Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam’s story reads like a script for a legal drama—one that, heartbreakingly, refuses to end. On the morning of October 3, 2025, after spending more than four decades behind bars for a murder he did not commit, the 64-year-old Vedam walked out of Huntingdon State Prison in Pennsylvania, finally exonerated. But before he could even embrace his family, agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stepped in, detaining him on a decades-old deportation order. According to the Miami Herald, instead of a long-awaited reunion, Vedam was whisked away to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, a federal immigration detention facility in central Pennsylvania.
Vedam’s release was the culmination of a years-long fight to clear his name. The case that put him behind bars began in 1982, when he was arrested for the murder of his friend, Thomas Kinser, in Centre County. Prosecutors at the time relied on circumstantial evidence and a theory involving a .25-caliber pistol—a weapon that was never recovered. The prosecution’s case hinged on the idea that Kinser had been shot with such a gun, but decades later, new evidence would unravel this narrative.
In 2022, attorneys with the Pennsylvania Innocence Project discovered an FBI report and handwritten notes in the files of the Centre County District Attorney’s Office. These documents revealed something critical: the bullet wound in Kinser’s skull was too small for a .25-caliber bullet. This evidence, which had never been shared with Vedam’s defense, would have seriously undermined the prosecution’s theory. In August 2025, Judge Jonathan Grine concluded that the suppression of this evidence violated due process. “Had that evidence been available at the time, there would have been a reasonable probability that the jury’s judgment would have been affected,” Grine wrote, as reported by the Miami Herald.
The following month, Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna dismissed the murder charge entirely, stating that a new trial would be “impossible and unjust.” With that, Vedam became the longest-serving exonerated prisoner in Pennsylvania history—having been arrested in 1982 and convicted in 1983 for a crime committed in 1980. His legal odyssey had finally come to an end, or so it seemed.
But as Vedam stepped into the sunlight, freedom proved fleeting. ICE officers were waiting, acting on a “legacy deportation order” that dated back to the 1980s. This order was tied not only to the now-vacated murder charge but also to a conviction from Vedam’s youth: at 19, he had pleaded guilty to attempted distribution of LSD. According to ICE, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, individuals with exhausted immigration remedies and standing removal orders are prioritized for enforcement. “Mr. Vedam will be held in ICE custody while the agency arranges for his removal in accordance with all applicable laws and due-process requirements,” ICE said in a statement to the Miami Herald.
For Vedam’s family, the news was devastating. They had prepared to welcome him home after 43 years—he had arrived in the United States from India as a nine-month-old infant, and all his family now lives in the U.S. or Canada. “They’re emotionally reeling from the fact that he could be sent to a country he doesn’t know,” said family spokesperson Mike Truppa. Vedam’s niece, Zoë Miller Vedam, echoed the sense of uncertainty and hope: “I’m not sure we have expectations. We definitely have hope. 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.”
Zoë painted a picture of her uncle as a man who, rather than succumbing to despair, transformed his imprisonment into a mission of service. “He worked as a teacher, helping many people get their degrees—people who’ve spoken to us afterwards about how having him support them while they were incarcerated really changed their lives,” she said. Vedam completed multiple correspondence degrees and became the first person in 150 years at Huntingdon State Prison to earn a master’s degree, finishing with a perfect 4.0 GPA. He also raised funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters and mentored hundreds of fellow inmates. “Subu’s true character is evidenced in the way he spent his 43 years of imprisonment for a crime he didn’t commit,” said his sister, Saraswathi Vedam. “Rather than succumb to this dreadful hardship and mourn his terrible fate, he turned his wrongful imprisonment into a vehicle of service to others.”
Now, the family’s fight has shifted from the criminal courts to the immigration system. Vedam’s legal team has filed a motion to reopen his immigration case and requested a stay of deportation while the motion is pending. The government has until October 24, 2025, to respond. If the immigration court agrees to reopen the case and grants the stay, Vedam could face proceedings while free; if not, ICE will proceed with the deportation order.
For the family, deportation to India—a country Vedam hasn’t visited since infancy—would be devastating. “India, in many ways, is a completely different world to him,” Zoë said. “He left India when he was nine months old. None of us can remember our lives at nine months old. He hasn’t been there for over 44 years, and the people he knew when he went as a child have passed away. His whole family—his sister, his nieces, his grand-nieces—we’re all U.S. citizens, and we all live here.”
Vedam’s supporters argue that his case highlights a cruel paradox in the U.S. legal and immigration systems. The wrongful conviction that kept him in prison for decades also delayed the execution of his deportation order. Now, after being exonerated, he faces the prospect of being exiled to a country where he has no ties, no support network, and no familiarity with modern life. “He’s never been able to work outside the prison system,” Zoë said. “He’s never seen a modern film, he’s never been on the internet, he doesn’t know technology. To send him to India at 64, on his own and away from his family and community, would be just extending the harm of his wrongful incarceration.”
ICE, for its part, maintains that it is simply following the law. In its statement, the agency referred to Vedam as a “career criminal and drug trafficker,” pointing to his old drug conviction. Vedam’s defense team, however, intends to argue that the totality of his circumstances—his lifelong residence in the United States, his record of rehabilitation, and the injustice of his conviction—should weigh heavily in favor of allowing him to stay.
As the legal battle continues, Vedam’s family and supporters are left in limbo. “After 43 years of having his life taken from him because of a wrongful conviction, to send him to the other side of the world—to a place he doesn’t know, away from everyone who loves him—would just compound that injustice,” Zoë said. “We’re going to keep supporting him and doing everything we can to make sure that, now that he’s finally been exonerated, he’ll be able to be home with his family.”
For now, Subramanyam Vedam’s fate rests with the immigration court, his family’s hopes, and a nation’s willingness to reckon with the consequences of its own mistakes.
