After spending over 40 years in a maximum security state prison for a crime he says he didn’t commit, State College resident Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam has been granted the possibility of a new trial.

Centre County President Judge Jonathan Grine vacated Subu’s conviction based on evidence that he was not given a fair trial in 1988. Evidence has come to light that was withheld by prosecutors at the time of his original trial.

Subu Vedam was convicted of the 1980 murder of Tom Kinser, his former Penn State roommate. Vedam, 19 years old at the time, was the last known person to see Kinser alive. He was convicted on circumstantial evidence of a .25 caliber bullet found with Tom Kinser’s remains.

Vedam’s first 1983 conviction was overturned, leading to a retrial in 1988, where he was convicted once again.

Years later, evidence of an FBI report that was withheld revealed the measurements of the bullet hole in Kinser’s skull, which Vedam’s attorneys argued was more consistent with a .22 caliber weapon, not Vedam’s .25 caliber pistol.

“We are thrilled that Judge Grine substantiated what we have argued all along–that Subu was wrongfully convicted when prosecutors in his original trial withheld key information and failed to correct false testimony, inflicting 42 years of injustice on him,” Vedam’s attorney, Gopal Balachandran, said in a statement.

“There is reasonable probability the jury’s judgment would have been affected,” Judge Grine said of the withheld report.

Following the vacated conviction, prosecutors are left with decisions on how to proceed. Retrying Vedam will be extremely difficult with so much time between the conviction and now. Witnesses have passed away, some evidence is no longer available, and it will be hard for new testimonies to remain accurate all these years later.

If the case is not retried, Subu Vedam will be released after 42 years of incarceration. His attorneys and family are optimistic that Grine’s decision is the first step towards justice and his exoneration.

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