A Minnesota ax murderer who killed his family when he was a teenager has been released early because of a law supported by Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN).
David Brom, who is now 53 years old, was released more than a decade earlier than he was meant to be released. The man killed his parents and two younger siblings when he was 16 years old and was supposed to be remain in prison until his 70s.
However, a Minnesota law passed in 2023 and supported by Walz, barred life sentences without parole for juveniles.
Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party lawmakers believed that the law was changed to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that banned life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders.
Brom served more than 35 years in prison; he argued at the time he suffered from mental illness.
Republican state Sen. Jordan Rasmusson fought lawmakers’ move to amend the law, believing that juvenile offenders had to serve at least 25 years. Instead, lawmakers opted with a 15-year cutoff.
“I warned of this exact scenario during the 2023 public safety debate, and it is precisely the kind of outcome I sought to prevent,” Rasmusson said.
“The Democrats’ soft-on-crime approach has led to dangerous early releases like this one. The release of David Brom is a profound failure of justice and a painful betrayal to the memory of his victims,” he continued.
“Brom committed one of the most horrific crimes in our state’s history. Releasing him now undermines the severity of that act and the suffering it caused,” he remarked.
Walz said that the law requires a case-by-case review before an offender can be released.
“If he’s a threat to society, it means he’s not getting out,” he said.
Walz has admitted the “horror” of Brom’s crime against his family.
Brom is now in a Twin Cities halfway house and remains on work release.
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