Minnesota’s new Supervised Release Board sending ax murderer to Twin Cities halfway house

An unambiguous sentence

On October 16, 1989, Olmsted County District Court Judge Ancy Morse pronounced the following sentence upon David Brom, who had been convicted of killing his parents and two siblings with an ax in their family home:

“In the matter of the death of Bernard Brom,

IT IS ORDERED that the defendant be hereby committed to the custody of the Commissioner of Corrections of the State of Minnesota for the period of the rest of his life.

In the matter of the death of Paulette Brom,

IT IS HEARBY ORDERED that the defendant be hereby committed to the custody of the Commissioner of Corrections of the State of Minnesota for the period of the rest of his life, said sentence to run consecutive to that imposed in the case of Bernard Brom.

In the matter of the death of Richard Brom,

IT IS HEARBY ORDERED that the defendant be hereby committed to the custody of the Commissioner of Corrections of the State of Minnesota for the period of the rest of his life, said sentence to run consecutive to that imposed in the case of Bernard Brom and Paulette Brom.

In the matter of the death of Diane Brom,

IT IS HEARBY ORDERED that the defendant be committed to the custody of the Commissioner of Corrections of the State of Minnesota for the period of the rest of his life, said sentence to run concurrent to that imposed in the case of Richard Brom.

While long, it’s important to see the complete verbiage on the sentence handed down on David Brom in 1989. There isn’t any ambiguity in the intent of Judge Morse — four life sentences, with three of them running consecutively for good measure.

Yet this week our Department of Corrections announced that Brom would be released to a halfway house at the end of the month, after serving just 37 years.

How can a person who was convicted of four heinous murders of his family members, and sentenced to four “life” sentences, be eligible for such a release? The answer lies in state statute amended in 2023 and the formation of the new Supervised Release Board.

The Murders

In the early morning of February 18, 1988, David Brom (16) killed his parents and two younger siblings with an ax in their Rochester, Minnesota home. Court records indicate Brom attacked his father first, but that his father kept getting up, requiring Brom to repeatedly strike his father. Brom then killed his mother before going to his younger brother’s room and killing him. When he finished killing his brother, he saw his younger sister trying to help his mother, so he attacked and killed her too.

Brom told a classmate about the murders before going on the run. The Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office conducted a welfare check at the home that evening and found the victim’s bodies. Brom was located and arrested in town the following day.

Brom was eventually charged as an adult with four counts of first-degree premeditated murder 609.185.1. The statute read:

“Whoever does any of the following is guilty of murder in the first degree and shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life: 1) causes the death of a human being with premeditation and with intent to effect the death of the person or of another”

On October 15, 1989, a jury found Brom guilty of the four counts of first-degree murder, and on October 16, Judge Morse sentenced Brom to prison for four life sentences, three of them running consecutive to one another.

Minnesota Sentencing Statute

Despite sounding clear, most prison sentences are anything but. This ambiguity arises from sentencing statute.

In 1988, when Brom killed his family, Minnesota statutes dictated that anyone receiving a life sentence was eligible for parole after 17 years. Brom’s three consecutive life sentences made him eligible for parole after 51 years, or in approximately 2039. (In 1989 the statute was updated to increase the number of years to serve before parole eligibility from 17 to 30 years, but this didn’t apply to Brom as he committed his offenses in 1988).

In 2023, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) trifecta in the Minnesota Legislature amended Minnesota Statute 244.05 which details supervised release terms and minimum sentencing. The amendment established a new minimum sentencing threshold for offenders who were under 18 at the time of their offense. The amendment applicable to Brom’s sentence read:

Subd. 4b. Offenders who were under 18 at the time of offense; minimum terms of imprisonment.

Any person serving one or more mandatory life sentences or any combination of sentences that include combined terms of imprisonment that exceed the applicable minimum term specified in this section is eligible for supervised release if the person was under the age of 18 at the time of the commission of the relevant offenses and has served a minimum of:

30 years if the person was sentenced to three or more consecutive life sentences.

The amendment was made retroactive and instructed the new Supervised Release Board to review cases like Brom’s for eligibility for release after serving the minimum sentence.

It’s important to note, the amendment made Brom eligible for supervised release but didn’t mandate his release.

Supervised Release Board Decision

The Supervised Release Board, also formed via 2023 legislation, heard testimony from Brom this past January. The Board, comprised of gubernatorial appointees, then voted to allow Brom to move from his current prison cell to an undisclosed Twin Cities halfway house and participate in work release. That move is scheduled for July 29. 

Brom is set to appear before the Board again in January 2026 to determine if more changes to his supervised release are warranted.

Reactions

DFL Representative Sandra Fiest, author of the 2023 Legislation that made Brom’s release possible, released a statement that read in part:

“No one should have to spend their entire life behind bars for something they were convicted of as a child when they’ve spent decades being rehabilitated.”

Republican Representative and Co-Chair of the Public Safety Committee Paul Novotny released a statement that read in part:

“Let me be absolutely clear: this release is on the Walz Administration and the Democrat majorities in the legislature. Republicans fought against this provision because we believe that victims and public safety must come first—not violent offenders.

We respect the rule of law, but laws that allow a family murderer to walk free after three decades are fundamentally broken. The people of Minnesota deserve better—and I will continue fighting to restore common sense and accountability to our justice system.“

Republican Speaker of the House, Lisa Demuth, released a statement that read in part:

“This is not justice being served, it is an insult to the memory of his victims. Some crimes are so horrific that real accountability—serving his entire sentence—should be the only option. We must prioritize public safety over leniency for violent criminals. The legislature must act to ensure that our laws reflect the seriousness of such unimaginable crimes.”

Conclusion

The legislative changes that made Brom’s supervised release possible, came about during a frenzy of DFL-led public safety legislation in 2023. I summarized this problematic legislation in our Thinking Minnesota magazine found here.

The amendment to sentencing statute made Brom eligible for release, but it didn’t mandate his release. The decision to release Brom lies squarely on the shoulders of the Supervised Release Board, and so will the upcoming decision in January 2026 relevant to additional changes to Brom’s release status.

The 2023 public safety legislation was what I called at the time “offender-centric.” I predict we will continue to see and feel the effects of this legislation for years, until more sensible legislation is adopted.