State College man who’s been imprisoned for 4 decades to make case for new trial this week
A State College man imprisoned most of his life for a killing he says he didn’t commit is set to return Thursday and Friday to the courtroom where he was convicted as his fight for freedom reaches a pivotal moment.
Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam is poised to sit at the defense table in the Centre County Courthouse for what is believed to be the first time since the 1980s, a decade in which he was twice convicted of first-degree murder for the shooting of Thomas Kinser.
Vedam won’t be there for a new trial, but he will be there for a Post-Conviction Relief Act hearing — with the goal of ultimately showing he deserves a new trial.
“We’re naturally experiencing a range of emotions as we approach the hearings. Most importantly, there is hope,” his sister Saraswathi Vedam said in a statement shared Monday with the Centre Daily Times. “Subu’s unwavering belief that justice and fairness could eventually prevail in this case has taught us all to never relinquish the quest to remedy injustice. So, we’re hopeful that these hearings will finally result in the outcome the evidence clearly shows is warranted: Subu’s acquittal and exoneration.”
Vedam’s defense lawyers believe they recently uncovered new evidence that shows Centre County prosecutors concealed a ballistics report that could have exonerated him. They argue the circumstantial case built against Vedam unravels because of an inconsistency between the size of Kinser’s fatal wound and the caliber of the gun prosecutors linked to him.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, have defended the strength of the evidence that led to Vedam’s conviction and cast his claims as meritless.
Each side will have an opportunity later this week to make their pitch to Centre County President Judge Jonathan Grine. Vedam’s lawyers will attempt to convince Grine there would have been a reasonable likelihood of a different outcome at trial.
It’s expected to be an emotional day for Vedam’s family members who haven’t seen him outside the walls of a prison in nearly four decades. His nieces, for example, have only ever known him behind bars.
”We pray that these hearings lead to his imminent exoneration and release, so that we can be together as a family and so he can continue to lead a life of service to others in the freedom he has always deserved,” Saraswathi Vedam said on behalf of the family.
Here’s what to expect at the hearing
Vedam’s defense team and prosecutors will each have an opportunity to present testimony from forensic experts to bolster their respective positions. They will also have an opportunity to cross-examine them.
It amounts to a who’s who of forensic anthropologists.
Vedam’s legal team sought out Ann H. Ross, a North Carolina State faculty member who wrote in a report that she believes a .22-caliber bullet killed Kinser and not a larger .25-caliber bullet as alleged by Centre County prosecutors.
“She only rarely testifies on behalf of criminal defendants, but does get involved when she sees forensic science distorted in harmful, egregious ways, as happened in this case,” defense lawyer Gopal Balachandran said in an August statement. “Most important, her testimony will show what our filings have indicated all along — Subu is innocent because a .25 caliber handgun could not have been the murder weapon.”
Among the experts to be called by prosecutors is Angi M. Christensen, a forensic anthropologist with the FBI. Her report did not contain any conclusions or opinions, though she was critical of the way in which Ross conducted her review.
How we got here
Kinser, 19, of Boalsburg, borrowed his parents’ van in December 1980 to give Vedam a ride to Lewistown so he could buy drugs, Vedam’s lawyers wrote in court documents. No one saw Kinser alive afterward.
Two hikers found his decomposing remains about nine months later in a sinkhole in Harris Township. A forensic pathologist determined he died of a gunshot to the head. No weapon was ever recovered.
Centre County prosecutors have alleged it was a .25-caliber bullet that killed Kinser, writing in court filings that a bullet of that size was recovered from inside his shirt and a casing was found underneath his body. Vedam’s team described that as a “physical impossibility.”
Vedam was found guilty of first-degree murder in February 1983, largely on circumstantial evidence, following a five-day trial in front of an all-white jury.
The state Superior Court ruled two years later that the evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction, but reversed it on the grounds the judge improperly allowed testimony about Vedam’s prior misconduct.
He was again convicted of first-degree murder in February 1988 and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Several of his following appeals were rejected by statewide appeals courts.
New life was then breathed into the case in September 2021, when Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna voluntarily gave Vedam’s defense team full access to more than 3,000 pages of documents. In reviewing the reams of paper, Vedam’s team said that’s where they unearthed new information that formed the basis for his latest push for freedom.
What could happen after the hearing?
Vedam, 63, has spent about two-thirds of his life at Huntingdon state prison after being sentenced to life in prison. If he succeeds in reversing his conviction, he would become the longest-serving inmate in Pennsylvania history to be exonerated.
It will have been 41 years, 11 months and 29 days as of Thursday since his first conviction. The record for any Pennsylvania inmate to be cleared of guilt is 40 years, eight months and 12 days, according to data kept by The National Registry of Exonerations.
“We’re dismayed that it took 42 years to get to this point precisely because the prosecutor who brought this charge against Subu concealed key evidence that showed he didn’t commit the murder — evidence which will now hopefully exonerate him,” Saraswathi Vedam said. “This is why this case has always been about not just rectifying the plight of one wrongfully accused man, but also about upholding the integrity of the entire justice system to ensure all of us are treated fairly.”
Cantorna and Balachandran have each been reticent to speak publicly about the possibility of clemency or a plea deal to a lesser charge that would see Vedam freed from prison.
In one of his few public statements about the case, Cantorna said in July that his review of the evidence presented at Vedam’s previous trials is “sufficient to support the convictions.”
“If that were not the case, we would be having a different conversation,” Cantorna said. “... If there’s evidence to change that, I would look at it with a fresh eye. I have no vested interest in this whatsoever other than that the law and the facts support the conviction.”
Added Balachandran in response: “I think the evidence that we’ve shown shows that Subu is innocent and shows it pretty clearly.”
It’s not known when Grine expects to issue his ruling. The hearing is scheduled to begin noon Thursday, after it was pushed back due to inclement weather, and 8:30 a.m. Friday at the Centre County Courthouse.
This story was originally published February 3, 2025 at 3:26 PM.