A Minnesota prosecutor said Tuesday she will seek the release of a man imprisoned 27 years for murder after a key witness has recanted her testimony and told authorities she committed the crime.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said she supports the effort by attorneys for Bryan Hooper Sr. who are asking for a judge to vacate his conviction.
At a press conference, Moriarty apologized to Hooper’s adult daughter, Bri’ana Hooper, saying, “I understand at the same time, ‘sorry’ doesn’t bring back those 27 years. What we’re doing today, though, I hope is the beginning of getting your father out of prison.” Moriarty was not with the office in 1998.
Hooper now 54, was convicted by a jury at trial in 1998 of premeditated murder, felony murder while committing burglary and felony murder while committing kidnapping in connection with the death of Ann Prazniak, 77. He received three life sentences with the possibility of release after 30 years. He is in prison in Stillwater.
The woman who prosecutors say has confessed is in prison in Georgia for an assault-related crime and will be released in about four years.
Moriarty said attorneys will sort through the filing of charges against her after seeing which judge is assigned Hooper’s case and trying to get him released as quickly as possible. Moriarty said the woman expects to be charged with murder and “knows exactly what she’s getting into here.”
Police found Prazniak’s body in April 1998 in a cardboard box wrapped with Christmas lights in a closet in her Minneapolis apartment — her ankles, nose, mouth, wrists and head bound and her body wrapped in garbage bags, blankets and bedding. Her cause of death was ruled asphyxiation, and she died two weeks to a month before police found her body, according to court documents.
Moriarty said her office’s Conviction Integrity Unit was reviewing Hooper’s case when officials learned the state’s star trial witness had come forward in late July on her own to recant her testimony against Hooper and to confess to killing Prazniak and concealing her body.
Bri’ana Hooper, who has advocated for her father’s release, lamented 27 years of missed birthdays, holidays, milestones and lost opportunities. “But today we don’t have to lose,” she said.
“We have an opportunity to shed light and use my father’s story to shed light on the other people who are sitting behind bars for crimes that they did not commit,” she said. Her father has maintained his innocence.
Attorneys for the Great North Innocence Project, representing Hooper, filed a petition to vacate his conviction. A judge would have 90 days to make a decision on that, Moriarty said.
Project Legal Director Jim Mayer said, “A strong criminal legal system is not one that insists on its own infallibility. A strong system is one that faces up to and confronts its failures, fixes its mistakes and works to repair the harm that’s been caused. We are taking a small step down that road today, but let’s acknowledge that we still have a long way to travel.”
Jailhouse informants who implicated Hooper also recanted their testimony long ago, Moriarty said.
In 2020, a judge granted Hooper’s request to vacate two of three first-degree murder charges after he argued he was wrongly convicted and sentenced for three counts of first-degree murder against the same person.
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Dura reported from Bismarck, North Dakota.
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