Friday, September 5, 2025 - A Minnesota father has been exonerated
after spending 27 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
Bryan Hooper Sr. walked free from
Stillwater Correctional Facility on Thursday, embraced by his children, after
the Hennepin County District Court overturned his conviction for the 1998
murder of 77-year-old Ann Prazniak.
The decision followed a handwritten confession from Chalaka Young — the prosecution’s star witness at the time — who admitted she was the one who killed Prazniak. Young, now serving an unrelated sentence in Georgia, said she grew “soul sick” with guilt and could no longer allow Hooper to remain behind bars.
Prazniak was found dead inside a
cardboard box in her Minneapolis apartment in April 1998. She had been
asphyxiated and was believed to have died more than two weeks before her body
was discovered. Neighbors told investigators the apartment had been used as a
drug haven and for prostitution in the weeks before the discovery.
Young’s fingerprints were found in the apartment, but when questioned, she denied involvement and implicated Hooper instead. She testified that Hooper forced her to act as a lookout and threatened to kill her. In exchange for cooperating with prosecutors, Young received a reduced sentence in a separate case.
Hooper admitted being inside Prazniak’s
apartment — his fingerprints were in the living room — but consistently denied
any role in her death. His conviction was also supported by testimony from four
other witnesses who later recanted, admitting they had been offered incentives.
In a letter written from prison in July, Young confessed fully: “I am not okay any longer with an innocent man sitting in prison for a crime he did not commit… my soul purpose here is to take responsibility for two innocent lives that I have destroyed and to make true amends for once in my life.” She later repeated her admission to investigators and family members during recorded calls.
“We are convinced that Bryan Hooper did
not commit that crime,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a
statement. “We can never return what was taken from him, but we can do the
right thing today.”
Hooper, who had been sentenced to three
life terms with the possibility of parole after 30 years, is now rebuilding his
life with his children in the Twin Cities.
“Twenty-seven years of missed birthdays,
milestones, and holidays — time we can’t get back. But today, we don’t have to
lose anymore,” his daughter Bri’ana Hooper said.
Prazniak’s murder case has been reopened for
further investigation. Young, who is due for release in about four years on
unrelated charges, has not yet been charged in connection with the killing.
0 Comments