A Pennsylvania man who spent more than four decades behind bars for a murder he says he didn't commit may not be forced out of the country after all. An immigration judge on Thursday ruled that 64-year-old Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam can remain in the US, where he's lived since his parents brought him from India as an infant, CNN reports. Vedam's murder conviction was overturned in August after lawyers showed prosecutors had withheld key ballistics evidence. They said his 1983 conviction was a "profound injustice." The charges were dropped—but a day later, ICE took him into custody, seeking to deport him based on an old LSD conviction.
Vedam pleaded no contest to four counts of possessing LSD with the intent to distribute it in 1983. A deportation order was issued in 1999. After the murder conviction was overturned, the Department of Homeland Security continued to push for removal even as the Board of Immigration Appeals deemed his situation "exceptional" and reopened his case. "Forty-three years of wrongful imprisonment more than makes up for the possession with intent to distribute LSD when he was 20 years old," immigration lawyer Ava Benach told the AP in October. During his decades in prison, Vedam earned several degrees and tutored many fellow inmates. His only infraction in 43 years involved rice brought from the outside.
In granting relief, Judge Adam Panopoulos cited Vedam's rehabilitation in prison, including mentoring relatives he knew only from behind bars and starting a literacy program. During a hearing Wednesday, Vedam admitted he did "dumb things" as a young man, including taking drugs, but said he had "never done anything violent. Never." He plans to live with relatives in Sacramento and continue his education if released. DHS has until May 4 to appeal the judge's decision, WJAC reports. A DHS spokesperson previously told CNN, "Having a single conviction vacated will not stop ICE's enforcement of the federal immigration law."
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