After being falsely implicated by a woman, Bryan Hooper Sr. was wrongfully convicted and served almost thirty years in prison.
It all started in April 1998, when police discovered Ann Prazniak’s body in the closet of her Minneapolis apartment, inside a cardboard box covered with Christmas lights. According to court documents, she had died two weeks to a month before police discovered her body, and her cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation.
That same year, a jury found Hooper guilty of premeditated murder, felony murder while committing burglary, and felony murder while committing kidnapping in relation to the death of Prazniak, then 77.
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Hooper’s conviction was largely based on testimony from a woman who officials say has now admitted to the crime.
He was given three life sentences, with the possibility of release after 30 years. In 2020, a judge approved his request to dismiss two of three first-degree murder charges after he claimed he had been wrongfully convicted and sentenced for three counts of first-degree murder against the same individual.
Last month, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced her office’s support for Hooper’s release, stating that a key trial witness recanted her evidence during the office’s assessment of the case and confessed to killing Prazniak and concealing her remains. According to Moriarty, the jailhouse informants who had accused Hooper had long since recanted their testimony.
Both the Great North Innocence Project and Moriarty’s office requested that the court vacate Hooper’s conviction.
On Wednesday, September 3, State District Court Judge Marta Chou vacated Hooper’s conviction for first-degree murder. A representative for the Great North Innocence Project confirmed that he was released from the Stillwater Correctional Facility on September 4.
“Today, the courts have affirmed what Bryan Hooper, his family, his loved ones, and his advocates have always known: Mr Hooper is an innocent man,” Hennepin county attorney Moriarty said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. “It is our duty as prosecutors to hold the correct individuals responsible for their actions, and that duty demands that we acknowledge our mistakes and make things right as quickly as we can.”
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The Project spokesperson, Hayley Poxleitner, stated that the Minnesota father had reconnected with his children and intended to spend time with them. Additionally, he intends to settle down in the Twin Cities region, where his children currently reside.
Shawn Daye, chief of staff at the Hennepin County attorney’s office, stated that now that Hooper has been cleared and released, the Prazniak case will return to the Minneapolis police department for any further investigation.
Meanwhile, the woman who allegedly confessed to the murder is serving a sentence in Georgia for an assault-related crime and will be released in about four years.
