US Courts Halt Deportation of Indian-Origin Man Acquitted After 43 Years in Prison

Subramanyam Vedam, an Indian-origin man, has been granted a reprieve from deportation by US courts after being exonerated for a murder he did not commit, following 43 years of wrongful imprisonment. His case highlights the complexities of immigration law and the impact of past convictions. As Vedam navigates the legal system, his story raises questions about justice and the treatment of individuals with criminal records. Read on to discover the details of this remarkable case and its implications for immigration policy.

By Narendra Chaudhary Nov 4, 2025, 14:11 IST

Legal Victory for Subramanyam Vedam

In a significant legal development, two courts in the United States have instructed immigration authorities not to deport Subramanyam Vedam, an Indian-origin man who was exonerated in a murder case after spending 43 years in prison in Pennsylvania, as reported on Tuesday.

Vedam, aged 64, was released from prison on October 3 following an announcement from District Attorney Cantorna that the charges against him would be dropped, and no new trial would be pursued.

However, upon his release, Vedam was taken into custody by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) due to a drug conviction from when he was 19 years old. This order had been inactive while he was serving his life sentence.

ICE is attempting to deport Vedam based on a decades-old no-contest plea related to delivering a hallucinogenic substance, which was recorded when he was around 20. His legal team contends that the 40 years he spent wrongfully imprisoned, during which he earned degrees and assisted fellow inmates, should be considered more significant than the old drug case, as reported.

Currently, Vedam is being held at a short-term immigration facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, which functions as a deportation center.

Last week, an immigration judge postponed his deportation until the Board of Immigration Appeals reviews his case, a process that may take several months.

Additionally, his attorneys secured a separate stay from a federal court in Pennsylvania.

Vedam immigrated to the US from India with his parents in 1962 when he was just nine months old. He was arrested in 1982 for the murder of his friend, 19-year-old Thomas Kinser.

Kinser was reported missing in December 1980, and his remains were discovered in September 1981, showing a bullet wound in his skull.

Prosecutors claimed that Vedam shot Kinser with a .25-caliber pistol, although the weapon was never found. Vedam faced two convictions, in 1983 and 1988, resulting in a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

In 2022, lawyers from the Pennsylvania Innocence Project uncovered documents, including an FBI report, indicating that the bullet wound in Kinser’s skull was too small to have been caused by a .25-caliber bullet.

Consequently, in August, the Centre County Court of Common Pleas overturned Vedam’s conviction, stating that had this evidence been available earlier, it could have influenced the jury's decision.

On October 2, District Attorney Cantorna confirmed that the charges against Vedam would be dropped, and no new trial would be initiated.

On Monday, a spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security remarked that the dismissal of the murder charges does not eliminate the drug conviction.

“The vacating of a single conviction does not halt ICE’s enforcement of federal immigration laws,” stated Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for Public Affairs.