On Thursday, October 5, Bryan Hooper Sr. walked out of the Stillwater Correctional Facility a free man for the first time. This Minnesota man had been wrongfully convicted of murder and spent almost 30 years in prison. This ruling follows a longstanding, tireless fight for justice after the 1998 murder of 77-year-old Ann Prazniak.
Hooper’s conviction was based on perjured testimony, most notably given by a woman who has since admitted her testimony led to an innocent man being incarcerated. The man, who is serving a sentence in Georgia for a different attack, confessed to the murder of Prazniak and burial of her body. With this confession, the case against Hooper fell apart, ushering in a second investigation by the Minneapolis police department.
In 1998, Hooper was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences, release possible after 30 years, for the murder of Prazniak. To date, over the years, his jailhouse informants have recanted their testimony against him. Together, these have raised grave doubts about the fairness of the very first trial.
A judge ruled in favor of Hooper just one day before his release, stating, “The court finds that Mr Hooper’s conviction was tainted by false evidence and that without this false testimony, the jury might have reached a different conclusion.” This ruling was a signal to Hooper’s family and advocates that Hooper’s innocence—the notion they had long held despite the conviction—was indeed true.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty expressed satisfaction with the outcome, saying, “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.”
Shortly after being released, Hooper was able to be reunited with his children and said that he planned to make the Twin Cities area his long-term home. As such, he hopes to share a dinner with them. Apart from his educational pursuits, he hopes to spend more quality time with family members he’s been distanced from for years.
The woman who first set Hooper up to get busted is due to get out in about four years. Law enforcement has promised to treat Hooper’s case with extra scrutiny. They are looking at what it means using the lens of some new evidence that’s recently come to light.