Latest news with #ConvictionIntegrityUnit
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
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. Moriarty said the woman expects to be charged with murder and 'knows exactly what she's getting into here.' 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.
CBS News
07-08-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announces she won't run for reelection in 2026
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced Wednesday she will not be running for reelection next year. Moriarty says she will focus on "creating enduring change in the system" during the final months of her administration. "We've become accustomed to elected officials who don't deliver results and end up more invested in clinging to power than doing the work of the people. That is not me," Moriarty said. "As I have weighed whether I wanted to spend the last year and a half of my term focused primarily on campaigning or continuing to transform this office, the choice became clear. I want to focus on running the office, rather than running for office." As Hennepin County attorney, Moriarty established the Conviction Integrity Unit to review past cases for mistakes and unjustified convictions, supporting the exoneration of two men wrongfully convicted of murder, Marvin Haynes and Edgar Barrientos-Quintana. At the start of the year, Moriarty's office began accepting applications for expungement in youth criminal offense cases, allowing individuals under the age of 18 to apply for expungement at no cost through the Help Seal My Record portal. However, Moriarty's tenure as county attorney has not been without controversy. In her first couple of months on the job, she offered a controversial plea deal to a 15-year-old accused of killing Zaria McKeever in 2022. Moriarty's decision was criticized by not just the family of the murder victim, but Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, the state's largest police association and some community leaders. In response, Gov. Tim Walz became the first governor in decades to reassign a case from a county attorney when he transferred the murder case from Moriarty to Ellison. The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association last year filed a formal complaint against Moriarty, alleging she acted unethically in prosecuting a state trooper who shot and killed a driver during a traffic stop. Her office charged Ryan Londregan with second-degree unintentional murder, first-degree assault and second-degree manslaughter in January 2023. In June 2023, the charges were dropped after Moriarty said her office learned new information about Londregan's planned testimony and state patrol training that would "make it impossible" to prove the case against him. In May, the U.S. Department of Justice announced its intent to open a racial discrimination investigation into the Hennepin County Attorney's Office for a new policy that would take an individual's race into consideration when making plea deals. The attorney's office announced the new policy change at the end of April via memo. In the memo, Moriarty's office said that "proposed resolutions should consider the person charged as a whole person, including their racial identity and age." A spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney's Office said in a statement they are trying to address longstanding racial disparities. Moriarty was elected Hennepin County attorney in a 16-point margin landslide in 2022, and previously served as the county's chief public defender. She ran a campaign promising transparency and criminal justice reforms that she hopes would diminish racial disparities within the system.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Yahoo
How Michelle Morrison Turned a Wrongful Conviction Into a Purposeful Life
Michelle Morrison heard the judge's ruling: Life plus five years, for a murder she didn't commit. But the Atlanta native says she never believed she'd spend the rest of her days behind bars. 'I said, 'I don't have a life sentence,'' she remembers. 'I never claimed the sentence.' Morrison did not fire the gun nor did she enter the apartment where Keith Alan Brown was slain in 2007. She merely drove Brown's admitted killer to the murder scene, leaving alone and later telling police she believed she was helping a friend collect a debt. Still, Morrison was convicted two years later — at age 27 — on felony murder, aggravated assault, attempted armed robbery, and conspiracy charges. A reexamination by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' office in 2021 found that the punishment was unjust, leading to Morrison's 2022 release. Now a 43-year-old life coach, Morrison is determined to make the most out of her second chance through her reintegration brand I'Miche (a derivative of her first name and acronym for imagine, manifest, inspire, connect, harmonize, and empower). Morrison's path to freedom didn't come easy. She had exhausted every appeal option by 2020, ultimately firing a lawyer she says did more to obstruct her journey than to support it. But she says her mother's support — both emotional and through advocacy on her behalf — was vital. 'I did every bit of those 13 years with her,' said Cynthia Morrison Holland, Michelle's mother. 'My whole life was consumed with 'chelle and trying to get her out. … We had many, many doors shut in our faces.' The tide shifted in 2020 after Paul Howard — the incumbent Fulton district attorney whose office prosecuted Morrison's case — lost his bid for reelection to Willis, who had visited Holland's church during her campaign and had connections to congregants there. Holland hired lawyer Janis Mann, who presented Morrison's case to the Conviction Integrity Unit in Willis' office. The task force concluded that Morrison, who had already been incarcerated for more than a decade, was sentenced too harshly relative to the crime she committed. She was resentenced on one charge of attempted armed robbery. In honor of National Reentry Week, Capital B Atlanta spoke with Morrison about how she remained motivated after being convicted, her fight for justice, and how she's providing support to other formerly incarcerated people who are struggling to reintegrate. —As told to Madeline Thigpen This interview was edited for length and clarity. When I got sentenced, I heard God's voice in the courtroom saying, 'You're not going to serve a life sentence, but you've got to go through this to become the woman you need to become.' I believed it. I said, 'I don't know how I'm getting home, but I'm going home. I'm gonna still do things as if I'm going home, still set my goals, still do everything I can to be the best version of myself.' People looked at me like I was insane, like, 'We don't go home with life sentences. Not in Georgia.' But a positive mindset took me a long way. I knew I had to do the work internally so God could come through on his promises: praying, fasting, fixing things that were not so great within, educating myself. Being inside that environment, education is super important because it gives you a sense of direction. I took every class that was offered to me. Emory University came with a theology certificate program, so I started taking theology classes in my third year of incarceration. That was the start of me believing in myself again. I knew that was something I'd been lacking. It added purpose to my life. I got an associate's [degree] in positive human development and social change and a bachelor's in psychology. Now I am getting my master's in positive psychology [and] life coaching certification. I graduate in May. I always knew I liked to help people. I wanted to be a registered nurse before I came to prison. But getting a psychology degree pushed me into wanting to do counseling, therapy, and life coaching. It was the best thing that happened to me inside of there. I was a mentor in a program called Faith and Character and the Kairos Torch program for women 25 and younger. I did that for a few years. I'd deal with everybody, helping elevate their self-esteem, realize their potential, realize their passion, set goals. My preference was the younger ones, because their minds were more impressionable. They were prone to listen. I would definitely get discouraged. But it wouldn't last long because I had my mom to put me in the right spirit. On the outside, she was advocating, going to conferences, talking to people. I went through three different appeals, three different lawyers, maybe $50,000 to $60,000 [in legal fees]. It was crazy. But we were both so resilient and determined. When one door shut, we said, 'OK, let's go to this next door.' The lawyer took my mama's money and that was it; we were all out of appeals. But God sent me an angel. [Attorney] Janis Mann was the person who was supposed to [help me to be released]. And she did it. Right now, I see a couple of clients for counseling, but I also started a reintegration and life coaching business called I'Miche, where I coach men and women who are coming home and need guidance. They're trying to regain a sense of identity outside of incarceration. I'm excited about that. Me and a partner of mine started doing retreats for women who have been incarcerated. We just did a one-day retreat for the Tennessee Higher Education Initiative with women talking about mental health issues, doing exercises, just trying to keep them engaged, motivated, and focused. Because reintegration is more important than reentry. Reentry is a resource: a car, a house, a job. But if you got all these things and you're not taking care of your mental health or you're not emotionally intelligent, what sense does that make? I like for people to get their mind right. Everything starts with self. If you are operating as a fully functioning individual, you will make better choices and take care of yourself. So that's what I like to focus on. The mindset is so important to me, because my mindset took me a long way in prison. It still takes me a long way since I've been home. I'm contemplating if I want to get a master's [degree] or a doctorate in social work when I graduate, because I want to be a licensed practical counselor or licensed as a social worker. I aim to gain some consultant work with nonprofits in the reentry space. But being that I'm on [parole], it's super hard to get your license. But it's not impossible. I want to do it. I want it so bad. Everything happens for a reason. I would not be who I am today if I did 13 years in prison and didn't get out here and try to make a change or try to use my experiences, wisdom, and education to help the younger Michelles — or Michaels. I learned so much going through that experience and became the woman I was destined to be. It's my mission in life to give back and to add value to people who need it. The post How Michelle Morrison Turned a Wrongful Conviction Into a Purposeful Life appeared first on Capital B News - Atlanta.
