During a press conference on November 18, 2024 inside the Hennepin County Government Center, Denise Konen told the press that Philip Vance is in prison “for a crime he didn’t do.” Vance was sentence to life in prison for a 2002 murder in South Saint Paul, Minnesota based on corrupt police officers from the disbanded Metro Gang Strike Force and false testimony from informants.

Konen read off parts of a letter that Vance wrote from prison and said that Vance’s case is “nothing different” from that of Deaunteze Bobo or Jermaine Ferguson or many of the other wrongful convictions in the 2000s in the metro Minnesota area.

“Hey, I’m Denise Koenen. I’m a friend of Philip Vance’s. He’s been in prison for 21 years for a crime he didn’t do. And just like Deaunteze [Bobo] and just like Joseph [Campbell] and just like Jermaine [Ferguson], it’s the same story. There’s nothing different. The police convinced people to lie. The corruption among the department meant that they were going to work with the prosecutors to make sure that these people didn’t have good legal help. It’s happening to Black men because we have a racist, corrupt police force that’s been investigated by the FBI because of what they’ve done. I want to share something that Philip said about what it’s like inside, because I want his words out here.

“It’s tough here mentally and psychologically. When you grow up thinking one way or we’re taught that things are supposed to be this way, but you quickly realize that in here it’s completely opposite of what you were taught. The adjustment can be difficult. You then learn to live adaptively to your prison surrounding. It becomes who you are, which makes it difficult to just flip back to reality. But I’m grateful I was able to understand who I am and the difference between priority, pride and bravado.”

He’s working hard to get the truth out there. We’re trying to get his case in court. We’ve been raising lots of money so that he can have a real lawyer and real defense, which he did not have. He’s never had that because he was poor and Black and people don’t care. They just don’t care.

“The police and prosecutors in these cases need, needed a conviction. They needed a conviction, so they joined forces to pin it on someone who would not fight them. Who is the easiest person to target? It’s a person who’s on the margins of society that the majority does not care about. There’s a preponderance of Black men that are in prison because racism is baked into the system. For those who care about justice, our first duty in these challenging times is to surround individuals whose rights are most at risk of attack.”

The people that were speaking, those are the people whose rights are most at risk of attack.

“And we have to do all we can to support them. Those of you who are here who care about these innocent humans you are representing today, you already know this Those of you who are here who care about these innocent humans you are representing today, you already know this and have been working hard and persistently to bring your people home. We’re just asking everyone, especially the people in power, who can make the changes to look at the truth and demand justice for our loved ones who have suffered long enough. When you know something’s wrong, you do something about it.””