Man who faced deportation after overturned murder conviction can stay in the United States, judge rules
By Omar Jimenez, Cindy Von Quednow, CNN
State College, Pennsylvania (CNN) — A man in ICE custody since his murder conviction was overturned last year can stay in the United States, an immigration judge has ruled.
Subramanyam Vedam, 64, spent over 40 years in prison before his conviction was vacated in August. A day after the charges were dropped, he was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Despite Thursday’s decision, Vedam won’t be released right away. He and his attorney still must file a bond request. The Department of Homeland Security has until May 4 to appeal.
Vedam demonstrated personal transformation and growth in prison, dedicating himself to enriching others’ lives through his academic study and mentoring four nieces he came to know only behind bars, Immigration Judge Adam Panopoulos said Thursday.
After weighing Vedam’s contributions while incarcerated, the judge said the court saw “the last 44 years” as part of “a new journey” in which he found purpose in the United States.
The judge also said he was struck by Vedam’s “desire to start his life fresh” at the age of 64.
Vedam said in a statement he was “grateful” for the judge’s decision and thankful for the support of his family and friends.
“I’d like to recognize that I have a really, really special family. I’d also like to thank the many, many friends that have supported and believed in me over the past 44 years,” he said. “Without their belief in justice, I don’t think my success would have been possible.”
The case has unfolded at a moment of high tension across the nation’s immigration system as a White House push to reshape the country has made the odds of overcoming deportation tougher.
In Vedam’s case, the immigration judge could have ruled for the respondent, known as “Subu,” to be deported to India, which he left as an infant.
His sister, Saraswathi Vedam, had testified Wednesday in support of him staying in the United States.
Then, she waited with cautious optimism to learn his fate alongside two of her daughters, saying in an interview with CNN she’s filled with gratitude for the ruling but wishes her parents were alive to witness “this day.”
An overturned conviction
It was 3 a.m. on a morning last year when Saraswathi Vedam was awoken by the call she’d been waiting over 40 years for: Her brother’s murder conviction was being overturned.
She wasn’t sure if she wanted to laugh or cry. Saraswathi was across the world giving lectures as a professor in New Zealand when she heard the news.
But over a month later, when it came time to pick her brother up from the Pennsylvania prison where he was being held, his older sister received another shocking piece of news.
“He was gone,” she said.
Vedam had been taken into ICE custody.
Over 40 years ago, Subu was sentenced to life in prison without parole for a murder he maintains he never committed. He also pleaded no contest to charges of possessing LSD with the intent to distribute it.
In August, a judge vacated his murder conviction after a team of attorneys revealed prosecutors had withheld potentially critical ballistics evidence during his two trials.
The possibility of freedom, decades in the making, suddenly became a reality.
But that quickly faded.
A day after his charges were dropped, he was taken into ICE custody on a deportation order that never went away from the drug-related conviction.
“It wasn’t out of the question that something like that would happen,” Saraswathi, his sister, said, but so much time had passed, “I didn’t even remember that was still something.”
Their parents brought Subu to the United States from India when he was an infant, she said.
“They came as a young couple with two young kids, with a lot of hope and a good job,” his sister, who was born in the US, recalled.
Their parents visited him in prison weekly when they were still alive, she said. And they were the first people Saraswathi thought of when she got the late-night phone call that his conviction was being vacated.
“It wasn’t fair that they didn’t live to see this moment and that he had lost so many decades of his life,” she told CNN through tears.
DHS has continued its push for his deportation. CNN has reached out to the department for comment following Thursday’s ruling.
“Having a single conviction vacated will not stop ICE’s enforcement of the federal immigration law,” a DHS spokesperson previously told CNN on this case. “If you break the law, you will face the consequences,” the statement continued.
In February, the US Board of Immigration Appeals – the highest administrative body for interpreting and applying immigration laws – determined Subu’s case is an “exceptional” situation that warrants reopening his immigration case.
The original deportation order, which was thrown out by the board, was based on Subu’s now-vacated murder conviction and related drug charge, according to his attorney, Ava Benach.
But later in February, a federal immigration judge denied Subu’s request for bond as the proceedings play out. The judge weighed his conviction of selling LSD, which is typically considered an “aggravated felony,” in her decision.
“He’s someone who understands patience more than anything,” Benach told CNN.
“I think he sees the light at the end of the tunnel,” she said.
It’s an optimism that hinges partly on his positivity throughout his years in prison, but one that does not always hold up in court.
A last chance to sway the judge’s decision
Testifying virtually during his hearing Wednesday, Subu admitted to doing “dumb things” – drinking alcohol, doing drugs – when he was young, but said he is not a violent person.
“I may have done drugs, but I’ve never done anything violent. Never,” he said while taking questions from Benach.
He responded to his attorney’s questions with straightforward answers and hints of a Delaware County, Pennsylvania, accent at times.
He grew animated when talking about his overturned murder conviction and the plea deals he was offered.
“I knew I was innocent,” Subu said. “This whole thing was something like a bad dream.”
He said he joined different programs, played sports and earned college degrees while incarcerated, despite the education being “very” difficult to complete in that environment.
When he is released from custody after more than 40 years behind bars, Subu said he plans to move to Sacramento to live with one of his nieces and her family, including an 18-month-old girl whose middle name is Subu – named after him.
He never had the chance to become a husband or a father, Subu said, and wants to be an “uncle nanny” to his grandniece and continue his education. He said he was offered a scholarship to Oregon State University.
Saraswathi testified Wednesday that she has always been close with her brother, even during the decades he was behind bars.
He wasn’t there for her wedding or the birth of her daughters, but her children have grown very close to him, she said.
The day he was convicted was one she will never forget.
“It was devastating,” she said. “It was the worst day of my life.”
Her brother’s deportation would have been another blow.
Subu has no family left in India, he doesn’t speak the language, and the time difference and physical distance would inevitably create a rift in the family’s tight-knit relationship, Saraswathi testified, saying the family would have been devastated.
“My girls have known him almost like another parent, she said.
Now, Saraswati said she’s looking forward to giving her brother a hug and an opportunity to “really be with him” when he’s free. Waiting for his release from custody after all this time feels inhumane, she said.
“We just want to have a moment for him to be peaceful and a moment to celebrate,” she said.
Withheld evidence
Subu’s murder conviction centered on the killing of his friend and former roommate, 19-year-old college student Thomas Kinser.
On the day of Kinser’s disappearance in December 1980, Subu asked him for a ride to a nearby town to buy drugs, according to The Associated Press.
Nine months later, Kinser’s remains were found in a sinkhole with a bullet hole in his skull, according to court documents. Though no weapon was found, a .25-caliber bullet was found inside Kinser’s shirt.
Subu was initially detained on drug charges while police investigated and was eventually charged with Kinser’s murder. He pleaded no contest to the drug charges, court documents show.
While a jury heard testimony that Subu bought a .25-caliber gun during his trial, they were never shown an FBI report that suggested Kinser’s bullet wound was too small to have been inflicted by that gun. Despite prosecutors knowing the specific measurements of the wound, they excluded them from the report given to Subu’s defense attorneys, court records show.
That FBI report was among the crucial discoveries made by a team of attorneys in 2022, which eventually led to a judge ruling in late August 2025 that he had not been given a fair trial, entitling him to a new one.
A little over a month later, the Centre County District Attorney’s Office announced it would not seek a new trial and would drop the charges against Subu.
The district attorney maintained in a statement that “Mr. Kinser was killed by a .25 caliber pistol. That evidence was good 40 years ago and it’s good today.”
“Nevertheless, the facts remain that trying a case 44 years later will be extremely difficult and the probabilities of success are not what they would have been,” Bernie Cantorna’s statement continued. “He has had 44 years of confinement with no recorded issues, that lead one to conclude that he does not pose a threat to the public going forward.”
“It’s hard to keep getting your hopes up and having them dashed,” his sister, Saraswathi, told CNN.
“We’re hopeful and still imagining what it would be like to have him home,” she said.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
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CNN’s Alisha Ebrahimji, Elizabeth Wolfe, Lauren Mascarenhas and Ava Bambuck contributed to this report.
