Hennepin County Attorney seeks to vacate conviction in disturbing 1998 murder case
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Hennepin County Attorney's Office is joining the effort to vacate Bryan Hooper's 1998 murder conviction.
The attorney's office will join a petition submitted by the Great North Innocence Project after the prosecution's key witness recanted her testimony and confessed to the crime.
RELATED: Man behind bars for 27 years claims innocence, has first case review before parole board
Witness admits to killing Ann Prazniak
Local perspective:
Hooper was convicted of murder in the killing of Ann Prazniak, 77, in 1998. But new evidence provided to the Hennepin County Attorney Office's conviction integrity unit by the Minneapolis Police Department supports the fact that Hooper was not involved in Prazniak's killing.
The conviction integrity unit was conducting a review of the case when on July 29, 2025, it learned the prosecution's witness came forward to recant her testimony against Hooper and confess to killing Prazniak and concealing her body. Other witnesses, including jailhouse informants, have also signed affidavits recanting their statements that helped convict Hooper.
As a result, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office says it cannot stand behind Hooper's conviction.
What's next:
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office and the Great North Innocence Project have asked the court to schedule the "earliest possible hearing," at which they'll ask the court to vacate Hooper's conviction and set him free.
"Two tragedies have brought us all together here," said Great North Innocence Project Legal Director Jim Mayer. "One of them being the senseless killing of an act back in 1998. The other being, of course, the 27 years that Brian Hooper has spent wrongfully in prison. Time that he was separated from his children, who are now grown, and children who he lost the opportunity to raise and that is an immeasurable loss for this family."
What we don't know:
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office did not say if charges will be brought against the person who admitted they lied and admitted to killing Prazniak. Moriarty says they are focused currently on getting Hooper out of prison.
The woman who admitted to the murder is already incarcerated in a state prison in Georgia, Moriarty said. Moriarty says the woman has about four years left on her sentence there. She now is set to face a murder charge.
Moriarty says the woman found a "stronger pull to God" behind bars and felt compelled to clear Hooper's name.