HARRISBURG (AP) — A judge cleared the way Thursday for the potential release of an Indian citizen who was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody last year after his Pennsylvania murder conviction was overturned following four decades in prison.

The decision came the day after the four-hour hearing in which Subramanyam Vedam insisted he did not fatally shoot Thomas Kinser in 1980 and was questioned by a U.S. Department of Homeland Security lawyer. Vedam participated in the hearing Wednesday remotely from the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania.

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