Overview
- State District Court Judge Marta Chou set aside the 1998 verdict, and Hooper was released Thursday morning from Stillwater Correctional Facility.
- Hennepin County’s Conviction Integrity Unit and County Attorney Mary Moriarty joined the petition to vacate and issued a public apology.
- Key witness Chalaka Young has confessed to killing Ann Prazniak, repeated her admission to authorities and a prison chaplain, and her fingerprint was tied to tape like that used on the victim, while no DNA linked Hooper.
- The case returns to Minneapolis police for further investigation, and officials have not said if or when Young, now imprisoned in Georgia with about four years remaining, will be charged in the killing.
- Hooper is reuniting with family in the Twin Cities and can seek compensation under Minnesota’s wrongful‑imprisonment law, according to his advocates.