12:10PM EST: The St. Petersberg Times reports: The Vatican is calling for mercy for a man scheduled to be executed Tuesday evening for killing a young Florida wildlife officer 25 years ago.
But even the pope doesn’t argue that Martin Edward Grossman is innocent.
Grossman, 45, who shot and killed Margaret “Peggy” Park, 26, 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 cream and peanut butter cookies, canned fruit punch and a chicken sandwich he bought himself from the inmate canteen, according to the Department of Corrections.
His last visitors will be his aunt and two friends.
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 a bank robbery on Oct. 19, 1982. He shot and killed Officer Stephen Taylor and wounded Officer Larry Bailly as they tried to arrest Hill’s accomplice.
NOTE FROM THE COMMITTEE TO SAVE MARTIN GROSSMAN:
At this moment of ne’ilas she’arim, let us continue to let the Governor know how strongly we feel about this matter.
Please, even if you have already contacted his office, call him today 850-488-5603 to respectfully request that Martin Grossman’s life be spared.
(Note: This is a different number than the one we circulated last week; we are told that the other number, 850-488-7146, may not be operative at this time.)
Please email the governor
[email protected]
Sample letter below
Governor Crist.
My family and I respectfully request that you grant Martin Grossman a 60-Day Stay, in order for a Clemency Petition to be prepared.
You are a humanitarian and have been an excellent leader and have deftly handled difficult issues. We hope you do the right thing in Mr. Grossman’s case.
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
Please help by cotacting the governor and other officials, also by filling out the petition:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-martin-grossman
The following was sent to YWN by the Chofetz Chaim Heritage Foundation:
Please join us today for an Urgent Tehilim On a Teleconference call For Michoel Yechiel ben Miriam Sorah, Martin Grossman (A bal Teshuva who puts on tefilin and davens 3 times a day) Scheduled to be executed R”L today at 6PM.
Call the Chazak Inspiration Line at 718-258-2008
Press 9 and then 9 to enter the conference call
At 5PM.
Respectfully yours,
Who will live….
Save Martin’s life
(Source: http://www.tampabay.com/)
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19 Responses
when you call be precise , because the sooner you get off the phone , the sooner someone else can call and ask for a postponement of todays death sentence.
The Catholic Church has been consistently opposed to capital punishment in modern times – modern meaning the last few decades (before that when they were often the established church, they didn’t seem to object).
Hey, would the pope have said this if it would have been a non-Jew, akuperma?
Please call and send letters if this helps I
just sent this:
Dear honored decision committee in regards to GROSSMANS death,
As I write this letter to you THERE IS LESS THAN 5 HOURS TO GROSSMAN’S LIFE!. I’m deeply agonized that there are no words that can be utterly expressed to describe this horrific situation. I’m really sad with tears in my eye; it’s a great tragedy to me and thousands of others. There are over 30,000 petitions against giving him the death sentence .After reading his previous history and about the circumstances regarding the crime; I strongly feel he doesn’t deserve the death penalty. JUST THE INTIMIDATION AND FEAR OF KNOWING THAT HE’S DESTINED TO DIE IN A FEW HOURS IS ENOUGH OF A PUNISHMENT. Imagine knowing you have a few hours to live! How would you feel? MY HEART GOES OUT TO HIM. Isn’t it obvious when so many people are against it, including the THE POPE, ELIE WEISEL,CHEIF RABBI OF ISRAEL AND THOSANDS OF OTHERS ….maybe it is unjust and cruel to give him the death sentence , it should be considered thoroughly..
Again please note that he clearly can’t be blamed for his actions; considering that he went through a traumatizing childhood. He was diagnosed with many physiological illnesses and on top of that he was under the influence of heavy drugs and alcohol. Additionally he was abandoned by his parents, his father was sick since he was born and died when he was only 15. He clearly doesn’t deserve it! His psychology evaluation reports state that he had severe brain damage from all the drugs that he took. I’m BEGGING you to please grant him clemency. Those who evaluated him can’t understand, considering his psychological state how he can be sentenced to death. You are sentencing someone who committed a crime decades ago, HE IS NOT THE SAME PERSON !
Our country was founded on the principles of democracy and fair justice. Giving him the death sentence would violate this…
Sincerely,
__________
Can someone PLEASE post all the e mail address of the board e.t.c. so everyone can just past it in there e mail (BCC) and sent it out to all that can help save Martins life
the correct link for the medical report is http://www.chabadbeaches.com/templates/page_cdo/aid/1125195
so it Should be quick & Easy to e mail all the people involved
This is a very difficult day and I am davening that that gezeira is lifted. We have already called and emailed the governor, should we be do so again?? Honestly, I don’t know what is appropriate at this point… Anyone with knowledge about this, please advise.
Martin as the hours count down towards 6:02 PM use your time to think of what you did and what type of chillul hashem you caused.
Spend the time saying vidduy and make express regrets to the Park family. Think of the terror she felt when you bashed her with a flashlight and then broke her finger and shot her with her own gun. Remember the bain adom ladom you have to ask forgiveness. May you have a lechtigin gan eden and klal yisroel should know no more tzar
I hope this is NOT true. I just got a text from a friend in FL who is closely monitoring the case that there may have been an unfavorable decision. WE MUST BURN UP THE PHONE LINES AND KEEP CALLING!!!!
This the automatic reply from the clemency board
——- Original Message ——-
From : Robert Tornillo[mailto:[email protected]]
Sent : 2/16/2010 1:40:49 PM
To :
Cc :
Subject : FW: Martin Grossman
Thank you for your email concerning Florida death row inmate Martin Grossman. Please know that the Governor of Florida is the only executive officer of the state who has the authority to stay an execution. Pursuant to the Rules of Executive Clemency, the Governor also has the sole discretion for placing this case on a clemency board agenda.
And the number to call is 850-488-5603 , say that you deeply feel that Grossman deserves a 60-Day Stay. Keep trying even if its busy! I got through.
I haven’t called, written, or emailed and have no intention of doing so. Let me explain why.
I have read the accounts of what happened numerous times. I come away with the same thing each time. Namely, a drugged-up Martin Grossman beat the daylights out of police officer and then shot her, execution style, with her own gun.
This was a heinous crime, one deserving of the death penaly under Florida Law. I see no basis for clemency. Even the Beis Din b’zman the gemora had the death penaly available to it.
Last time I checked, killing was assur d’oraysa. I feel bad for Grossman, but see no reason the Governor should grant clemency, nor any reason why the Jewish Community is pulling out all the stops to beg for it.
It looks like the only hope is to daven for Michoel Yechiel ben Miriam Sorah.
My heart goes out to the poor girl that was doing her job and was shot in the back of the head by this cold blooded killer. Stop with the love for this guy. Of curse we don’t want him dead he is a Yid, but lets not answer up what he did, HE SHOT SOMEONE IN THE HEAD!!! It makes me sick when people are giving reasons for it, bad up bringing, had no father, it wasn’t premeditated, yes they are terrible things and we shouldn’t know of such things but there are many people in the same situation that don’t become cold blooded killers.
#9 Commom Daas.
Martin needs zechusim now. Please dont be mekatreg on him during his plight.
I saw a good pettion on care2.
Dear Governer
Once executed the damage is irreversible. And his blood will lay on the conscience of the people of USA. All we are asking for is a delay of the execution,
Please consider the fact that
The Petitioners consist of:
1) The Pope. (Representing ONE BILLION Roman Catholics Worldwide)
2) Amnesty International (2.2 MILLION members, in more than 80 countries)
3) The chief Rabbi of Israel. (Representing over 1.2 MILLION of Israeli Jews)
4) Hundreds of Respectable organizations in the USA and Abroad.
5) A List of minimum 31,500 online petitioners (many more don’t have web access)
6) All Jewish Orthodox Organizations (Rep. more than 2 million worldwide).
TOTAL: 1,005,431,500
ADVOCATE DELAY OF EXECUTION
No party will be upset if he is executed in 60 days.
Countless People and Human Rights Organizations will be very upset if Martin is not given more time.
אפילו חרה חדה מונחת על צווארו אל תתיאש מן הישועה
Rabbosai DAVVEN!
To #13 and #15:
Nobody is asking them to let him free. Just to delay the execution by 60 days to give more time to prepare a clemency case.
Governor’s reply……
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.