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Arrested without any evidence, convicted without any evidence and now released but still held in jail for no reason.
Been in US since he was 10 months old
Now 41 years old but looks like 75 years old
When your life takes a wrong turn the unimaginable and impposible happens.
Very likely the prosecutor, the present authorities holding him and the judges who convicted him will face the Messengeer of Death without mercy.
Wrongfully imprisoned for more than 40 years, US man now faces deportation to India
Getty Images After serving 43 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam was finally free.
New evidence had exonerated him earlier this month of the murder of his former roommate.
But before he could reach his family's arms, Mr Vedam was taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who want to deport him to India - a country he has not lived in since he was a baby.
Now, Mr Vedam's legal team is fighting a deportation order and his family is determined to get him out of custody, for good.
His family are now working to navigate a new and "very different" situation, his sister Saraswathi Vedam told the BBC.
Her brother has gone from a facility where he knew inmates and guards alike, where he mentored fellow inmates, and where he had his own cell, to a facility where he shares a room with 60 men and where his history of good behaviour and mentorship is unknown.
Mr Vedam has been repeating one message to his sister and other family members in the wake of the new situation: "I want us to focus on the win."
"My name has been cleared, I'm no longer a prisoner, I'm a detainee."
The 1980 murder
More than 40 years ago, Mr Vedam was convicted of murdering his once-roommate Tom Kinser, a 19-year-old college student.
Kinser's body was found nine months after he went missing in a wooded area with a bullet wound in his skull.
On the day of Kinser's disappearance, Mr Vedam had asked him for a ride. While the vehicle Kinser drove was returned to its usual spot, no one saw it being returned.
Mr Vedam was charged with Kinser's murder. He was denied bail, had his passport and green card seized by authorities and was labelled a "foreigner likely to flee".
Two years later he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. In 1984, he was sentenced to a separate two-and-a-half to five years for a drug offence, as part of a plea agreement. That sentence was to be served simultaneously with his life sentence.
Throughout that time, Mr Vedam maintained his innocence on the murder charges.
His supporters and family members stressed there was no physical evidence tying him to the crime.
Getty Images
Mr Vedam's exoneration
Mr Vedam repeatedly appealed the murder conviction and a few years ago new evidence in the case surfaced which exonerated.
Earlier this month, Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said he would not pursue a new trial against Mr Vedam.
But Mr Vedam's family knew there was one hurdle left before he was free: he still had a 1988 deportation order, based on his convictions for murder and a drug offence.
The family expected they would have to file a motion to have his immigration case reopened, Ms Vedam said.
The facts of the case are different now, she stressed.
But when they arrested him, ICE cited the immigration order as their reasoning for quickly detaining him in a different Pennsylvania facility.
While he was exonerated for the murder charge, his drug conviction still stands, they have said. The immigration agency said it acted on a lawfully issued order.
ICE did not respond to the BBC's request for comment, but told other US outlets that Mr Vedam will remain in custody pending his deportation.
Mr Vedam's family has said his decades of good behaviour, completion of three degrees and community service while behind bars should be considered when the immigration court examines his case.
"What was deeply disappointing was that we didn't even have a moment to hold him in our arms," Ms Vedam said. "He was held wrongly and one would think that he conducted himself with such honour and purpose and integrity that that should mean something."
Potential deportation to India
The family has stressed Mr Vedam's ties to India - where ICE has said they would like to deport him to - are weak at best.
While he was born there, he moved to the US at nine months old. What relatives are still alive, are distant ones, Ms Vedam told the BBC.
His community - Ms Vedam, her four daughters and other cousins - are in the US and Canada.
"He will again be robbed and miss out on the lives of the people closet to him, by being half way across the world," she said. "It's almost like having his life stolen twice."
Mr Vedam, who is a legal permanent resident, had his citizenship application accepted before he was arrested. Both of his parents were also both US citizens.
"We believe deportation from the United States now, to send him to a country where he has few connections, would represent another terrible wrong done to a man who has already endured a record-setting injustice," his lawyer, Ava Benach said in a statement to the BBC.
Imagine you are a new born 10 month old baby and let's assume your future life is laid before you.
----- that you will be arrested for murder at the age of 19 and then wrongly convicted of murder and then thrown in jail for the next over 40 years.
What will you do if as a 10 month old baby you understood your future.
What a devastating toll it must have had on his family members.
But this guy is a real hero and he went on to study in prison and obtained 3 degrees.
Have you heard such a thing happening in Singapore?
Never, simply because if convicted you are hung and end of the story.
Any prosecutor who withheld any evidence or a judge who wrongly convicts is not answerable simply because the wrongly convicted felon is gone, case closed.
But don't think that is the end for the police, prosecutor and judges involved.
The Messenger of Death will be following each and every footstep of these real felons.
Who disbelieves in the Messenger of Death please let me know.
You would only go around trying to convince others if your yourself have seen .................
Incarcerated for 42 years for a crime he did not commit
Subramanyam (Subu) Vedam was wrongfully imprisoned at a maximum security prison in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, for 42 years for a crime he did not commit.
Subu was 20 when he was arrested in 1982 in connection with a murder that had occurred more than a year earlier. He was held without bail illegally while awaiting trial, and in February of 1983, he was wrongfully convicted of the crime even though prosecutors produced no tangible evidence linking him to the victim’s death. He was sentenced to life without parole.
The case was based entirely on circumstantial evidence. There was no witness, no motive, no weapon, no exact date of death, and no direct evidence. Despite numerous other more probable suspects, only Subu Vedam was arrested and accused.
NEW EVIDENCE DISCOVERED AFTER 40 YEARS
In 2022 – 40 years after Subu’s arrest for the crime – documents surfaced showing that the prosecutors who charged Subu with the murder in 1982 had concealed extensive evidence proving his innocence.
Subu's legal team filed a Brady Petition, the first step towards exoneration. In July, 2024 more than 200 of Subu's supporters filled the courtroom to capacity as his attorneys explained the significance of the newly uncovered evidence. Had his original lawyers had access to these documents, Subu's trials in the 80's would have gone very differently. Without it, he could not have had a fair trial.
A Centre County judge ordered three days of hearings on the new evidence exonerating Subu, scheduled for January 7, 2025 and February 6 and 7, 2025. This was the first time in Subu’s decades of unjust imprisonment that he had an opportunity to contest his wrongful conviction in court.
At the February 6th and 7th evidentiary hearing, experts including one of the nation's leading forensic scientists testified that the prosecution’s case against Subu unraveled when the long-concealed physical evidence was taken into account. After month's more waiting, in August of 2025 the Judge released his ruling, and he agreed. Read the Decision Following the judge’s decision, the current DA dropped all charges against Subu. To our disappointment Subu, who is an Indian citizen by birth, was transferred to ICE custody where he remains.
Here’s what you need to know about Subu’s case and the judicial errors, violations of his basic rights, and mysterious suppression and disappearance of evidence and testimony that led to his wrongful conviction and life sentence.
THE CONTEXT
State College, Pennsylvania is a small town with a big university. Nearly 50,000 students reside on the campus of Penn St. University, while the surrounding region in Centre County PA, is mostly rural and agricultural. In the 1980s, crime became more common in the region known as “Happy Valley,” and local residents associated these changes with the university. There was considerable "town vs. gown" tension.
THE CRIME
In late 1980, a 19-year-old boy, Tom Kinser, was reported missing. Nine months later, in September 1981, his remains were found in a wooded area. The coroner discovered a bullet wound in his skull.
THE BACKGROUND
Subu has been a permanent resident of the United States since he arrived from India with his parents in 1962 at nine months of age. He was raised with a deep respect for India and his heritage. Subu’s father was deeply committed to Mahatma Gandhi's teachings on nonviolence and tolerance, and he passed those principles on to Subu and his sister.
Throughout his youth and into his college years, Subu was never involved in any fighting or violence. On the contrary, he was known among his peers for his calm and peaceful attitude. He maintained close contact with his family, joining them for celebrations and trips to India. He continued to observe many Hindu traditions and took an interest in his extended family, both in the United States and in India. By 1981, when he was 20, he had enrolled at Penn State University and was working as a lab technician.
Subu and Tom had been school classmates since the late 1970s and had been roommates for one summer.
TOM'S DISAPPEARANCE
On the day of Tom’s disappearance in December 1980, Subu called him seeking a ride to a nearby town. Tom agreed, borrowed his family’s van from his parents, and went to pick up Subu. Later that day, the van was returned to its usual parking space at his apartment, but no one witnessed its return.
SUBU’S ARREST
In March 1982, Subu was arrested and held on 19 charges unrelated to Tom Kinser's death. He was never notified that, as an Indian citizen, he had a right to contact his consulate for assistance. Subu’s parents returned immediately from a sabbatical in Germany and sought legal assistance. On the day that they went to post their house towards bail, Subu was charged with first degree murder and the option of bail was removed. Other charges were dropped.
Subu was then imprisoned without bail for nearly a year. He was labeled a "foreigner likely to flee," even though he had lived in State College continuously from the age of nine months. The authorities had already confiscated his passport and green card.
PRETRIAL MEDIA PREJUDICE
Before his case came to trial, Subu was subjected to extensive and pervasive prejudicial pretrial publicity. Every day for months, news articles on the front page of the town's only newspaper suggested that Subu was unable to reconcile Indian values with American values, and hence had a “torn psyche” and “uncontrollable internal rage.” Before and during both trials the judge repeatedly denied motions for discovery, expert witnesses, and change of venue, as well as objections to prejudicial lines of questioning.
The prosecution indicated it would pursue the death penalty for Subu,despite the absence of any aggravating circumstance which would have made the death penalty possible. In addition, the jury selection procedure excluded students and others from the University community.
THE FIRST TRIAL
The first trial was held in February, 1983, and as the case unfolded it became clear that there were no witnesses and no direct evidence. There was no gun, no exact date of death, and no credible motive. No evidence of animosity between Tom and Subu was ever shown. A local teenager testified that he had sold Subu an antique handgun. No one witnessed this transaction and the evidence presented did not establish that this was the murder weapon. (And in fact, new evidence shows that the bullet wound in the victim’s skull could not have been made by the gun in question.)
No other investigations or evidence suggesting possible other suspects were presented. An all-white jury populated exclusively by people older than 40 convicted Subu and sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole.
THE SECOND TRIAL
Subu’s defense team appealed the conviction on the basis of insufficient evidence, lack of change of venue, jury selection procedures, denial of expert witnesses, and more. The State Superior Court and State Supreme Court overturned the conviction citing many trial irregularities, the fact that the judge admitted improper evidence, the failure to set bail, and the case was remanded for a new trial.
In February 1988, the case was sent back to the same judge and the same prosecutor for retrial. Despite continued adverse local publicity, the request for a change of venue. The jury selected was again local, white, and middle-aged.
Again, evidence was presented about the discovery of the body, the transfer of the remains to the pathologist's office, the retrieval of bullets and casings from the wooded area, and the events of the day that Tom disappeared. With much of its prior case ruled impermissible by the appellate court, the prosecution presented facts about drug use among the teenagers involved, but no evidence for a motive was produced.
The gun that prosecutors identified as the murder weapon was never produced, nor was any evidence connecting it to the crime. In fact, 40 years later, in 2022, documents surfaced showing that prosecutors concealed an FBI report concluding that the gun they tried to link to Subu could not have fired the shot that killed the victim.
IRRELEVANT & DISCRIMINATORY QUESTIONING
Then, for the first time, the defense put Subu on the stand to testify. He was on the stand for three hours. He was repeatedly asked to list all the recreational drugs he had ever tried. The prosecutor questioned him at length about his citizenship, about his ''many trips to India" over the space of 10 years, and about his practices of daily meditation and yoga. He was asked whether these practices helped him to maintain his composure, whether he could stay up all night, and whether he had ever been to the bazaars of India to purchase drugs. None of this was relevant to the case.
When Subu tried to explain that his trips were to visit family (he was 5 to 15 years of age during that period), and that meditation was part of his Hindu upbringing, he was not allowed to testify. The judge allowed this line of questioning despite several objections from the defense attorney. Mysteriously, this entire lengthy exchange, including the defense attorney's objections, does not appear in the trial transcript.
WITHELD EVIDENCE
Throughout the course of its investigation, the police department recorded interviews with various individuals, including others suspected of committing the murder. Neither the transcript of the recordings nor the recordings themselves wereprovided to defense counsel at the time of the trials or during subsequent appeals. Moreover, these suppressed recordings and transcripts reveal a troubling pattern by investigators of feeding information to witnesses rather than objectively seeking information on who actually committed Kinser’s murder. Investigators fixated on Vedam as the lone suspect and disregarded other viable leads.
The jury convicted Subu and sentenced him to life imprisonment without parole. Following the trial, some jurors said they did not believe they had the whole story.
Arrested without any evidence, convicted without any evidence and now released but still held in jail for no reason.
Been in US since he was 10 months old
Now 41 years old but looks like 75 years old
When your life takes a wrong turn the unimaginable and impposible happens.
Very likely the prosecutor, the present authorities holding him and the judges who convicted him will face the Messengeer of Death without mercy.
Wrongfully imprisoned for more than 40 years, US man now faces deportation to India
Getty Images After serving 43 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam was finally free.
New evidence had exonerated him earlier this month of the murder of his former roommate.
But before he could reach his family's arms, Mr Vedam was taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who want to deport him to India - a country he has not lived in since he was a baby.
Now, Mr Vedam's legal team is fighting a deportation order and his family is determined to get him out of custody, for good.
His family are now working to navigate a new and "very different" situation, his sister Saraswathi Vedam told the BBC.
Her brother has gone from a facility where he knew inmates and guards alike, where he mentored fellow inmates, and where he had his own cell, to a facility where he shares a room with 60 men and where his history of good behaviour and mentorship is unknown.
Mr Vedam has been repeating one message to his sister and other family members in the wake of the new situation: "I want us to focus on the win."
"My name has been cleared, I'm no longer a prisoner, I'm a detainee."
The 1980 murder
More than 40 years ago, Mr Vedam was convicted of murdering his once-roommate Tom Kinser, a 19-year-old college student.
Kinser's body was found nine months after he went missing in a wooded area with a bullet wound in his skull.
On the day of Kinser's disappearance, Mr Vedam had asked him for a ride. While the vehicle Kinser drove was returned to its usual spot, no one saw it being returned.
Mr Vedam was charged with Kinser's murder. He was denied bail, had his passport and green card seized by authorities and was labelled a "foreigner likely to flee".
Two years later he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. In 1984, he was sentenced to a separate two-and-a-half to five years for a drug offence, as part of a plea agreement. That sentence was to be served simultaneously with his life sentence.
Throughout that time, Mr Vedam maintained his innocence on the murder charges.
His supporters and family members stressed there was no physical evidence tying him to the crime.
Getty Images
Mr Vedam's exoneration
Mr Vedam repeatedly appealed the murder conviction and a few years ago new evidence in the case surfaced which exonerated.
Earlier this month, Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said he would not pursue a new trial against Mr Vedam.
But Mr Vedam's family knew there was one hurdle left before he was free: he still had a 1988 deportation order, based on his convictions for murder and a drug offence.
The family expected they would have to file a motion to have his immigration case reopened, Ms Vedam said.
The facts of the case are different now, she stressed.
But when they arrested him, ICE cited the immigration order as their reasoning for quickly detaining him in a different Pennsylvania facility.
While he was exonerated for the murder charge, his drug conviction still stands, they have said. The immigration agency said it acted on a lawfully issued order.
ICE did not respond to the BBC's request for comment, but told other US outlets that Mr Vedam will remain in custody pending his deportation.
Mr Vedam's family has said his decades of good behaviour, completion of three degrees and community service while behind bars should be considered when the immigration court examines his case.
"What was deeply disappointing was that we didn't even have a moment to hold him in our arms," Ms Vedam said. "He was held wrongly and one would think that he conducted himself with such honour and purpose and integrity that that should mean something."
Potential deportation to India
The family has stressed Mr Vedam's ties to India - where ICE has said they would like to deport him to - are weak at best.
While he was born there, he moved to the US at nine months old. What relatives are still alive, are distant ones, Ms Vedam told the BBC.
His community - Ms Vedam, her four daughters and other cousins - are in the US and Canada.
"He will again be robbed and miss out on the lives of the people closet to him, by being half way across the world," she said. "It's almost like having his life stolen twice."
Mr Vedam, who is a legal permanent resident, had his citizenship application accepted before he was arrested. Both of his parents were also both US citizens.
"We believe deportation from the United States now, to send him to a country where he has few connections, would represent another terrible wrong done to a man who has already endured a record-setting injustice," his lawyer, Ava Benach said in a statement to the BBC.
Arrested without any evidence, convicted without any evidence and now released but still held in jail for no reason.
Been in US since he was 10 months old
Now 41 years old but looks like 75 years old
When your life takes a wrong turn the unimaginable and impposible happens.
Very likely the prosecutor, the present authorities holding him and the judges who convicted him will face the Messengeer of Death without mercy.
Wrongfully imprisoned for more than 40 years, US man now faces deportation to India
Getty Images After serving 43 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam was finally free.
New evidence had exonerated him earlier this month of the murder of his former roommate.
But before he could reach his family's arms, Mr Vedam was taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who want to deport him to India - a country he has not lived in since he was a baby.
Now, Mr Vedam's legal team is fighting a deportation order and his family is determined to get him out of custody, for good.
His family are now working to navigate a new and "very different" situation, his sister Saraswathi Vedam told the BBC.
Her brother has gone from a facility where he knew inmates and guards alike, where he mentored fellow inmates, and where he had his own cell, to a facility where he shares a room with 60 men and where his history of good behaviour and mentorship is unknown.
Mr Vedam has been repeating one message to his sister and other family members in the wake of the new situation: "I want us to focus on the win."
"My name has been cleared, I'm no longer a prisoner, I'm a detainee."
The 1980 murder
More than 40 years ago, Mr Vedam was convicted of murdering his once-roommate Tom Kinser, a 19-year-old college student.
Kinser's body was found nine months after he went missing in a wooded area with a bullet wound in his skull.
On the day of Kinser's disappearance, Mr Vedam had asked him for a ride. While the vehicle Kinser drove was returned to its usual spot, no one saw it being returned.
Mr Vedam was charged with Kinser's murder. He was denied bail, had his passport and green card seized by authorities and was labelled a "foreigner likely to flee".
Two years later he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. In 1984, he was sentenced to a separate two-and-a-half to five years for a drug offence, as part of a plea agreement. That sentence was to be served simultaneously with his life sentence.
Throughout that time, Mr Vedam maintained his innocence on the murder charges.
His supporters and family members stressed there was no physical evidence tying him to the crime.
Getty Images
Mr Vedam's exoneration
Mr Vedam repeatedly appealed the murder conviction and a few years ago new evidence in the case surfaced which exonerated.
Earlier this month, Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna said he would not pursue a new trial against Mr Vedam.
But Mr Vedam's family knew there was one hurdle left before he was free: he still had a 1988 deportation order, based on his convictions for murder and a drug offence.
The family expected they would have to file a motion to have his immigration case reopened, Ms Vedam said.
The facts of the case are different now, she stressed.
But when they arrested him, ICE cited the immigration order as their reasoning for quickly detaining him in a different Pennsylvania facility.
While he was exonerated for the murder charge, his drug conviction still stands, they have said. The immigration agency said it acted on a lawfully issued order.
ICE did not respond to the BBC's request for comment, but told other US outlets that Mr Vedam will remain in custody pending his deportation.
Mr Vedam's family has said his decades of good behaviour, completion of three degrees and community service while behind bars should be considered when the immigration court examines his case.
"What was deeply disappointing was that we didn't even have a moment to hold him in our arms," Ms Vedam said. "He was held wrongly and one would think that he conducted himself with such honour and purpose and integrity that that should mean something."
Potential deportation to India
The family has stressed Mr Vedam's ties to India - where ICE has said they would like to deport him to - are weak at best.
While he was born there, he moved to the US at nine months old. What relatives are still alive, are distant ones, Ms Vedam told the BBC.
His community - Ms Vedam, her four daughters and other cousins - are in the US and Canada.
"He will again be robbed and miss out on the lives of the people closet to him, by being half way across the world," she said. "It's almost like having his life stolen twice."
Mr Vedam, who is a legal permanent resident, had his citizenship application accepted before he was arrested. Both of his parents were also both US citizens.
"We believe deportation from the United States now, to send him to a country where he has few connections, would represent another terrible wrong done to a man who has already endured a record-setting injustice," his lawyer, Ava Benach said in a statement to the BBC.
Getty Images
Getty Images
