Statement from Sheriff Kevin Torgerson on the Pending Release of David F. Brom

Recently it has come to light that David F. Brom, convicted for the murder of his family on February 18th, 1988, is about to be released. For the last thirty-seven years I have had numerous reminders of the evening when I was sent to a secluded residential area north of the city of Rochester to check the welfare of Bernard Brom due to concerns from the school that his son David attended, as they had heard rumors during the school day that David may have harmed his father. 

When Mr. Brom was convicted, Judge Ancy Morse sentenced him to three consecutive life terms, which means he serves 17.5 years each. The difficult thing for many in the community, as well as those of us that worked the case was that Judge Morse made his fourteen-year-old sister Diane’s file a concurrent sentence to little 10-year-old brother Ricky’s. There were a lot of questions at the time why the judge had done that. Questions never answered were surrounded by the idea that Diane’s life was somehow worth less than her younger brother’s. Some argued that it was because Mr. Brom was sixteen at the time and the judge gave him some leniency due to him being a juvenile. 

Fast forward to the present time. Our legislature changed the law to where juvenile offenders of serious crimes in our state now do not have to serve their entire sentence(s) before they can be eligible for parole and made it effective immediately including for those previously/currently incarcerated by our state. Thus, making Mr. Brom eligible. 

Mr. Brom, as we are now told, has faced a parole board and they have determined he is now eligible to move from a medium-security prison and step down to a halfway house and eventually finish the remainder of his sentence on parole in public. 

So, with that, Mr. Brom is benefiting from leniency twice for mutilating four people: his family members, including his two younger siblings.  Diane and little Ricky could be parents and very productive members of our society but were never given the chance due to Mr. Brom’s selfish, immature, sixteen-year-old actions.    

To Mr. Brom’s credit and my understanding, he has done remarkably in the various prison settings and has reached an understanding of the seriousness of his crimes. Mr. Brom has apologized to everyone involved and is remorseful for his actions. I cannot stop what is already in motion, and I, we as the public, must trust the parole board’s decision and must hope Mr. Brom is ready for this transition in his life. I’m very pleased to hear that but it is still hard for me to accept and forget the sights and smells of what I saw that Thursday evening in 1988.