Bryan Hooper Sr. is finally a free man after spending nearly three decades behind bars for a crime he did not commit.

Hooper Sr., who has long proclaimed his innocence, was released from Stillwater Correctional Facility around 11 a.m. Thursday, the Great North Innocence Project confirmed.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office and the Great North Innocence Project announced Judge Marta Chou’s decision to vacate Hooper Sr’s conviction, who was found guilty and imprisoned for 27 years for the 1998 murder of 77-year-old Ann Prazniak in Minneapolis.

“Mr. Hooper’s conviction was tainted by false evidence and that without this false testimony, the jury might have reached a different conclusion,” said Judge Chou in her decision on Wednesday.

“Today, the courts have affirmed what Bryan Hooper,

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