The Minnesota Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed the murder conviction of a former St. Paul man who killed a grocery store clerk in South St. Paul.
Philip R. Vance, 27, robbed and killed Khaled Al-Bakri, 25, the night of Dec. 22, 2002. Vance later bragged to witnesses about the execution-style slaying at Sabreen's Supermarket.
Vance was convicted in Dakota County District Court. He argued in his appeal that he had ineffective assistance of counsel at trial, that two prosecution witnesses had recanted their testimony and that he had newly discovered evidence that some of the witnesses lied to the grand jury.
The Supreme Court concluded that Vance had failed to show that the guilty verdict would have been different without his attorney's alleged errors and without the witnesses' testimony.
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