youth mistake, reports stated. Subu was never deported as he was serving a life sentence. Now, after he has been exonerated of the murder charges, ICE has revived the decades-old deportation order in the other case.
