Indian-Origin Man Faces Deportation After 43 Years of Wrongful Imprisonment in US Murder Case

An Indian-origin man who endured over four decades of imprisonment for a murder he didn't commit now confronts deportation from the United States to India, a country he barely remembers.

Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam, 64, was freed from Pennsylvania prison on October 3 after his wrongful conviction was overturned. However, he was immediately taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to a decades-old deportation order to India.

Vedam, a permanent US resident who arrived from India as a nine-month-old infant, was convicted for the 1980 murder of Thomas Kinser, 19, in Pennsylvania. Kinser's remains were discovered in a sinkhole, and authorities accused Vedam, his former high school classmate, of being the last person seen with the victim. He received a life sentence without parole in 1983 and was reconvicted in 1988.

In 2022, the Pennsylvania Innocence Project uncovered previously undisclosed evidence, including an FBI report and notes indicating that the bullet wound in Kinser's skull couldn't have been inflicted by the alleged weapon.

A judge ruled in August 2025 that suppressing this evidence violated Vedam's due process rights, stating, "Had that evidence been available at the time, there would have been a reasonable probability that the jury's judgment would have been affected." Subsequently, District Attorney Bernie Cantorna dismissed the murder charge.

ICE referenced a "legacy deportation order" from the 1980s linked to both the overturned murder case and a previous drug conviction when Vedam was 19 for intent to distribute LSD. According to ICE, "Pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act, individuals who have exhausted all avenues of immigration relief and possess standing removal orders are priorities for enforcement."

During his 43 years of incarceration, Vedam transformed into a mentor and educator, creating literacy programs, fundraising for Big Brothers Big Sisters, and tutoring hundreds of fellow inmates. He earned multiple degrees, including a master's with a perfect 4.0 GPA. His sister, Saraswathi Vedam, emphasized, "Subu's true character is evidenced in the way he spent his 43 years of imprisonment for a crime he didn't commit."

Zoe Miller Vedam, his niece, shared, "It's been a very long journey toward exonerating my uncle. He spent the last 44 years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit, and we've been fighting and supporting him this whole time." She added, "India, in many ways, is a completely different world to him... His whole family, his sister, his nieces, his grand-nieces, we're all US citizens, and we all live here."

Vedam's legal representatives have filed a motion to reopen the immigration case and requested a stay on deportation. The government must respond by October 24.