StarTribune Letter to the Editor in response to Star Tribune Article

It was with surprise and gratitude that I read the article inspired by reader Shawn Basset’s question to Curious Minnesota on Sunday, 12/8/24, titled, “Did Anyone Go to Jail for Strike Force Scandal?” which outlines the crimes committed by the police of the Metro Gang Strike Force from 1998 to 2009.  Although they were investigated and found guilty by the FBI - evidence was destroyed, and the state went about the business of moving forward with officers back at their jobs or in other policing positions. No one went to jail!  

Who else was impacted besides the 96 victims who were uncovered by the FBI?  I can tell you about one of them.  Philip Vance was railroaded by these same officers who manufactured a case against him with no evidence, and then lied at the hearing where he was wrongfully convicted in 2004. He has now been in prison for almost 22 years for a crime he did not commit!  If you want to see more details of this disturbing story here’s the link: www.freephilipvance.com 

Because of our knowledge of the Metro Gang Strike Force’s role in our friend’s wrongful conviction and imprisonment, we must wonder if there are others who’ve been grievously harmed because these police officers were never held accountable for their crimes. One lawyer said this about the fallout from the 2009 corruption probe; “Nobody talks, and everybody walks.”  It’s time to shine sunlight on the truth, which is the first step in bringing accountability and justice!  We ask the State of Minnesota to investigate all the cases brought forward by the Minneapolis and St. Paul police officers who were members of the Minnesota Gang Strike Force. 

Denise Konen and the FreePhilipVance Campaign

The role the Metro Gang Strike Force played in Vance’s wrongful conviction and incarceration was unethical and a civil rights violation. So was coercing (RH) and (MC) and threatening (RH) to place her husband in jail and promising (MC) to speak on his behalf at sentencing. As well as using (IH), (JN), (TC), (EG), and (DR) to lie with the incentive to get closer to freedom. (TC) lied because he wanted to help his best friend, (MC). (MS) needed money to relocate because she was facing criminal charges and wanted a reset and a second chance at life. (DR) wanted to get home to his family and did what he felt he had to do to get there - lie. (EG) wanted to get out of jail badly. Before New Year’s Eve to be exact, and so he lied.

Most significantly, the MGSF “rogue” culture is what created this injustice. Investigators told Vance that they would locate his cell phone records that would give his exact location at the time of the murder. They say the 90 days they had to get them elapsed and they were not able to retrieve them, yet they retrieved Vance’s phone calls in the 90-day span. They were unable to present the audio tape of Vance making the statements they and (MS) testified to at trial. (MS) says they had her lie, and so did (MC) and (RH). Why didn’t the police bring forth the recording they worked so hard to obtain to get the conviction they wanted?

Vance’s jury pool was asked if they thought the police could/would lie to get a conviction. It’s clear from all the lies that were uncovered that they would, and they did. A federal investigation discovered that MGSF officers did whatever they chose, right or wrong. They lived by their own rules and despite the law, they did things that were illegal and harmed others. They broke ethics and they broke codes – criminals pretending to be good guys. The State of Minnesota has a consistent tendency of using jailhouse informants and confidential informants’ testimony as

GOLD against defendants when their testimony favors the state’s case and goals. Now they are labeling these same informants as “untrustworthy” when they admit that the original statements they made to investigators and jurors were false and led to the wrongful conviction of innocent people, as in Vance’s case.