Centre County prosecutors don’t appeal ruling in Subu Vedam case. What’s next?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Centre County prosecutors declined to appeal the vacated murder conviction.
- Key evidence and witness issues complicate prospects for a potential retrial.
- Vedam could become Pennsylvania’s longest-serving exoneree.
Centre County prosecutors did not appeal by Monday’s deadline a judge’s ruling that vacated the first-degree murder conviction of a State College man imprisoned more than 40 years for a killing he says he did not commit.
Centre County District Attorney Bernie Cantorna declined immediate comment on his decision to not appeal President Judge Jonathan Grine’s ruling. The judge found that previous county prosecutors violated Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam’s due process rights and deprived him of a fair trial in 1988.
Cantorna’s decision keeps the case in front of a Centre County judge and avoids what would likely be a more than yearlong appeal process.
Vedam, 64, now heads toward a potential third trial on a first-degree murder charge for the 1980 killing of Thomas Kinser. He remains incarcerated at Huntingdon state prison, where he’s spent about two-thirds of his life.
“We’re happy that the commonwealth chose not to appeal (Centre County President) Judge (Jonathan) Grine’s thoughtful and thorough decision,” lead defense attorney Gopal Balachandran said Tuesday. “This brings us one step closer to correcting this gross injustice and exonerating Subu.”
Even after Cantorna’s decision, it’s not exactly clear how the case will move forward. Vedam’s next court appearance is scheduled for Nov. 10, but prosecutors have previously said it would be difficult — if not impossible — to retry him.
Key witnesses have died, others likely have faded memories and some physical evidence is no longer available. They could also try to strike a plea deal or choose not to retry Vedam, leading to his release for the first time in more than four decades.
Cantorna has expressed confidence in the jury’s February 1988 guilty verdict, saying in a previous statement that he still believes Vedam’s defense team failed to present evidence that undermined the verdict. He said his prosecutors are “committed to following the facts and the law in pursuit of a just outcome.”
Balachandran and Vedam’s defense team urged Cantorna to not appeal Grine’s momentous decision, saying earlier that it was the only way to “salvage the honor of a justice system that has been called into question by this case.”
What happened in the Subu Vedam case?
Vedam was convicted in the fatal shooting of Kinser, a Boalsburg man whose remains were found in a sinkhole about nine months after he had gone missing. Both were 19 years old at the time. Vedam is the last known person to see Kinser alive.
At his 1988 trial, prosecutors alleged Vedam killed Kinser with a .25-caliber pistol he purchased shortly before Kinser’s disappearance. No weapon has ever been recovered.
The conviction and his life sentence without the possibility of parole withstood appellate review for decades. Vedam’s best opportunity to challenge his conviction came in 2021 when Cantorna’s office voluntarily allowed his lawyers to review their files.
Among the reams of documents, Vedam’s lawyers said they found an undisclosed handwritten note detailing a specific measurement of the wound in Kinser’s skull. It is believed to be written by then-District Attorney Ray Gricar.
Grine found that no amount of due diligence would have enabled Vedam to obtain the specific FBI measurement for his 1988 trial until it was turned over by prosecutors and the FBI in January 2024. Had that evidence been available at the time, Grine wrote there would have been a “reasonable probability that the jury’s judgment would have been affected.”
Vedam’s lawyers have argued the .25-caliber bullet is too large to have caused the wound in Kinser’s skull. They have argued he was killed by a smaller .22-caliber bullet.
Being able to undermine the credibility of the agent who testified the bullet came from a .25 could have potentially “severed the link” between Vedam and the crime, Grine wrote.
“The Commonwealth cannot meet its burden of demonstrating beyond a reasonable doubt that this error did not contribute to the verdict, and consequently, (Vedam’s) conviction cannot stand,” Grine wrote.
Vedam, who has been incarcerated for more than 42 years, could become the longest-serving exoneree in Pennsylvania history. The record in the Keystone State, according to the National Registry of Exonerations, is about 40 1/2 years.
This story was originally published September 30, 2025 at 11:53 AM.