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() A Minnesota man who spent nearly three decades behind bars for a 1998 murder was released Thursday after a judge vacated his conviction and prosecutors conceded he was wrongfully convicted.
Bryan Hooper Sr. had been serving a minimum sentence of 30 years after a jury convicted him in the death of 77-year-old Ann Prazniak, whose wrapped body had been found within a cardboard box at her Minneapolis residence. The woman had been asphyxiated, officials said.
Hooper’s conviction hinged on the testimony of witnesses who later recanted, including Chalaka Young. She reportedly confessed to killing Prazniak and hiding her body. Initially, Young claimed she was Hooper’s lookout as he attacked the woman and then forced her to help conceal the corpse.
“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 Mary Moriarty said in a prepared statement. “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.”
Hooper walked out of the Stillwater Correctional Facility a free man Thursday and reunited with his children, the Great North Innocence Project told The Associated Press. He was expected to relocate, for now, to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
The woman whom officials said confessed to the killing is in prison in Georgia for an assault-related crime. With Hooper’s exoneration, the Prazniak case now goes back to the Minneapolis Police Department.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.