(NationalUSNews.com) — A man running for a city council position in Palm Bay, Florida, has announced that he intends to increase funding for the city’s police if he wins the council seat.
The man in question is Michael Bruyette, a former felon who served 30 years behind bars for killing a man in 1985. Prison officials released Bruyette in 2016 due to his long history of good behavior while serving his prison sentence and his admission of guilt during the initial 1985 case. Bruyette has said he regrets his actions and is rehabilitated from his felonious behavior.
Bruyette shared his plan to increase the Palm Bay police department’s funding upon his election with Fox News and admitted to the 1985 murder while expressing his guilt. Bruyette’s criminal record features extensive detail about the 1985 killing, which police claim occurred after Bruyette spoke with Lisa Grimshaw, one of his friends, about killing her ex-husband. Grimshaw asked Bruyette and two additional individuals to help her kill her allegedly abusive ex-husband and offered to pay them a portion of her ex-husband’s life insurance policy. Bruyette, then 19 years old, agreed and helped the other two individuals kill Grimshaw’s ex-husband with a baseball bat.
While Bruyette confessed to killing Grimshaw’s ex-husband, once investigators asked him about the crime, he claimed that he didn’t mean to kill the man. Bruyette instead wanted to wound Grimshaw’s ex-husband as an act of revenge for abusing Grimshaw. Grimshaw’s defense attorney cited the controversial “battered wife syndrome” in her defense of Grimshaw but failed to prevent Bruyette’s or Grimshaw’s conviction. Bruyette then served his prison sentence without incident and has repeatedly expressed regret for the 1985 revenge killing.
Upon his release, Bruyette started working for the Palm Bay utilities department, an experience that he cited as helping him understand how to serve the city better. Bruyette has also acknowledged his criminal record in multiple media interviews, claiming that he understands why people focus on his past and doesn’t intend to hide anything from voters. According to the former felon, he’s an “open book” about his prior murder conviction.
The primary focus of Bruyette’s campaign seems to be the growing crime rate within Palm Bay, which the former felon claims has led the city to ruin. Bruyette plans to allocate more funding to the city’s police department and provide services for children more likely to commit crimes. Despite Bruyette’s prior conviction for murder, Palm Bay residents support the former felon, which could result in him winning the city council election.
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