<div><strong><em>"I can see my blessings, even through the madness." - Bryan Hooper, Sr.</em></strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>On September 3, 2025, Bryan Hooper, Sr. was exonerated after spending over 27 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Years of passionate advocacy by his family, repeated denials in state and federal courts, and countless missed memories and milestones, eventually gave way to freedom when the true perpetrator recanted and confessed, revealing Bryan’s innocence at last.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>The Crime &amp; Investigation</strong>
</div>
<div>The story of Bryan’s wrongful conviction began with a brutal and senseless killing. On April 15, 1998, Minneapolis police found the body of 77-year-old Ann Prazniak in a cardboard box inside of her bedroom closet in the apartment complex at 1818 Park Avenue in Minneapolis. Her cause of death was asphyxiation.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The medical examiner estimated Ms. Prazniak was killed two weeks to one month before the discovery of her body. During those weeks, neighbors observed multiple people coming in and out of the apartment, which appeared to have been used as a haven for drug use and prostitution after Ms. Prazniak’s death.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Among those who had reportedly entered the apartment were Chalaka Young (then nicknamed “Shay”) and Bryan Hooper (then nicknamed “Brome”). Police found Ms. Young’s fingerprints on pieces of tape stuck to the floor of the apartment similar to tape removed from Ms. Prazniak’s body.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Bryan’s fingerprints were found on two sandwich baggies and a beer can in the living room but, unlike Ms. Young, Bryan’s prints were not found on any objects with a direct link to Ms. Prazniak’s murder. Bryan admitted to having been in the apartment, but denied involvement in or knowledge about Ms. Prazniak’s death.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>The State’s Case Against Bryan</strong>
</div>
<div>Ms. Young was the key to the State’s case against Bryan. Police interviewed her four times over the course of a month following Ms. Prazniak’s death. In the first three interviews, Ms. Young denied any knowledge of the murder. When police came to her a fourth time and threatened her with a murder charge, she changed her story and crafted a narrative pointing the finger at Bryan. Ms. Young’s story included claims that she helped Bryan while he committed the murder of Ms. Prazniak. She told police she acted as lookout and was forced to rip pieces of tape for Bryan to use to bind Ms. Prazniak’s body. Ms. Young claimed to have heard a woman yell for help. She also stated Bryan threatened to kill her if she told anyone about what she saw. Ms. Young was facing unrelated criminal charges at the time of Bryan’s trial. Because of her cooperation with the prosecution of Bryan, Ms. Young received a shortened sentence for her charges.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>In addition to Ms. Young, four additional witnesses testified that Bryan made incriminating statements after Mr. Prazniak’s death. All of four of these witnesses were given incentives. These incentives included payment of cash by a Minneapolis Police Officer and leniency in unrelated criminal matters in exchange for their testimony.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Despite the statements of these witnesses being contradictory to one another, the jury convicted Bryan of three counts of first-degree murder, and he received three concurrent life sentences.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Recantations and a Confession</strong>
</div>
<div>Over the course of the next two decades, with the exception of Ms. Young, the four other witnesses who testified against Bryan at trial recanted. Each signed affidavits, admitting their false testimony had been incentivized by police and prosecutors. Bryan returned to court five times seeking post-conviction relief after each of these recantations. Each time he was denied.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>After his fifth attempt at post conviction relief, Bryan was seemingly out of options and waiting on a miracle.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The miracle materialized on July 19, 2025. That day, while serving an eight-year sentence in a Georgia prison for aggravated assault, a recently-sober and religious Chalaka Young experienced a crisis of conscience. In a signed, handwritten statement offered with no prompting, Ms. Young unburdened herself and finally told the truth about what happened to Ann Prazniak, stating, “I am not okay any longer with [an] innocent man sitting in prison for a crime he did not commit….”
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Explaining that her “soul [sic] purpose here is not to make any excuse but to take responsibility for two innocent lives that I have destroyed and…to make true amends for once in my life,” Ms. Young would go on to detail the events surrounding Ms. Prazniak’s death, taking sole responsibility for the woman’s murder. She subsequently repeated this confession to law enforcement in Georgia, to a Minneapolis Police Department Sergeant, and to loved ones on a recorded prison phone line.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>Filing for a Final Time</strong>
</div>
<div>Investigators provided this newly discovered evidence of Bryan’s innocence to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) Conviction Integrity Unit, and the Great North Innocence Project (GNIP) assumed representation of Bryan. On August 12, 2025, GNIP filed a petition on Bryan’s behalf asking that his conviction be vacated. The HCAO followed suit.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Hennepin County Attorney Mary Morarity said in a statement, “Ms. Prazniak’s death was senseless, and it deserves justice. But we are convinced that Bryan Hooper did not commit that crime; he has been in prison for 27 years for something he didn’t do. We can never return what was taken from Mr. Hooper in 1998 and for that, I am sorry. However, we can do the right thing today, and today we are joining the petition to vacate Mr. Hooper’s conviction.”
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>On September 2, 2025, a hearing was held in Hennepin County District Court, before Judge Marta Chou. At the hearing, GNIP and the HCAO agreed the evidence of the recantations of all witnesses against Bryan required Bryan’s convictions be vacated. GNIP Legal Director Jim Mayer asked Judge Chou to grant Bryan’s petition, vacate his convictions, and send Bryan home.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Judge Chou did just that and granted Bryan’s petition on September 3, 2025.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Bryan walked free into the arms of his children and supporters on September 4, 2025.
</div>

Guillermo Santiago-Ramos

Anonymous

Christina Chen

Mark Bierle

Samantha Thomas

Catherine Lipinsky

Amy Wollmuth

Amy Coombs

Lindsey C Thomas MD

Riva Kupritz

Meghan McInerny

Todd Cording

Kesah Schmitt

Pao Ding

Innocent & Finally Free: Support Bryan Hooper, Sr.

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

Eligible for Profile Share Badge

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

isEligibleForProfileBadge

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

¡Solo faltan $995$ ! Tú puedes marcar la diferencia.

Innocent & Finally Free: Support Bryan Hooper, Sr.

¡Solo faltan $995 !
Tú puedes marcar la diferencia.