STARKE, FL — Martin Grossman was declared dead at 6:17 p.m. at the Florida state prison in Starke, 15 minutes after the start of his execution by lethal injection.
Martin Grossman Executed in Florida State Prison
STARKE, FL — Martin Grossman was declared dead at 6:17 p.m. at the Florida state prison in Starke, 15 minutes after the start of his execution by lethal injection.
In a final statement, Grossman expressed remorse to the family of Peggy Park, the Florida wildlife officer he beat and shot to death more than 25 years ago.
“I would like to extend my heartfelt remorse to the victim’s family,” Grossman said. “I fully regret everything that happened that night, everything that was done, whether I remember everything or not. I accept responsibility.”
“I would like to say a prayer,” the 45-year-old man added, then, lying on a gurney, hands strapped to arm boards and with needles in both arms, he began reciting a Jewish prayer called the Schma.
It is the most sacred prayer in Judaism and the first prayer that Jewish children learn. Among its verses: “The Lord is our God, God is one.”
Park’s brother, sister and mother were among the 20 witnesses to the execution. They were seated directly in front of Grossman, who was visible through a window.
The Vatican, Jewish leaders as far away as Israel, and thousands of petitioners called for a stop to the execution on several grounds, including questions about whether the slaying was premeditated, Grossman’s diminished IQ and his remorse for the crime.
Grossman’s religious adviser, Rabbi Menachem Katz, was with him in his cell throughout the day.
Grossman took a shower and dressed at 4 p.m. He ordered no special last meal, just food from the prison cantina – a fried chicken sandwich, fruit punch, and banana cookies, said Gretl Plessinger, spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.
“He is calm, compliant and resolved to the fact his execution is going to happen,” Plessinger said before he was walked to the death chamber.
Grossman’s final visit was 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. today with his aunt, Rosal Melton, and two female friends, Sharon Lion and Francine Whitehouse. The first two hours, a visitors window separated them and the last hour was a contact visit.
Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused today to block Grossman’s execution.
He was sentenced to death for murdering Park on Dec. 13, 1984, as she patrolled a wooded area of Pinellas County now known as the Brooker Creek Preserve.
She came across Grossman, then a 19-year-old high school dropout, and a 17-year-old accomplice. They had a stolen gun. Grossman had already been to prison for grand theft and breaking-and-entering. He didn’t want to go back. They beat Park with a flashlight and shot her with her service revolver.
Last-minute efforts to spare Grossman’s life extended to the Vatican, which sent a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist saying “the prisoner has repented and is now a changed person.” The letter was sent in response to a request from Rabbi Shear-Yashuv Cohen, chief Rabbi of Haifa, Israel.
Grossman is the 69th person executed in Florida since the death penalty was reinstated in 1979, and the 25th by lethal injection. He was the fifth inmate executed under Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who has been in office for three years.
Crist signed Grossman’s death warrant Jan. 12. Since that time, his office has received about 49,000 letters, telephone calls or e-mails, according to a spokesman.
soo sad
down with the governor and his future in public life he failed when g-d needed him
gosh i fail g-d too all the time may g-d help me to make right decisions
what i dont understand where was oirechmann when you needed him what good is all those chanukah cookies and mezuzos and all when he is supposed to do what is right and pressured to do so
may religious leaders learn that menorah shammas is nice but he is expected to deliver for the concrete needs of what is right
16
wow… i really don’t know what to think
sad//
sad…. they don’t have worse murderers who murder for fun and rapists to take care of… so they kill a guy who did something when he was a young a stupid teenager… i think its really really sad…
CHANA
AADDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD MOSIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!
Whatever
I think that it’s absolutely ridiculous for the reporter having to mention what he ate that day. Did they have nothing better to report than his chicken sandwich and cookies?
Rochel
BDH
Dave
BDE, for sure. But the guy killed, and this is the punishment! What do we expect? That just because it’s a Jewish criminal a non-Jewish Governor in a non-Jewish state in a non-Jewish country will pardon him? Why should they? There is one law for everyone, people. I’m very disturbed by what I perceive as the egocentricity of the response to the response to the execution. If Chabad is anti capital punishment, come out and say so. But you can’t expect (but you can hope for) exceptions just because it’s personal.
Further, in all this tumult and in all the comments on Jewish blogosphere, where is the sympathy for the family of the victim?? She was killed brutally and here we are ignoring the fact that HER blood calls for justice! What is she, disposable?
How utterly depressing!
MEMBER OF THE CHABAD COMMUNITY
GREAT JOB RABBI KATZ KEEP UP YOUR GOOD WORK. DEALING WITH MARTIN GROSSMAN AND THE ALEPH AUCTION AT THE SAME TIME. WHAT A GREAT GUY YOR ARE.
unbelievable
what is wrong with Jews who say they believe in the ten commandments given to us by H’?Then someone murders another and suddenly you all are outraged by the punishment.You act as if he was innocent when u need to read the facts.What is really tragic is that a Jew decided to take someone’s life who was innocent.You make excuses and cry. Do you berlieve in Gd’s laws or not?People are convicted of fraud and you cry for them when they are found guilty.Yes it is horrible that Jews commit such crimes but Gd expects us to follow his laws especially against other human beings.You need to examine what you really believe in.
Justice is Served
To all those who are saying this is an injustice I just want you all to think about the Parents of the girl this man killed… how they must have felt when they got the news that a man savagley beat and murdered there daughter,Im sad to see a fellow Jew die, but that same part of me knows that this man took an innocent life,just becuase he is Jewish does that change his Actions?
ugh!
Ad mosai?????say ad mosei about those who steal and murder!How about the victims of crime and murder?you think it;s ok to murder because the victim is not jewish?are you insane????G-d did not say the murderer is fine as long as the victim is a goy!!
Disillusioned
And shame on Chabad for believing by kissing up to every elected official you can pull into your Chabad House’s it gets you anything but a photo opt.and a stroke of your ego.
you don’t even care if the politician is righteous or not, just as long as you can have your photo shoot.
What are you doing? Who do you really serve?
ATTENTION ATTENTION ALL JUDGE-S OF HATE
WHEN ONE JUDGES ANOTHER, … HE’S ACTUALLY JUDGING HIMSELF!!!
-ZOHAR, & SIFREI MUSSAR.
EXPLANATION:
BethDin in Heaven may Not judge a human on earth
(bec one may not judge another w/o walking in their shoes! therefore) the heavenly court has YOU yorself be the judge!
HOW
by showing YOU an equivalent case in “another” to follow the same “fare-minded” judgement you past on “another”
for better or worse R”L
you must start learning some pnimiyus hatorah! Tanya 30 & 32 = good start!
JEWISH BAIS DIN
it says about the jewish bais din, that if they killed once in 70 years, they were a harsh bais din!! this guy killed 5 pple in three years! mamosha a rosha!!
Ofer Maimon
Baruch Dayan HaEmet.
BDE
It was far from a clear cut case at any angle. We tried, but Hashem Who controls the US legal system had other plans.
And please do not take out your anger on Charlie Crist who has been a good friend of the Jews and Chabad and is a righteous ben Noach. He had to do what he had to do as the warrant for the execution was a very old one and really beyond his control for many reasons. We cannot expect a nochri and a secular state to judge someone according to Hashem’s law until Moshiach comes, and according to the 7 mitzvos bnei Noiach as understood by many righteous bnei Noach, a legally constituted court under those 7 Mitzvos sentenced someone to death for killing another. Not perfect, but we are in golus and such is the way of the world.
While I did participate in the petitions to save this tortured neshomo, I wondered whether it was the right move for another reason altogether.
While death is a kappore, life for a newly returned Jew in a maximum security prison could have become a fate worse than death (at least I have come to believe that is the case but maybe I saw too many films and read too many novels in my youth :)).
In fact it could well have ended in a death far crueler than lethal injection, at the hands of a prison convert to Islam or any other hate filled beast serving life without parole or on death row and therefore with nothing to lose. Alternately, he could have had to spend most of the rest of his life in solitary confinement to protect him against the likes of the imam’s assistants Baz and Nosair YMS YMS for whom ALS and yenne machle together is but a fraction of what they deserve and is nothing compared to what awaits them when they join their buddies the 9/11 and 11/26 terrorists on the shawarma spit in Heichal Chmelnitzky down there in der erd.
Michoel Yechiel Grossman died with Shma on his lips, and as such he was like Elozor ben Durdoi who achieved olam habo instantly by doing the best tshuva he could do in these awful circumstances.
Michoel Yechiel ben (father?) never had a good day in his life on Earth. Let his neshomo rest in Gan Eden and let the Shma of this tortured soul bring us Moshiach already. I will learn at least 3 masechtos of mishnayois for his neshomo during the shloshim; he certainly merits this and far more for his sincere tshuva.
OY VEY!
If anyone watches the news and sees the parents of the girl and grandparents, it is frightening because they, especially the grandmother, had a positively GLOATING face when she spoke after the execution. She had no sympathy at all! Even if she wanted a death, but such Gloating- was just scary.
Tzivia Tyler
You are forgetting extenuating circumstances-his drugged state, brain dysfunction and panic, rather than premeditation. All we were asking for was the moral and legal right to revisit what wasn’t visited by the courts before.Life sentence IS a punishment.My question is, now that we see and FEEL how flawed the “justice” system is, what will we as observant Jews try to do about it?Will we join together, in the merit of this formerly disturbed,drugged out dropped-out teenager, and try to prevent the death penalty in the USA for the sake of humanity, society as a whole, not just for a fellow Jew?
And how did this messed up youth, and others like him, fall through societies cracks.
BDE
Will we join together, in the merit of this formerly disturbed,drugged out dropped-out teenager, and try to prevent the death penalty in the USA for the sake of humanity, society as a whole, not just for a fellow Jew?
———–
NO! We will be a true light unto the nations by making sure that the Noachide courts administer true justice and that sometimes does include the death penalty. Baz and Nosair YMS YMS have no right to live. They committed premeditated murder and were fueled by alien beliefs, a belief in a perversion of Hashem that is really Moloch and not even their Allah.
Had Nosair YMS been erased as an enemy terrorist should have been there may never have been a 9-11.
Neither did Timothy McVeigh have any right to remain alive on the taxpayer’s dime, and I am very proud that at the moment he was erased from society I literally opened a bottle of champagne and played an mp3 of “Another One Bites the Dust” in my place of business. I would have volunteered to dispatch McVeigh myself but the manner in which I would have done it would have been unconstitutional even in Iran.
However, by doing what we did, we show that we approve of the death penalty only as it should be carried out according to the 7 Mitzvos. We also showed a fellow Yid who in the past would have been rejected as dirt that we care, and therefore, he died with Shema on his lips, doing the only tshuva possible in his circumstances.
We are not bleeding heart liberals. 80-90% of death row cases belong there and their executions need to be speeded up so that when a real appeal to conscience has to be taken, people know the difference.
BDE
And how did this messed up youth, and others like him, fall through societies cracks.
—
Now THIS is the lesson we need to learn from this tragedy. Where I live, one of the Chabad moisdos runs a program to get kids off the streets and in some cases into a properly run children’s home. I am in a developing country, but anyone who thinks that there are not kids who are as much at risk in the “first” world including in big Jewish population centers is not fully informed. There are sadly a few future Michoel Yechiel ben Avrahams out there, and we need to seek them out before things get out of hand.
And the worst part is that some kids at great risk come from perfectly good homes, or good homes that are marred by sudden tragedy. Yes, this includes frum homes, including some in Crown Heights, Montreal, LA, London, Paris, Kfar Chabad and Y-m etc etc.
We need to actively seek them out and not wait for them to run to us when they are at their worst hour. It is a hard task, and one that needs to be handled by experts and pros who have real mesirus nefesh, but it is a task that must be handled and fast.
Baruch Dayan Emes
that big football player OJ Simpson murdered his xwife and boyfriend and got away scot free.
Rabbi katz is amazing
so sad!!
rabbi menachem katz is amazing!!!!
he reallly went all out to try to save him!!
yasher koach mendy!
Tzivia Tyler
Dear BDE
I think murderers should be off the street and imprisoned for the rest of their lives. My (perhaps scant) research shows that the death penalty doesn’t prevent people from murdering any more than life imprisonment does.The old story of pickpockets in old England picking the pockets of people watching the hanging of a pickpocket. There is sometimes error,
victims of the legal system and as with Michoel Yechiel.olov hasholom real brain dysfuction that wasn’t adequately addressed in trials.Terrorists probably should be dealt with according to military law.Chas v’shalom, don’t think I’m comparing you to the Nazi’s yemach shamom (spelling?), but it saddens me to think that to save society our “dime” we should expedititiously get rid of the murderers(as in the Jewish solution) through state murder which could possibly be in error. I’d like to think that I have a Jewish heart, not a bleeding one.
save him?????
There is something seriously wrong with some of your comments.Obviously you could care less about the INNOCENT victim who was tortured and murdered!!!Your Jewish hearts are very misguided and almost a chilul Hashem.Yes I mean it.Obviously losing a family member in such a cruel way MEANS NOTHING TO YOU and may it never mean anything to you-CV’.
Me
what happened to the accomplice??
Clear thinker....
The issue is NOT Mr. Grossman…. the issue is the death penalty!
If you agree with the death penalty you will agree that Mr. Grossman fitted that profile.
Here is an email message from the Florida Governor.
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.
BDE
A Jewish heart wants justice via halacha. Just as we can’t ally ourselves with the Catholic based anti-abortion movement because it wishes to ban abortions that are halachically acceptable, so too can we not ally ourselves with the anti death penalty movement because MOST executions are halachically permissible according to the 7 Mitzvos. No one executes pickpockets anymore, and no one needs to pay for a Bundy or a Mc Veigh to have a home and three aquare meals a day when many people are in danger of losing their homes. We also don’t fall for the appeals of Tookie Wilson of not very blessed memory who was a gangster, or Mumia Abu Jamal, a lowlife with a chip on his shoulder.
So, we look at each case and when there is reason to protest, we do. And when they erase the next Muslim terrorist, I’ll be enjoying that champagne with Another One Bites the Dust blaring over my speakers again, just as the Jews did when Ahmadinejad the First, I mean Homon, was hanged a couple of thousand years ago next Sunday.
As for those who accuse us of not caring about Grossman’s victim, no one wanted to set him free. We were asking that he be given the opportunity to further his tshuva and to be able to live a Jewish life not as a free man, but throughout what would have been his entire life in a maximum security prison.
COMPLETELY BLOWN AWAY!!!
To all of you who were pro the murder of Martin Grossman A”H:
I still don’t get how killing one person brings backthe life of another…The Parks fam don’t have their daughter/sister back. How do you/they see ‘justice’?
The State of Florida has executed 69 people in 31 years! How would you feel if this was your son? Would you want him executed? Would you want for all his potential future generations to be obliterated? Who are we to play G-d?
Tzivia Tyler
Dear BDE,
The pickpocket example has nothing to do with the specific crime (eg. picking pockets)It comes to show that the argument for the death penalty being used as a deterrent to further crimes doesn’t work, if watching the death penalty doesn’t stop another ,in this case pickpocket from doing what the one hanging by the neck did.MOST executions being rightfully carried out within the scope of the Noachide mitzvahs isn’t good enough for those who may be among the few for whom legal errors were made (or their families) or those who are against capital punishment and are therefore willing to pay($)for life imprisonment for murderers.Hash-m will take care of those brutes you have mentioned. I for one will save my bottle of champagne for when Moshiach comes.
This has been an interesting even if often upsetting blog site for me. Personally, I don’t see any value to my spending any more time and energy on it which I need for other things. It was good to meet you-all. May we all be blessed with health and a peaceful heart in order to serve Hash-m and our fellow man.
Kol Tov,
Tzivia
what is wrong with you
Not too long ago The sniper from D>C was executed.You know why?Because he snuffed out the lives of innocent human beings and the most revolting thing I saw was his two attorneys crying and saying he should not have gotten the death penalty!That was the real salt on the wounds to those who lost parents and family members!!I see the same reaction here and am just as disgusted.Don’t you realize that tshuva helps when you meet your Maker but it doesn’t absolve you from the heinous crime you committed.Save your tears and energy for something worthy.NOT A MURDERER!
The Story
Wildlife Officer Margaret E. (Peggy) Park
Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission
Florida
End of Watch: Thursday, December 13, 1984
Biographical Info
Age: 26
Tour of Duty: 2 years
Badge Number: Not available
Incident Details
Cause of Death: Gunfire
Date of Incident: Thursday, December 13, 1984
Weapon Used: Officer’s handgun
Suspect Info: Executed in 2010
Wildlife Officer Margaret Park was shot and killed with her own service weapon when seizing an illegal weapon from a suspect on Keystone Road in Pinellas County. Officer Park had just finished citing a poacher when she heard gunshots coming from an undeveloped subdivision. Officer Park located a pair of men and located a handgun in their van. One of the suspects asked her not to arrest him because he was on probation for grand theft and breaking and entering.
As Officer Park reached into her truck to radio dispatch the suspect grabbed her flashlight and started hitting her on the head. Officer Park was able to call for help on the radio and fired a single shot from her weapon, grazing the second suspect, who then held her down. The first suspect then gained control of her service weapon and shot her in the back of the head as the second suspect held her down. The two fled the scene but were arrested a short time later.
When caught, the first suspect was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. His co-defendant, a juvenile, was convicted of third degree murder and sentenced to seven years in prison but served only two years and ten months before being released. The shooter was executed on February 16, 2010.
Officer Park had served with the agency for 2 years. She was survived by her parents.
Milhouse
Tzivia, there is clear evidence that the death penalty does work as a deterrent. But even if it didn’t it wouldn’t matter, because that is not its purpose. The purpose of capital punishment is JUSTICE. “The earth cannot be forgiven for the blood that was spilled on it, except by the blood of the spiller.” Every unavenged murder is an injustice that must be corrected. “Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.”
The ONLY reason we had to oppose this particular execution is because the Torah says that in these circumstances it is inappropriate. That isn’t something we could explain to the governor, so we came up with other reasons, but we must take care not to fool ourselves with our own rhetoric.
Milhouse
Those who think it shouldn’t make any difference that Grossman was one of us need to learn some more Torah. It definitely DOES make a difference. The havdoloh bein yisroel lo’amim is fundamental. All people are NOT created equal, and there is very much a double standard.
accomplice is living the life
the accomplice only got 4 years!!
and they kill him. Baruch dayan haemes
awful
Do you not live in the U.S?What makes you think they are supposed to go by Halocho? You all there?You kill, you get the punishment that was tried in court. If he was so repentent then maybe he should have thought “I took someone’s life and so deserve the same”….but noooo, he doesn’t want to end his life bec his own is a different story.For this he had a high enough I.Q.?But to take a young girl’s life he was drugged and not smart enough…..ohhhhh what great explanations. DISGUSTING.
Milhouse
To awful: The whole world is Hashem’s, and is supposed to go by halocho. The governor may not know this, but WE DO. There is no such thing as “this is the USA, so halocho doesn’t apply”. As the Frierdiker Rebbe said, America is nisht andersh.
understand
to the goyish judge presiding over the case, it doesnt matter that the guy is jewish