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Exonerated man hopes to get life back on track
Four days after gaining his freedom, a Minneapolis man exonerated on a wrongful murder conviction received an apology from the office that got him convicted.
(FOX 9) - Four days after gaining his freedom, a Minneapolis man exonerated on a wrongful murder conviction received an apology from the office that got him convicted.
What can you say?
Focused on freedom:
Bryan Hooper, Sr., admits he’s not a man of many words with people he doesn’t know well and on Thursday he was mostly focused on going home, but he's starting to reveal how difficult it really was.
Hooper’s outstretched arms as he walked out of prison said all he needed to say Thursday.
"I felt a ton of relief," he said four days later. "Relieved, you know, it was like, it's finally over."
By Monday, he and his family had more time to reflect on the 27 years he spent locked up for a wrongful murder conviction.
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Bryan Hooper exonerated, released from prison after 27 years [FULL]
In a press conference on Monday, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, Bryan Hooper and others spoke about Hooper's exoneration and being released from prison 27 years after he was convicted of murder. He walked out of prison last week after a surprise confession by the real killer led to Hooper's release.
10,000 days
Scared and hopeless:
His daughter, Bri’ana, said she spent 10,000 days crying, scared, and sometimes hopeless.
"For 27 years, I worried constantly about him, if anyone was trying to hurt him, if he was eating okay, if he were sleeping okay, and if I could even keep holding on," she said.
Hooper was convicted for the 1998 murder of 77-year-old Ann Prazniak based largely on testimony from jailhouse informants and Chalaka Young.
Only Young’s fingerprints were found on the tape used on Prazniak, but her account helped send Hooper to prison until she confessed to the crime earlier this year.
"I'm sorry," said Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty. "You lost 27 years of your life because people were willing to take the stand and lie for their own benefit."
Hooper hasn’t shown a lot of anger at the decisions that led to him losing almost three decades of his life, instead focusing on his family and his freedom, and making his emotions productive.
"[There is] a lot of anger," he said. "I'm going to use it for something good instead of for something bad."
Preventing a repeat
Temporary policies:
Moriarty says her office has implemented three policies hoping to avoid similar wrongful convictions, including very limited use of jailhouse informants.
But those policies could change when she leaves office in about 16 months.