Minnesota prosecutor seeks to overturn man's 1998 murder conviction after a witness confesses

A Minnesota prosecutor said Tuesday she will seek the release of a man imprisoned 27 years for murder after a key witness has recanted her testimony and told authorities she committed the crime.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said she supports the effort by attorneys for Bryan Hooper Sr. who are asking for a judge to vacate his conviction.

At a press conference, Moriarty apologized to Hooper's adult daughter, Bri'ana Hooper, saying, “I understand at the same time, ‘sorry’ doesn't bring back those 27 years. What we're doing today, though, I hope is the beginning of getting your father out of prison.” Moriarty was not with the office in 1998.

Hooper now 54, was convicted by a jury at trial in 1998 of premeditated murder, felony murder while committing burglary and felony murder while committing kidnapping in connection with the death of Ann Prazniak, 77. He received three life sentences with the possibility of release after 30 years. He is in prison in Stillwater.

The woman who prosecutors say has confessed is in prison in Georgia for an assault-related crime and will be released in about four years.

Moriarty said attorneys will sort through the filing of charges against her after seeing which judge is assigned Hooper's case and trying to get him released as quickly as possible. The woman expects to be charged with murder and “knows exactly what she's getting into here,” Moriarty said.

Police found Prazniak’s body in April 1998 in a cardboard box wrapped with Christmas lights in a closet in her Minneapolis apartment — her ankles, nose, mouth, wrists and head bound and her body wrapped in garbage bags, blankets and bedding. Her cause of death was ruled asphyxiation, and she died two weeks to a month before police found her body, according to court documents.

Moriarty said her office's Conviction Integrity Unit was reviewing Hooper's case when officials learned the state's star trial witness had come forward in late July on her own to recant her testimony against Hooper and to confess to killing Prazniak and concealing her body.

Bri'ana Hooper, who has advocated for her father's release, lamented 27 years of missed birthdays, holidays, milestones and lost opportunities. “But today we don't have to lose," she said.

“We have an opportunity to shed light and use my father's story to shed light on the other people who are sitting behind bars for crimes that they did not commit," she said. Her father has maintained his innocence.

Attorneys for the Great North Innocence Project, representing Hooper, filed a petition to vacate his conviction. A judge would have 90 days to make a decision on that, Moriarty said.

Project Legal Director Jim Mayer said, “A strong criminal legal system is not one that insists on its own infallibility. A strong system is one that faces up to and confronts its failures, fixes its mistakes and works to repair the harm that's been caused. We are taking a small step down that road today, but let's acknowledge that we still have a long way to travel.”

Jailhouse informants who implicated Hooper also recanted their testimony long ago, Moriarty said.

In 2020, a judge granted Hooper's request to vacate two of three first-degree murder charges after he argued he was wrongly convicted and sentenced for three counts of first-degree murder against the same person.

Dura reported from Bismarck, North Dakota.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announces that Bryan Hooper Sr. would be freed after 27 years, after another prisoner confessed to the the murder, in Minneapolis, Minn., on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. Bryan's daughter, Briana Hooper, is at right. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP)

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announces that Bryan Hooper Sr. would be freed after 27 years, after another prisoner confessed to the the murder, in Minneapolis, Minn., on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP)

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announces that Bryan Hooper Sr. would be freed after 27 years, after another prisoner confessed to the the murder, in Minneapolis, Minn., on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. Bryan's daughter, Briana Hooper, is at right. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/Star Tribune via AP)

Briana Hooper talks to reporters about her father Bryan Hooper Sr.'s conviction for a murder that prosecutors now say he did not commit on Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)

A federal appeals panel on Thursday reversed a lower court decision that released former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil from an immigration jail, bringing the government one step closer to detaining and ultimately deporting the Palestinian activist.

The three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t decide the key issue in Khalil’s case: whether the Trump administration’s effort to throw Khalil out of the U.S. over his campus activism and criticism of Israel is unconstitutional.

But in its 2-1 decision, the panel ruled a federal judge in New Jersey didn’t have jurisdiction to decide the matter at this time. Federal law requires the case to fully move through the immigration courts first, before Khalil can challenge the decision, they wrote.

“That scheme ensures that petitioners get just one bite at the apple — not zero or two,” the panel wrote. “But it also means that some petitioners, like Khalil, will have to wait to seek relief for allegedly unlawful government conduct.”

Thursday’s decision marked a major win for the Trump administration’s sweeping campaign to detain and deport noncitizens who joined protests against Israel.

Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security Department spokesperson, called the ruling “a vindication of the rule of law.”

In a statement, she said the department will “work to enforce his lawful removal order” and encouraged Khalil to “self-deport now before he is arrested, deported, and never given a chance to return.”

It was not clear whether the government would seek to detain Khalil, a legal permanent resident, again while his legal challenges continue.

In a statement distributed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Khalil called the appeals ruling “deeply disappointing."

“The door may have been opened for potential re-detainment down the line, but it has not closed our commitment to Palestine and to justice and accountability," he said. "I will continue to fight, through every legal avenue and with every ounce of determination, until my rights, and the rights of others like me, are fully protected.”

Baher Azmy, one of Khalil's lawyers, said the ruling was “contrary to rulings of other federal courts."

“Our legal options are by no means concluded, and we will fight with every available avenue,” he said.

The ACLU said the Trump administration cannot lawfully re-detain Khalil until the order takes formal effect, which won't happen while he can still immediately appeal.

Khalil’s lawyers can request that the panel's decision be set aside and the matter reconsidered by a larger group of judges on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, or they can go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

An outspoken leader of the pro-Palestinian movement at Columbia, Khalil was arrested last March. He then spent three months detained in a Louisiana immigration jail, missing the birth of his first child.

Federal officials have accused Khalil of leading activities “aligned to Hamas,” though they have not presented evidence to support the claim and have not accused him of criminal conduct. They also accused Khalil, 31, of failing to disclose information on his green card application.

The government justified the arrest under a seldom-used statute that allows for the expulsion of noncitizens whose beliefs are deemed to pose a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests.

In June, a federal judge in New Jersey ruled that justification would likely be declared unconstitutional and ordered Khalil released.

President Donald Trump's administration appealed that ruling, arguing the deportation decision should fall to an immigration judge, rather than a federal court.

Khalil has dismissed the allegations as “baseless and ridiculous,” framing his arrest and detention as a “direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza.”

New York City’s new mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said on social media Thursday that Khalil should remain free.

“Last year’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil was more than just a chilling act of political repression, it was an attack on all of our constitutional rights,” Mamdani wrote on X. “Now, as the crackdown on pro-Palestinian free speech continues, Mahmoud is being threatened with rearrest. Mahmoud is free — and must remain free.”

Judge Arianna Freeman dissented Thursday, writing that her colleagues were holding Khalil to the wrong legal standard. Khalil, she wrote, is raising “now-or-never claims” that can be handled at the district court level, even though his immigration case isn't complete.

Both judges who ruled against Khalil, Thomas Hardiman and Stephanos Bibas, were Republican appointees. President George W. Bush appointed Hardiman to the 3rd Circuit, while Trump appointed Bibas. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, appointed Freeman.

The two-judge majority rejected Freeman's worry that their decision would leave Khalil with no remedy for unconstitutional immigration detention, even if he later can appeal.

“But our legal system routinely forces petitioners — even those with meritorious claims — to wait to raise their arguments," the judges wrote.

The decision comes as an appeals board in the immigration court system weighs a previous order that found Khalil could be deported to Algeria, where he maintains citizenship through a distant relative, or Syria, where he was born in a refugee camp to a Palestinian family.

His attorneys have said he faces mortal danger if forced to return to either country.

Associated Press writers Larry Neumeister and Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this story.

FILE - Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil holds a news conference outside Federal Court on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025 in Philadelphia (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)