Defenses presents new evidence on 43-year-old murder case of State College man

BELLEFONTE, Pa. (WTAJ) — Nearly 200 people flocked to the Centre County Courthouse Monday for a hearing on new evidence in a decades-old murder case against a State College man.

In 1983, former State College resident Subramanyam "Subu" Vedam was convicted of murdering Thomas Kinser, his classmate. Vedam has long stated his innocence and now he, members of the community and his attorneys are fighting to overturn the 42-year-old conviction with the new evidence they believe proves he is incident.

The Commonwealth spoke first, with Attorney Joshua Andrews expressing why they must stand by the 1983 conviction. Andrews said the one-year window for appeal is long gone. He also mentioned that the defense is trying to argue that the murder weapon was being "suppressed" despite it never being recovered. Additionally, Andrews added that despite a possible size disparity with the bullet and wound it caused, that is not enough to take this any further.

The defense, who had Gopal Balachandran speak, opened his remarks by discussing a 100-page FBI report that was not made available until Jan. 10, 2024. The report found that the bullet size did not match the bullet wound size found on Kinser's skull.

Balachandran argued the Commonwealth suppressed evidence that took away Vedam's chance at a fair trial that resulted in him being wrongfully convicted.

He mentioned that during the trial, the FBI agent who testified said there were no inc...