One Year After Subu Vedam’s Exoneration, Supporters Hold Vigil Calling for His Release From ICE Custody

Dozens of people gathered at the Allen Street Gates Thursday evening for a vigil calling for the release of Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam, who remains in federal immigration custody while the government appeals a ruling allowing him to remain in the United States.

Beginning at 6 p.m., community members and organizers gathered at the gates holding signs that read “Our Friend and Neighbor,” with the hashtag “free subu” underneath.

Multiple vigil attendees held a larger sign that spelled out “LET SUBU COME HOME!” and spanned the length of the gates, where music, speeches and the lighting of candles took place in “celebration” of the one-year anniversary of his exoneration.

Vedam, who was born in India but grew up in State College as a legal permanent resident, remains in federal immigration custody after spending more than four decades incarcerated on a murder conviction that was overturned last year.

As previously reported by StateCollege.com, Vedam spent 43 years at Huntingdon state prison after being convicted in 1983 and again in a 1988 retrial for the 1980 killing of Thomas Kinser.

In August 2025, Centre County President Judge Jonathan Grine overturned his conviction after finding that previously undisclosed FBI ballistics evidence could have affected the jury’s decision. Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna subsequently declined to retry Vedam and dropped the murder charge.

Vedam was set to be released from prison in October, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement took him into custody upon his release because of a separate conviction in the 1980s related to selling LSD.

Immigration Judge Adam Panopoulos on April 2 granted Vedam’s request for a waiver from deportation, saying that he demonstrated “good moral character” over the last four decades as a model inmate and that it “would be in the best interest of the United States” for him to remain in the country. 

But courts have ruled that he is subject to mandatory detention until the government’s appeal is completed.

Jenna Henry, an announcer and speaker at the vigil who has lived in the area for 37 years, said she got involved because she was previously incarcerated and has family members who have also been incarcerated. She said she is very familiar with the Centre County justice system and how it operates. 

Henry was not surprised when she first heard about Vedam’s case a few years ago. She said that with Thursday marking one year since Vedam’s exoneration, he should have been released, but instead was immediately taken into ICE custody.

She believes the current immigration system has a “win-at-all-costs mentality” and is “operating on the policy of deporting as many people as they can” without looking at cases individually.

“He speaks more Spanish than he does Hindi,” Henry said of Vedam. “Subu grew up here. He probably spent many, many summer evenings sitting against this very wall like we all did.”

Henry is also a member of Centre PA United, which helped organize the event with other community members and public officials.

Police arrested Vedam, then a 19-year-old Penn State student, on drug and theft charges on April 1, 1982, while authorities continued gathering evidence in the homicide investigation. He was charged with first-degree murder two months later, in June 1982.

Throughout the evening, several community leaders spoke in support of Vedam, including State College Mayor Ezra Nanes, Borough Councilwoman Nalini Krishnankutty and Vedam’s sister, Saraswathi Vedam.

While Vedam was 19 years old at the time of the original arrest, his sister was 24 and was also living in State College at the time.

Saraswathi spoke about the community’s support for her family over the years and what it meant to see that support continue Thursday evening. She said her parents lived in the State College community for more than 60 years and that the system her parents trusted ultimately failed them.

“They had all this sense of promise and trust in the system,” Saraswathi said. “Unfortunately, they did not live to see my brother exonerated. My brother is not yet free, but he was still exonerated a year ago.”

The vigil Thursday was not a protest against ICE, but an event to celebrate Vedam’s exoneration.

“The most important thing to remember is that, finally, after 44 years, the truth came out,” she said. “He’s innocent, and the amazing person he is and continued to be through those years has now come to light.”

She added that “the people that visited him [and] the community that kept in touch with him” always knew he was innocent and knew his true character.

“These stories need to be told,” Saraswathi said. “Because wrongful convictions, mistakes, are made, but holding on to that in the face of evidence is not right. Supposedly in this country we are innocent till proven guilty, but once you’re convicted it switches and it’s very difficult to come out of the system.”

The previously undisclosed FBI ballistics evidence came to light four years before Vedam’s exoneration.

“That’s four years of an old man’s life,” Saraswathi said. “He just had his 65th birthday. We just really hope we can bring him home and have a celebration. We have been waiting for that for too long.”

Vedam is facing the possibility of deportation to India, where he has not visited since he was a teenager and has not lived since coming to the United States at 9 months old.

Saraswathi said only a few distant relatives remain in India, where Vedam would be sent without knowing the languages or having had exposure to the internet before his incarceration. She added that everyone he knows would be on the other side of the world and that traveling to visit him would be expensive.

Saraswathi said that she, her children, Vedam’s nieces, their extended family and the community cannot heal until he is released in the United States.

Vedam is currently being held about 30 minutes from State College at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center, and Saraswathi visited him earlier Thursday before the vigil.

Saraswathi said that even though her “brother is an incredibly resilient, calm and realistic person … to be this close to freedom and a normal life and have it be prolonged, it’s hard. It’s not easy. The conditions he is in are exhausting for someone as old as [him].”

During her time at the microphone, Saraswathi said she had 45 years of things to say but began by thanking the community.

“On this anniversary of Subu’s exoneration, we are looking forward to the day where we can celebrate together and really celebrate,” Saraswathi said during her speech. “We are going to have a dance party.”

Between speeches and the closing moment of silence, Eric Ian Farmer and Friends paid musical tribute to Vedam and sang about his life throughout the vigil, including repeating the phrase, “It’s pretty dangerous being Black around here,” while musically recounting Vedam’s story.

Mickey Kline, the bass player for Eric Ian Farmer and Friends, has lived in the area his whole life and said he has heard about the case on and off since it happened.

“I think it’s a travesty. I really do,” Kline said. “I can’t believe that they would do something like that after so long and he has spent his time in jail. Obviously for different reasons, but I think it is pretty ridiculous.”

Penn State associate professor of clinical law Gopal Balachandran, who represented Vedam during the proceedings that led to his exoneration, was also in the crowd. Balachandran, a borough council member, moved to State College in 2017 and said he had learned about the case through the Indian community before moving to town.

“When we moved to State College, I was always kind of aware and it was something I wanted to get involved with,” Balachandran said. “I can kinda tell what’s a strong case and what’s a weak case.

“Subu’s case was very problematic. I could tell immediately there weren’t witnesses that pointed him out for committing this crime. There was no confession. There was no DNA evidence. I later learned they did not recover the murder weapon as well. It is the type of case where people cut corners,” he said. “The reality of the deportation system right now is that they are deporting a lot of people, and it’s gotten much, much harsher than before. And the tragic situation of Subu is that he got exonerated at the wrong time. In other administrations, I think he would have been out. I think he would have been out pretty quickly.”

Bonnie Kline Smeltzer, pastor at State College’s University Baptist & Brethren Church, originally got involved with Vedam’s case after other church members brought it to her attention. The church has since done outreach to Vedam.

She was the last to speak before the candles were lit.

“Tonight we light these candles for the years that were taken, for the people who never stopped fighting and the community that has come together,” Smeltzer said.

At the end of the vigil, organizers directed participants and community members to a GoFundMe for Vedam’s ongoing legal battle and freesubu.org to follow his story. Supporters can also purchase yard signs for $5.