A man who was convicted of fatally shooting a Minneapolis police officer nearly 40 years ago was released from prison this week.
Issac Brown, who served 37 years behind bars in the 1981 slaying of Officer Richard Miller, was released to a halfway house on Tuesday, according to WCCO-TV.
Miller was just months shy of retirement when he was killed in the line of duty.
Former Minneapolis Police Chief Tony Bouza, Miller's boss at the time he was killed, says that the crime was horrific but supports the cop-killer's release.
"Isaac Brown has paid the price, he has spent 37 years in prison. If he has rehabilitated himself and confronted his crime, and admitted it and acknowledged it, he ought to be released because justice ought to be tempered with mercy," he said. "I'm a great believer in justice, and I’m also a great believer in mercy."
Since Miller was killed, state law has changed and now anyone convicted of killing an officer has no chance at parole.
Brown will be in a halfway house for at least a year and then he'll have another hearing to determine if he will be set free.
