Broken Scales: Seeking Justice for Philip Vance

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Two decades ago, Philip Vance’s life was set on the scales of justice. And found wanting. Convicted of murder, he was sentenced to life in prison. A jury found him guilty on all three counts: second-degree intentional, first-degree intentional, and first-degree premeditated. In just eight hours. 

In fact, his direct appeal was denied (2006) as were four subsequent petitions for post-conviction relief (filed in 2007, 2008, and 2019 twice). As far as the justice system was concerned, there seemed little doubt that Philip Vance was guilty. But Philip himself knew otherwise.  

When Minnesota’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU) was established in 2021, he was among the first to apply for relief. Although the CRU accepted his case for review, they have been unconscionably slow in their process. He had his final interview in March 2024 and—for the past year—has been waiting for a final report with no word on when it might come. That past year marked the twenty-second year of his wrongful imprisonment.  

Which is why he recently (February 26) filed a new—fifth—petition in Dakota County District Court. At the heart of this petition, drafted by new legal counsel, is the claim that his case demonstrates an instance of “structural error”: that it was marred by actions so grave they fundamentally prevented the proceedings from delivering justice. The petition raises other concerns as well (ineffective counsel at both trial and appellate levels), but the allegation of structural error is most damning. It asserts that Philip never had a chance for a fair trial even before the proceedings were gaveled in. For him, the scales of justice were broken.  

Here is what happened....read the full article.

Philip Vance's attorney, Nico Ratkowski, filed a petition for post-conviction relief (pdf) on Thursday 2/27/25. The petition contains overwhelming evidence that Philip did not kill South St. Paul store clerk Khaled Al Bakri 22 years ago and that his prosecution and trial had a pattern of errors and false testimony.

Misleading information was provided by The Dakota County Attorney's Office, Kathryn M. Keena, (the person who originally prosecuted Philip Vance) in her letter responding to the petition filing.  Contrary to what's written in her request for an extension due to a final report coming from the Conviction Review Unit (CRU) - an independent body of prosecutors and a retired police officer - the CRU has not communicated any decision on Mr. Vance's case to ALL parties involved.  Despite a signed agreement promising such communication would be forthcoming,  no written updates have been communicated to Philip Vance or his attorney since March 2024. The CRU has drawn out the process unnecessarily, and then one year ago interviewed Philip for what they said was the final step. 

• Read Done Waiting on the CRU to discover all the ways the CRU has let Philip down. 
• Watch this video of Philip talking about the CRU delays.

Philip made this statement when interviewed in this Fox 9 report:

"The world will see the truth. The state of Minnesota will see what the truth is. This was a set-up and these were corrupt police. Everything that was said at trial against me was false and was a lie, and it was coerced by the Metro Gang Task Force, This is real, police corruption is real, injustice is real."

• FB: Free Philip Vance:  https://tinyurl.com/Philip-Facebook 
• IG: free_philip_vance
• TikTok: @free.philip.vance