Republican leader shreds Tim Walz over Minnesota law that freed axe murderer

EXCLUSIVE: The highest-ranking Minnesotan in Congress is blasting Gov. Tim Walz after a man who murdered his family as a teenager was released from prison.

“Once again, Tim Walz proves why he is one of the worst governors in the country,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital.

“Not only do his soft-on-crime policies rob victims of the justice they deserve, but they also put the safety of every Minnesotan at risk. Being a self-proclaimed knucklehead doesn’t excuse the chaos he has caused with his dangerous, far-left agenda.”

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Emmer, as the GOP whip, is the No. 3 House Republican leader.

He’s joining other Republicans from his state in criticizing the release of David Brom, a man who was convicted of killing his parents and two younger siblings with an axe in 1988. Brom was 16 years old at the time.

“Allowing murderers like David Brom back onto our streets is a slap in the face to these victims and their families, undermines the rule of law, diminishes the public’s trust in our judicial system, and jeopardizes the safety of our communities,” Emmer said.

Brom was granted supervised work release after Minnesota passed a new law in 2023 that limited life-long prison sentences for juvenile offenders. 

It began as a bill in the state legislature before being signed into law by Walz, thereby applying both to future offenders and retroactively to people like Brom.

Emmer criticized Walz and the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party’s policies as “soft-on-crime” and argued such law changes would “have serious consequences.”

“They’re forcing law-abiding Minnesotans to pay the price,” Emmer said.

Brom served 37 years behind bars after being convicted on four charges of first-degree murder, with a jury rejecting his plea of not guilty due to mental illness. He was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences and one concurrent life sentence. 

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Without the new law, Brom would have been eligible for parole in 2037, after serving 52 years in prison.

The law does not grant automatic release to juvenile offenders, but rather gives them the right to appear before a Supervised Release Board after serving a minimum of 15 years – but in some cases could be longer, depending on the nature of the crime – to present their arguments for early release.

Brom was granted supervised release and was let out of prison early last week.

Fox News Digital reached out to Walz’s office for comment but did not immediately hear back.