15 Responses

1. I already posted this earlier, but please post it again due to the urgency of the matter. Anyone is welcome to use this as a sample e-mail to send to Florida’s Governor, with or without modifications.

   Dear Governor Crist,

   Although I am very much in favor of the death penalty, there are numerous mitigating factors in the Martin Grossman case that should be considered very carefully before this irreversible step is taken. Among them: Martin Grossman did not commit premeditated murder. Rather, his tragic killing of Margaret Park was unplanned, impulsive, and the product of a serious mental illness that can now likely be proven by medical technology that was unavailable at the time of his sentencing.

   Do these mitigating factors excuse his crime? Not at all. Do they mean that the ultimate punishment is inappropriate in this case? Very possibly.

   Professor Alan Dershowitz, who I often disagree with, has noted that “[e]ven those who strongly support capital punishment would limit it to recidivists or people who commit the most heinous of crimes. Martin Grossman fits neither of those categories.” One need not agree with Professor Dershowitz’s liberal views on the death penalty, which I don’t, to realize that he is right in this case that the ultimate punishment does not fit the crime or, perhaps more accurately, Mr. Grossman’s state of mind at the time he committed the crime.

   If there was ever a case where a 60-day stay of execution was appropriate, this is it. Please allow Mr. Grossman’s supporters to gather the necessary evidence and present his case for clemency. No one should be rushed to execution while doubts remain unresolved.

   Sincerely,

   *******

2. Pls update

3. I too emailed; my letter was also different from the sample. I can’t get through on the phone.

   May G-d work His miracle here.

4. danielb43-
   you are very much in favor of the death penalty?!

5. According to the prosecution, Martin Grossman allegedly related details of the shooting to a jail mate, Charles Brewer. However, in 1990, Charles Brewer signed an affidavit retracting his trial testimony against Grossman. He said that he assisted the authorities because he believed they would help him with his own case. He said that the authorities had told him to continue talking to Grossman and had fed him questions to ask. Among other things, Brewer had testified that Grossman had told him that he had shot Margaret Park because he did not want to be arrested by a woman. In his affidavit, he said that the prosecutors emphasized to him “the female officer thing” when they were preparing him to testify. During the trial, the prosecution had repeatedly emphasized the suggestion that gender had been part of the motive for the killing. In his affidavit, Charles Brewer said that “I cannot say Martin told me that” and “Martin never said he shot her.” On 14 January 2010, the Florida Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of another inmate, Paul Johnson, after finding that the state had induced him “to make incriminating statements to a jailhouse informant.” Is this justice?

6. IN REFERENCE TO THIS COMMENT LEFT:

   1.When you don’t understand anything about the parsha of children of dysfunctional homes, the pain they go through and the mistakes they make, please, please just stop with the chilul Hashem wishing him death.

   I can tell you first hand, as a jewish woman who when growing up actually spent time in a school for children who came from dysfunctional and abused home lives..I am outraged that people can be so ignorant and heartless as to not even try understanding how an abusive upbringing whether mental or physical can have a serious impact on a human beings life!
   I first hand know the impact it had on my life not only as a teenager but as an adult.
   I never commited a crime, however, I know there is a fine line that every human being in this world walks…take any child and put them in a dysfunctional and potentily abusive home and I guarantee you that a percentage of these children will wind up commiting crimes!
   So before anyone makes ridiculous comments such as all murderers had a bad upbringing.stop and think with your heart! And by all means at least try using some common sense.

7. #4,

   Yes, I am absolutely in favor of the death penalty. Nor will I go out on a limb just because the condemned person is Jewish. In 2004, Maryland executed a Jewish man who had committed a number of violent and premeditated murders. Although some Jewish individuals and groups petitioned the governor to spare the murderer’s life, I did not, as I felt that he really deserved to die, many times over.

   This case is different. Due to the number of mitigating factors, the death penalty is not normally sought, let alone carried out, in this type of case.

   Am I positive that all of the alleged mitigating factors are true? No, but in considering whether to grant a 60-day stay, the Governor would need to assume the truth of all plausible arguments. Mr. Grossman’s defense team would then have 60 days to make their case.

8. WE ONLY HAVE A FEW HOURS!… Go to http://WWW.SAVEMARTINGROSSMAN.COM , where you can see all the facts. Additionally there is a recent psychology evaluation report that states he had severe brain damage from all the drugs that he took. Martin Grossman also wrote a letter that can be seen on the website or by going to this link: http://www.chabadbeaches.com/templates/page_cdo/aid/1125119
   I highly urge everyone to read it!

   The poor man went through a hard life of neglection and full of misery. He grew up all by himself with no siblings and taking care of his sick father, his father passed away at a young age. His father, grandfather and relatives all passed away during the same short time period leading to his depression. He had no choice but to turn to drugs and alcohol as a means to shed some light in his life.

   He clearly can’t be blamed for his actions!

   Please help by cotacting the governor and other officials, also by filling out the petition:

   http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-martin-grossman

9. STARKE — The Vatican is calling for mercy for a man scheduled to be executed today for killing a young Florida wildlife officer 25 years ago.

   But even the Pope doesn’t argue that Martin Edward Grossman is innocent.

   Grossman, who shot and killed Margaret “Peggy” Park on Dec. 13, 1984, “has repented and is now a changed person, having become a man of faith,” wrote Archbishop Fernando Filoni on behalf of Pope Benedict XVI. He asked for “whatever steps may be possible to save the life of Mr. Grossman.”

   Filoni wrote the letter at the behest of the chief rabbi of Israel, Shear-Yashuv Cohen.

   Grossman’s lawyers plan to make a last-minute appeal the U.S. Supreme Court today to stay the execution. Grossman, meanwhile, has declined the traditional last meal. Instead, he will have banana and peanut butter cookies and tea he bought from the inmate canteen, according to the Department of Corrections.

   Activists against the death penalty took up Grossman’s case, including several Jewish organizations that pleaded for clemency, asking Gov. Charlie Crist to commute his sentence to life in prison.

   Amnesty International said it had “serious questions about the quality of his legal representation and compelling mental health evidence that was never presented to a jury.”

   More than 26,000 people signed an online petition asking that Grossman’s life be spared. Nobel prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel also weighed in on his behalf.

   Rabbis from groups including the Rabbinical Council of America, the Aleph Institute and the National Council of Young Israel wrote to Crist on Feb. 9 asking him to spare Grossman’s life because he “has shown profound remorse and regret” for the officer’s murder.

   “He acted under the influence of drugs and alcohol. His fatal shooting of Ms. Parks was not an act of premeditation but of panic,” the letter said. “He has transformed himself from a deeply troubled teenager into a gentle and simple man, a proud practitioner of his faith and a humble servant of God.”

   A spokesman for the governor said that by Friday night the office had received more than 9,443 e-mails and more than 7,849 phone calls about the Grossman case.

   “Signing a death warrant is a responsibility that Governor Crist takes very seriously,” spokesman Sterling Ivey wrote in an e-mail to the St. Petersburg Times, “and the warrant for Martin Grossman was signed after a careful review …”

   Grossman would be the first inmate Florida has put to death for killing a law enforcement officer since the September 2006 execution of Clarence Hill. The Alabama man was executed at the age of 48 for ambushing two Pensacola police officers after an Oct. 19, 1982 bank robbery. He shot and killed Officer Stephen Taylor and wounded Officer Larry Bailly as they tried to arrest Hill’s accomplice.

   Grossman, 45 of Pasco County, was 19 when he killed Park as she tried to arrest him and 17-year-old Thayne Nathan Taylor in what is now the Brooker Creek Preserve in Tarpon Springs.

   Grossman has spent the latter half of his life in prison for the murder. He is scheduled to die at 6 p.m., the first Florida execution of 2010 and the 69th since the death penalty was restored in 1976.

   Park, a Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission officer, found a stolen Luger pistol in the van Grossman and Taylor were in and tried to report it.

   But Grossman, fearing the offense would violate his probation and land him back in prison, attacked the officer with her own flashlight as she used her radio.

   “I’m hit,” Park yelled over the radio.

   Grossman called for Taylor to help him subdue the officer. Park managed to draw her .357 magnum and fire off a wild shot inside her patrol vehicle. Then she kicked Taylor in the groin.

   But the 6-foot-4, 225-pound Grossman overpowered the 5-foot-5, 115-pound officer. He broke her fingers wrenching the .357 away from Park and shot her in the back of the head.

   The two men escaped but were arrested 11 days later. Grossman was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death a year to the day of the murder. Taylor was convicted of third-degree murder and served two years of his seven-year sentence.

   Park grew up in Columbus, Ohio, and quickly developed an affinity for the outdoors. She camped with park rangers in Ontario and especially enjoyed the sounds of wolves howling.

   She graduated from Ohio State University and came to Florida to become a wildlife officer. She quickly took to the law enforcement side of her new post, though it often required her to patrol alone.

   “I decided when I was 12 that I wanted to be a park ranger,” she told the St. Petersburg Times in an interview before her death. “It will never be a job.”

   After her service, Park’s ashes were scattered by helicopter over the eagles’ nests she helped care for as a wildlife officer.

   In 2007, a stone marker was placed in John Chesnut Park to honor “an officer fallen in the cause of conservation.”

   Park’s brother, sister and mother, Peggy, 79, planned to attend the execution. The mother travelled from Ohio despite a cardiologist’s order not to travel.

10. The number to the governor actually works. I just spoke to his secretary. She Said she will pass it on to the governor. Call 850 488 5603. Did anyone try it?

11. To Aryeh (10) I’ve been trying this number every few minutes for about an hour. It’s been busy.

12. Pease call this number 1-850-414-3990
    hold for like 2-3 min then got through
    to the office of the attorney general
    PLEASE CALL!!!

13. Attention Florida Parole Commission;

    Chairman Frederick B. Dunphy, Vice Chairman Tena

    Pate, and Commissioner Monica David.

    To Whom It May Concern:

    I respectfully and sincerely urge you to grant a

    clemency to Martin Grossman.

    Our entire community representing astounding

    numbers in the state of Florida, as well as

    across the entire country, stand behind this

    request.

    Sincerely,

14. Since my comments keep getting deleted it is obvious that this case is not about Halacha but about emotions.

15. I emailed Charlie Crist yesterday. I received this by email, just a few moments ago. I’m guessing he won’t be granting any stays.

    Thank you for contacting me and sharing your concerns about the execution of Martin Grossman.

    On December 13, 1984, Mr. Grossman violated the terms of his probation by leaving Pasco County and having a stolen firearm in his possession. In a routine stop, Florida Fish and Wildlife Officer Margaret Park found the weapon. When she reached for the radio in her patrol car to report him, Mr. Grossman attacked her with her own large flashlight, beating her over the head and shoulders 20 to 30 times. When Officer Park tried to fight back, Mr. Grossman took her .357 Magnum revolver and shot her in the back of the head, killing her.

    Mr. Grossman took several carefully planned steps to cover up this horrible crime. The weapon was buried, and Mr. Grossman attempted to burn his clothes and shoes, which were later disposed of in a nearby lake. The following day, Mr. Grossman thoroughly cleaned the van and changed its tires to mislead law enforcement.

    Officer Park’s autopsy revealed lacerations on top of her head, hemorrhaging inside the scalp and extensive fracturing of the skull. All of these injuries resulted from Mr. Grossman’s attack. The facts of this crime clearly meet the definition of heinous, atrocious and cruel, and his actions afterward demonstrate his well-reasoned attempts to cover it up.

    The courts have fully reviewed Mr. Grossman’s legal claims, and his conviction and sentence have been affirmed by both the Florida Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court. Based on the facts and exhaustion of legal proceedings, and in accordance with Florida law, I signed his death warrant on January 12, 2010.

    Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.