A true crime documentary television series’ upcoming episode will explore the case of a State College man who spent more than four decades in prison for murder before his conviction was overturned.
Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam will be featured on “True Crime Story: It Couldn’t Happen Here” at 10 p.m. Thursday on SundanceTV and streaming on AMC+. The show is hosted and executive produced by former “One Tree Hill” star Hilarie Burton-Morgan
Vedam, 64, was set to be freed from Huntingdon state prison in October after a Centre County judge vacated his conviction for the 1980 murder of Thomas Kinser, but on the day of his release was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a 1999 deportation order. He has been detained at the Moshannon Valley ICE Processing Center since then, and last week a federal judge denied his request to be released on bond while his immigration case proceeds.
Vedam was born in India, but has lived in the United State since he was nine months old. The deportation order stemmed from his no contest plea to separate charges of selling LSD when he was 19 years old.
“It is such a grave injustice what’s happening to him right now,” Burton-Morgan recently told People magazine. “We’re in this really delicate phase where we want to be respectful of the people who have Subu’s fate in their hands right now, but we also want to be very firm.
“I’m very torn up about it, and I really have a great deal of affection for his family.”
Burton-Morgan and Vedam’s niece Zoë Miller-Vedam also appeared on Tuesday’s episode of “The Kelly Clarkson Show” to discuss the case.
The hourlong second episode of the new season of “True Crime Story” will chronicle the Kinser murder, Vedam’s journey to exoneration after being sentenced to life in prison and his subsequent fight to remain in the United States.
“Several residents who recall the original jolt from Kinser’s death are interviewed in the show, along with members of Vedam’s family who describe the legacy of emotional turmoil that the wrongful conviction inflicted on Vedam and his family,” a spokesperson for Vedam’s family said in a statement.
Kinser had last been seen by family on Dec. 14, 1980, when he borrowed a van to drive his friend and fellow 19-year-old State College area resident Vedam to Lewistown to buy LSD. Vedam said Kinser dropped him off in State College when they returned and he did not know what happened to him after that.
After hikers discovered Kinser’s body on Sept. 19, 1981 in a sinkhole at Bear Meadows in Harris Township, prosecutors said Vedam used a .25 caliber handgun to shoot his friend in the head. Vedam’s conviction was based in part on his purchase of a .25 caliber gun, which he said he did not acquire until after Kinser’s death, and a shell casing of the same caliber found under Kinser’s remains. A murder weapon was never found, and casings of different calibers were also discovered in the area.
Vedam was arrested in 1982 and convicted at in 1983. He was granted a retrial in 1988 and was convicted again.
In recent years, however, Vedam’s post-conviction attorneys uncovered evidence not presented at either trial, including documents they say showed that bullet hole in Kinser’s skull was too small to have been made by a .25.
In August, a Centre County judge ruled that the evidence could have swayed the jury to find Vedam not guilty at trial and overturned the conviction. Two months later, Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna announced that he would drop the charges against Vedam because, with key evidence and witnesses no longer available, it would be nearly impossible to prosecute the decades-old case.
He was set to be released from Huntingdon state prison on Oct. 3, but was taken into custody that same day by ICE, which is seeking to deport him to India, where a spokesperson said he has no immediate family or resources to assimilate.
Since then, a federal court issued an emergency stay of deportation after ICE transported Vedam from the Moshannon Valley facility to Texas in preparation for his removal. He was then returned to Clearfield County, where he remains, and in early February the U.S. Justice Department Board of Immigration Appeals vacated the deportation order for the case to be returned to immigration court, finding that the case “presents an exceptional situation.”
During a Feb. 17 hearing, Vedam’s immigration attorney, Ava Benach, argued that he should be released on bond because if he had only been convicted of the drug charges he would have been released from prison in 1992 and under rules in place at the time would not have been subject to mandatory detention. A lawful resident as a green card holder, his family said he was on the cusp of earning U.S. citizenship at the time he was arrested.
Benach also argued that Vedam poses no danger to society and had an exemplary record during his 43 years as an inmate. Vedam earned three degrees while incarcerated, becoming the first inmate in Huntingdon state prison’s 150-year history to earn a master’s while incarcerated, created and led a prison literacy training program, led fundraising efforts for Big Brothers Big Sisters and tutored other inmates to help them earn diplomas.
Immigration Judge Tamar Wilson, though, disagreed with both contentions. She concluded that she did not have jurisdiction to release Vedam on bond because drug trafficking offenses mandate detention, and she agreed with government counsel that Vedam has no record outside of prison to prove he is not a danger.
Vedam’s attorneys are appealing the bond ruling.
