Freed Man Fights for U.S. Citizenship After 40 Years

0:00It's April 2nd, Canada news today starts now. AI powered and ready. I'm Corey with the story. A federal judge in Pennsylvania just opened the door for the possible release of Subramanyam, Vedam, a 64-year-old Indian native who spent over four decades behind bars. His 1980 murder conviction got tossed out last year, but immigration and customs enforcement grabbed him right away to deport him back to India, a place he left as a baby. During a four-hour hearing this week, Vedam joined remotely from detention and swore he never killed his high school buddy, Thomas Kinzer. The judge bought it, ruling he's fully rehabilitated with no threat to anyone, pointing to his work teaching inmates to read in his tight family. Bonds, including nieces who've only known him, locked up. Vedam grew up in State College, Pennsylvania after arriving from Mumbai at 9 months old. His dad was a physics prof there. He was days from U.S. citizenship when arrested on drugs, which snowballed into the murder

1:01charge after Kinzer vanished post-a-drug by. Prosecutors hit key ballistics evidence showing the head wound didn't match the gun tie to Vedam, so a judge freed him last fall and the DA next day. Third trial. Calling 44 years enough for a 19-year-old crime, but Ved still won him gone over old drug dealing convictions. DHS has 30 days to appeal, while Vedam's lawyer pushes for bonds so he can crash with family and Sacramento and jump into a doctor program at Oregon State. If it sticks, this could be his shot at a real second chance after all these years.