A State College man who has spent most of his life behind bars could get a new trial, thanks to recently uncovered evidence related to a 1982 homicide case.
Subramanyam Vedam, more commonly known as “Subu,” was 20-years-old when he was arrested as a suspect in the death of his friend and former roommate, 19-year-old Tom Kinser. Kinser’s body was found in the woods after he was missing for nine months. He had a bullet hole in his skull.
A Centre County judge heard testimony Thursday and Friday regarding recently uncovered measurements of the bullet holes in Kinser’s skull.
Gopal Balachandran, one of Vedam’s defense attorneys, says those measurements could help exonerate Vedam.
At the time of the original trial, a local teenager said he sold Vedam an antique .25 caliber handgun. That testimony was used in Vedam’s conviction, and defense lawyers did not have the measurements of the bullet wound to argue caliber differences.
“And so when Subu’s lawyers back in the 1980s tried to argue that there was a mismatch between that hole in the skull and a .25 caliber bullet because the hole is smaller, a lot smaller, in fact, than a .25 caliber bullet, then they were not able to effectively cross-examine or present that evidence,” Balachandran said.
Much of the testimony on both days surrounded a recent report by Dr. Ann Ross, a forensic expert. In an August report, she said the wound on Kinser’s skull was more likely to be from a smaller .22 caliber bullet.
Several experts argued against this claim during Thursday and Friday’s hearings in the Centre County Courthouse.
Todd Neumyer, a retired Pennsylvania State Police trooper with forensic training, disagreed the wound on Kinser’s skull was from a .22 caliber. One of the reasons he gave was that there was no lead runoff at the site of Kinser’s body. Neumeyer said .22 caliber bullets have easy lead transfer, while .25 caliber bullets do not.
Angi Christensen, a forensic anthropologist at the FBI laboratory, said she did not conduct a full review of this specific case, but did tell the court that scientific literature does not support evidence showing a statistically significant difference in bullet wounds between .22 and .25 calibers.
Despite testimony against Ross’s claims that Kinser was killed by a different gun than the one allegedly in Vedam’s possession, his defense lawyers say they’re confident in his case.
“(Ross) is clearly the only one that has done research on this,” Balachandran said. “And as the judge said, she's the one that basically wrote the book.”
Ross’s work is widely cited, including her research into bone mineral density and the wounding capacity of handguns.
Dozens of supporters filled the courtroom during the hearing and the courthouse steps after.
“I'm 67-years-old. I don't have a lot more time to be with my brother. I just want him home,” said Sarawathi Vedam.
Several supporters traveled from out of state to see Subu Vedam, including New York and Maryland. For some, this week was their first time seeing him out of prison.
“It has been incredible to see how this case has continued to resonate and how people want the integrity of our justice system to hold true,” said Zoë Miller-Vedam, who is Vedam’s niece. “It's such an important principle throughout the entire country that we should be able to trust that we can have fair trials where juries can hear all of the evidence.”
Presiding Judge Jonathan Grine gave prosecutors and defense attorneys about two months to go over the transcripts from this week’s hearings and continue to build their legal case before he makes a decision about whether Vedam will get another trial.
