Saturday, February 13, 2010
The letter from Elie Wiesel to spare the life of Martin Grossman
The letter from Elie Wiesel to spare the life of Martin Grossman
Friday, February 12, 2010
Urgent Update From The Committee To Save Martin Grossman’s Life
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/48201/Urgent+Update+From+The+Committee+To+Save+Martin+Grossmans+Life.html
Urgent Update From The Committee To Save Martin Grossman’s Life
February 12, 2010 Friday 3:00
PM EST: BREAKING NEWS – US Supreme Court denies the stay for Martin Grossman- But….
Sources inside the Governors mansion have revealed that the intense pressure and media campaign to grant Martin Grossman a sixty- day stay of execution have caught the eye of the current Governor and those that wish to succeed him.
Because of YOUR calls, emails and faxes the clemency issue of Martin Grossman has been brought to the very top of the Governors list. The fight to save martin continues with renewed hope.
New verified information just received indicates that members of the Florida Clemency board must now be contacted with the full force of our campaign.
The Clemency Board comprises of four people (one of them the Governor). The other three will need to sign off on anything that Mr. Crist can or would want to do, and believe it or not two of them are running for Governor!
We are pleading with all who are concerned about the life of Martin Grossman to contact ALL of the following individuals immediately.
Sources sympathetic to our cause from inside the Statehouse are urging the immediate outreach to the following individuals.
*Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum Republican candidate for Governor
(Now of the MOST important people to contact)
Main office Switchboard: 850-414-3300 850-414-3300
Florida Toll Free: 1-866-966-7226 1-866-966-7226
Fax Numbers
Capital Appeals – Tallahassee Office 850-487-0997 850-487-0997
Civil Appeals Section – Tallahassee Office 850-488-4872 850-488-4872
ADA Coordinator – Tallahassee Office 850-488-5106 850-488-5106
Administrative Law – Tallahassee Office: 850-922-6425 850-922-6425
Bill McCollum Campaign HQ:
Phone: (850) 241-1885 (850) 241-1885
info@BillMcCollum.com
*Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink. Democratic candidate for Governor
Phone: 850-413-3100 850-413-3100
Fax: 850-413-4993
Email cfo@dfs.state.fl.us
Campaign HQ:
813-374-9175 813-374-9175
Info@AlexSinkFlorida
*Charles Branson – Commissioner of Agriculture
Phone: (850) 488 – 3022 (850) 488 – 3022
E-mail: commissioner@doacs.state.fl.us
The Office of Executive Clemency
Toll Free: 1-800-435-8286 1-800-435-8286
Phone: 850-488-2952 850-488-2952
Fax: 850-488-0695
Email: ClemencyWeb@fpc.state.fl.us
The clock is ticking….
The above listed are the other three members of the Florida clemency board that will need to sign off on everything that Mr. Crist wants to do. Remember that the Execution Date is set for Feb. 16, 6:00 PM EST this TUESDAY! therefore get to your computers, phones, faxes, especially those living in Florida, and calmly and respectfully make your plea.
Florida residents or those who spend significant time in Florida are asked to emphasize their Florida affiliation in their calls/emails.
We continue to remind you that all letters and calls should be polite pleas to the officials to take into account Mr. Grossman’s youth and impairment at the time of the crime and his good behavior and remorse in the years since. This is a humanitarian plea to save Martin’s life.
The request should be that Mr. Grossman be permitted to serve his debt to society by serving the rest of his life in prison.
Sign the petition to Governor Crist http://www.thepetitionsite.com/m/sign/584394380
Quote from attorney Alan M. Dershowitz
“Even 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. He does not belong on death row. His crime, committed when he was a teenager, was unplanned, unpremeditated and impulsive—the product of a serious mental illness, that can now be proved by medical technology that was unavailable at the time of his sentencing. He has been in prison for more than a quarter of a century, during which time he has been a model prisoner who has shown great remorse for what he did. All that he is seeking now is a 60 day postponement of his execution, so that his supporters can martial the evidence and present his case for clemency. No one should be rushed to execution while doubts remain unresolved. Justice demands that he be given the 60 days to prove that he does not deserve to die at the hands of the state.”
Alan M. Dershowitz
Who will live….and who will die…..
Please continue to pray for
Martin Grossman
Michoel Yechiel ben Miriam Sorah
(The Committee To Save Martin Grossman’s Life / YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Urgent Update From The Committee To Save Martin Grossman’s Life
February 12, 2010 Friday 3:00
PM EST: BREAKING NEWS – US Supreme Court denies the stay for Martin Grossman- But….
Sources inside the Governors mansion have revealed that the intense pressure and media campaign to grant Martin Grossman a sixty- day stay of execution have caught the eye of the current Governor and those that wish to succeed him.
Because of YOUR calls, emails and faxes the clemency issue of Martin Grossman has been brought to the very top of the Governors list. The fight to save martin continues with renewed hope.
New verified information just received indicates that members of the Florida Clemency board must now be contacted with the full force of our campaign.
The Clemency Board comprises of four people (one of them the Governor). The other three will need to sign off on anything that Mr. Crist can or would want to do, and believe it or not two of them are running for Governor!
We are pleading with all who are concerned about the life of Martin Grossman to contact ALL of the following individuals immediately.
Sources sympathetic to our cause from inside the Statehouse are urging the immediate outreach to the following individuals.
*Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum Republican candidate for Governor
(Now of the MOST important people to contact)
Main office Switchboard: 850-414-3300 850-414-3300
Florida Toll Free: 1-866-966-7226 1-866-966-7226
Fax Numbers
Capital Appeals – Tallahassee Office 850-487-0997 850-487-0997
Civil Appeals Section – Tallahassee Office 850-488-4872 850-488-4872
ADA Coordinator – Tallahassee Office 850-488-5106 850-488-5106
Administrative Law – Tallahassee Office: 850-922-6425 850-922-6425
Bill McCollum Campaign HQ:
Phone: (850) 241-1885 (850) 241-1885
info@BillMcCollum.com
*Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink. Democratic candidate for Governor
Phone: 850-413-3100 850-413-3100
Fax: 850-413-4993
Email cfo@dfs.state.fl.us
Campaign HQ:
813-374-9175 813-374-9175
Info@AlexSinkFlorida
*Charles Branson – Commissioner of Agriculture
Phone: (850) 488 – 3022 (850) 488 – 3022
E-mail: commissioner@doacs.state.fl.us
The Office of Executive Clemency
Toll Free: 1-800-435-8286 1-800-435-8286
Phone: 850-488-2952 850-488-2952
Fax: 850-488-0695
Email: ClemencyWeb@fpc.state.fl.us
The clock is ticking….
The above listed are the other three members of the Florida clemency board that will need to sign off on everything that Mr. Crist wants to do. Remember that the Execution Date is set for Feb. 16, 6:00 PM EST this TUESDAY! therefore get to your computers, phones, faxes, especially those living in Florida, and calmly and respectfully make your plea.
Florida residents or those who spend significant time in Florida are asked to emphasize their Florida affiliation in their calls/emails.
We continue to remind you that all letters and calls should be polite pleas to the officials to take into account Mr. Grossman’s youth and impairment at the time of the crime and his good behavior and remorse in the years since. This is a humanitarian plea to save Martin’s life.
The request should be that Mr. Grossman be permitted to serve his debt to society by serving the rest of his life in prison.
Sign the petition to Governor Crist http://www.thepetitionsite.com/m/sign/584394380
Quote from attorney Alan M. Dershowitz
“Even 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. He does not belong on death row. His crime, committed when he was a teenager, was unplanned, unpremeditated and impulsive—the product of a serious mental illness, that can now be proved by medical technology that was unavailable at the time of his sentencing. He has been in prison for more than a quarter of a century, during which time he has been a model prisoner who has shown great remorse for what he did. All that he is seeking now is a 60 day postponement of his execution, so that his supporters can martial the evidence and present his case for clemency. No one should be rushed to execution while doubts remain unresolved. Justice demands that he be given the 60 days to prove that he does not deserve to die at the hands of the state.”
Alan M. Dershowitz
Who will live….and who will die…..
Please continue to pray for
Martin Grossman
Michoel Yechiel ben Miriam Sorah
(The Committee To Save Martin Grossman’s Life / YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Spare female officer's killer, anti-execution group says
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/feb/12/spare-female-officers-killer-anti-execution-group-/
Spare female officer's killer, anti-execution group says
Staff photo by TODD DAVIS
Martin Grossman, shown in a Pinellas courtroom Jan. 20, is scheduled to be executed Tuesday.
By MARK DOUGLAS News Channel 8
Published: February 12, 2010
Peggy Park
A coalition of death penalty opponents is weighing in on the scheduled execution of Martin Grossman, who has spent 26 years on Florida's death row in the beating and shooting death of Florida wildlife officer Peggy Park.
In a conference call organized by Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, opponents of Grossman's execution say it would be cruel and unusual punishment for the state to carry out the death warrant signed by Gov. Charlie Crist.
Grossman is scheduled for lethal injection 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Florida State Prison near Starke. The Florida Supreme Court has denied an appeal by Grossman's lawyers.
Mark Elliot of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said he was living in Pinellas County at the time of the murder.
"I remember very well the shock and the grief that spread throughout the community as the news came out," Elliot said. He called Park's murder "a terrible tragedy."
"Peggy Park died doing what she loved," Elliot said.
Park was killed in a wooded area of North Pinellas on Dec. 13, 1984, after a furious struggle with Grossman and another teen, Thayne Nathan Taylor.
Investigators said Grossman struck Park 20 times in the head with a flashlight and then shot the officer in the back of her head with her own .357 Magnum service revolver.
Park was 26 at the time of her death.
Elliot said Taylor served three years in prison for his role and "later committed suicide out of guilt."
Ed Werner, who represents the Committee to Save Martin Grossman, singled out Gov. Charlie Crist for criticism because he signed Grossman's death warrant.
"It's clear the governor did not get the memo that Jewish blood is no longer cheap," Werner said.
A reporter later asked Werner if he was suggesting Crist is anti-Semitic.
"We're not sure," Werner said.
Other activists on the call sought to distance themselves from the accusation and focused on what they perceive as a wrongful application of the death penalty.
They say Park's murder was not premeditated. They argue Grossman, with a low IQ of 77, has unspecified mental problems. They also say he was not adequately represented at his trial.
Other courts have rejected those arguments on appeal. One of Grossman's trial lawyers is now a federal magistrate.
Grossman's spiritual advisor Rabbi Menachem Katz said Grossman is deeply remorseful.
"Countless times over the last 15 years Martin has told me that how terrible he feels that he took a life," Katz said in a statement read on the conference call.
"He feels deep pain and sorrow on a daily basis."
Elliot presented a letter from Elie Wiesel, holocaust survivor and famed human rights activist, asking the governor to spare Grossman's life.
"Everything I believe in compels me to join those who urge you to commute the death sentence of Martin Grossman," Wiesel said in the letter from Boston University, which was dated Thursday.
Reporter Mark Douglas can be reached at (727) 451-2333 (727) 451-2333.
Spare female officer's killer, anti-execution group says
Staff photo by TODD DAVIS
Martin Grossman, shown in a Pinellas courtroom Jan. 20, is scheduled to be executed Tuesday.
By MARK DOUGLAS News Channel 8
Published: February 12, 2010
Peggy Park
A coalition of death penalty opponents is weighing in on the scheduled execution of Martin Grossman, who has spent 26 years on Florida's death row in the beating and shooting death of Florida wildlife officer Peggy Park.
In a conference call organized by Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, opponents of Grossman's execution say it would be cruel and unusual punishment for the state to carry out the death warrant signed by Gov. Charlie Crist.
Grossman is scheduled for lethal injection 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Florida State Prison near Starke. The Florida Supreme Court has denied an appeal by Grossman's lawyers.
Mark Elliot of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said he was living in Pinellas County at the time of the murder.
"I remember very well the shock and the grief that spread throughout the community as the news came out," Elliot said. He called Park's murder "a terrible tragedy."
"Peggy Park died doing what she loved," Elliot said.
Park was killed in a wooded area of North Pinellas on Dec. 13, 1984, after a furious struggle with Grossman and another teen, Thayne Nathan Taylor.
Investigators said Grossman struck Park 20 times in the head with a flashlight and then shot the officer in the back of her head with her own .357 Magnum service revolver.
Park was 26 at the time of her death.
Elliot said Taylor served three years in prison for his role and "later committed suicide out of guilt."
Ed Werner, who represents the Committee to Save Martin Grossman, singled out Gov. Charlie Crist for criticism because he signed Grossman's death warrant.
"It's clear the governor did not get the memo that Jewish blood is no longer cheap," Werner said.
A reporter later asked Werner if he was suggesting Crist is anti-Semitic.
"We're not sure," Werner said.
Other activists on the call sought to distance themselves from the accusation and focused on what they perceive as a wrongful application of the death penalty.
They say Park's murder was not premeditated. They argue Grossman, with a low IQ of 77, has unspecified mental problems. They also say he was not adequately represented at his trial.
Other courts have rejected those arguments on appeal. One of Grossman's trial lawyers is now a federal magistrate.
Grossman's spiritual advisor Rabbi Menachem Katz said Grossman is deeply remorseful.
"Countless times over the last 15 years Martin has told me that how terrible he feels that he took a life," Katz said in a statement read on the conference call.
"He feels deep pain and sorrow on a daily basis."
Elliot presented a letter from Elie Wiesel, holocaust survivor and famed human rights activist, asking the governor to spare Grossman's life.
"Everything I believe in compels me to join those who urge you to commute the death sentence of Martin Grossman," Wiesel said in the letter from Boston University, which was dated Thursday.
Reporter Mark Douglas can be reached at (727) 451-2333 (727) 451-2333.
Groups call on Crist to halt execution of man who killed wildlife officer in Pinellas
http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/groups-call-on-crist-to-halt-execution-of-man-who-killed-wildlife-officer/1072808
Groups call on Crist to halt execution of man who killed wildlife officer in Pinellas
By Curtis Krueger, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Feb 12, 2010 01:09 PM
A coalition of death penalty opponents called on Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday to stop the scheduled execution of Martin E. Grossman, who killed Florida wildlife officer Peggy Park in Pinellas County in 1984.
Grossman is scheduled to be executed Tuesday. Park stopped Grossman and a friend in a rural section of northeastern Pinellas. After a struggle, he wrested away Park's .357 Magnum and shot her in the head.
Rabbi Menachem Katz, Grossman's spiritual advisor, said on Friday that the Death Row inmate has repeatedly told him "how terrible he feels that he took a life… he feels deep pain and sorrow on a daily basis."
None of the advocates who spoke in Fridays' telephone news conference argued that Grossman was innocent. But Benita Standly of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida called the death penalty "barbaric" and said it violates the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution barring cruel and unusual punishment.
Laura Moye of Amnesty International wanted to "express our deepest sympathies" to Park's family, but urged the state of Florida not to "imitate the crime it seeks to condemn."
Some who joined the telephone news conference said the death penalty was not an appropriate punishment because Grossman has told family members he never intended to kill Park. He was convicted of premeditated murder.
Ed Werner, head of a group called the "Committee to save Martin Grossman," said Crist was about to "spill Jewish blood" with Grossman's execution.
But in a response to a reporter's question, Abe Bonowitz, the former director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said: "No one is suggesting that Gov. Crist is an anti-Semite."
Groups call on Crist to halt execution of man who killed wildlife officer in Pinellas
By Curtis Krueger, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Feb 12, 2010 01:09 PM
A coalition of death penalty opponents called on Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday to stop the scheduled execution of Martin E. Grossman, who killed Florida wildlife officer Peggy Park in Pinellas County in 1984.
Grossman is scheduled to be executed Tuesday. Park stopped Grossman and a friend in a rural section of northeastern Pinellas. After a struggle, he wrested away Park's .357 Magnum and shot her in the head.
Rabbi Menachem Katz, Grossman's spiritual advisor, said on Friday that the Death Row inmate has repeatedly told him "how terrible he feels that he took a life… he feels deep pain and sorrow on a daily basis."
None of the advocates who spoke in Fridays' telephone news conference argued that Grossman was innocent. But Benita Standly of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida called the death penalty "barbaric" and said it violates the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution barring cruel and unusual punishment.
Laura Moye of Amnesty International wanted to "express our deepest sympathies" to Park's family, but urged the state of Florida not to "imitate the crime it seeks to condemn."
Some who joined the telephone news conference said the death penalty was not an appropriate punishment because Grossman has told family members he never intended to kill Park. He was convicted of premeditated murder.
Ed Werner, head of a group called the "Committee to save Martin Grossman," said Crist was about to "spill Jewish blood" with Grossman's execution.
But in a response to a reporter's question, Abe Bonowitz, the former director of Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said: "No one is suggesting that Gov. Crist is an anti-Semite."
An Open Plea To The Jewish Nation: A National Call To Action
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/48022/An+Open+Plea+To+The+Jewish+Nation:+A+National+Call+To+Action.html
An Open Plea To The Jewish Nation: A National Call To Action
February 11, 2010
As you may know, a Jewish man is slated for execution – in Florida this coming Tuesday.
Martin Grossman was convicted of killing Margaret Parks, a Florida Wildlife Officer, in 1984, when he was 19 years old.
He did so while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and in an act of panic, not premeditation.
He has conducted himself as a model prisoner since his incarceration some 25 years ago and has shown profound remorse and regret for his actions.
A united coalition of Jewish groups and non- Jewish groups including: Agudath Israel, Young Israel, Orthodox Union, Chabad/Lubavitch, Satmar, RCA, Aleph Institute, and many others are asking Florida Governor Charlie Crist to grant clemency to Mr. Grossman, and have also requested a meeting in person with Governor Crist to discuss the matter.
It is urgently important that the Governor hear from the grassroots as well – certainly from people who live or spend significant time in Florida, but even from non-Floridians.
His e-mail address is
Charlie.Crist@eog.myflorida.com ,
Or
Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com
Phone- (850) 488-7146 (850) 488-7146
Fax -850-487-0801.
Letters and calls should be polite pleas to the Governor to take into account Mr. Grossman’s youth and impairment at the time of the crime and his good behavior and remorse in the years since.
And the request should be that Mr. Grossman be permitted to serve his debt to society by serving the rest of his life in prison.
May we have happier occasions to demonstrate our achdus and ahavas Yisroel.
And may our action here merit us such times.
Please pray for Martin Grossman, Michoel Yechiel ben Miriam Sorah.
Rabbi Pesach Lerner- Young Israel
Rabbi David Zwiebel- Agudath Israel
Rabbi Steven Weil- OU
Rabbi Dovid Niederman- UJO
Rabbi Moshe Visel- UJ Care
Rabbi Basil Herring- RCA
Rabbi Aaron Lipskar- Aleph Institute
Sign the petition to Governor Crist http://www.thepetitionsite.com/m/sign/584394380
Quote from attorney Alan M. Dershowitz:
“Even 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. He does not belong on death row. His crime, committed when he was a teenager, was unplanned, unpremeditated and impulsive—the product of a serious mental illness, that can now be proved by medical technology that was unavailable at the time of his sentencing. He has been in prison for more than a quarter of a century, during which time he has been a model prisoner who has shown great remorse for what he did. All that he is seeking now is a 60 day postponement of his execution, so that his supporters can martial the evidence and present his case for clemency. No one should be rushed to execution while doubts remain unresolved. Justice demands that he be given the 60 days to prove that he does not deserve to die at the hands of the state.”
Alan M. Dershowitz
NOTE: YWN has learned from sources inside the Gov. Office that the Governor is “feeling the heat”. We have also learned that it will take an overwhelming about of pressure from constituents to get the 60 day stay.
(YWN Desk – NYC)
An Open Plea To The Jewish Nation: A National Call To Action
February 11, 2010
As you may know, a Jewish man is slated for execution – in Florida this coming Tuesday.
Martin Grossman was convicted of killing Margaret Parks, a Florida Wildlife Officer, in 1984, when he was 19 years old.
He did so while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and in an act of panic, not premeditation.
He has conducted himself as a model prisoner since his incarceration some 25 years ago and has shown profound remorse and regret for his actions.
A united coalition of Jewish groups and non- Jewish groups including: Agudath Israel, Young Israel, Orthodox Union, Chabad/Lubavitch, Satmar, RCA, Aleph Institute, and many others are asking Florida Governor Charlie Crist to grant clemency to Mr. Grossman, and have also requested a meeting in person with Governor Crist to discuss the matter.
It is urgently important that the Governor hear from the grassroots as well – certainly from people who live or spend significant time in Florida, but even from non-Floridians.
His e-mail address is
Charlie.Crist@eog.myflorida.com ,
Or
Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com
Phone- (850) 488-7146 (850) 488-7146
Fax -850-487-0801.
Letters and calls should be polite pleas to the Governor to take into account Mr. Grossman’s youth and impairment at the time of the crime and his good behavior and remorse in the years since.
And the request should be that Mr. Grossman be permitted to serve his debt to society by serving the rest of his life in prison.
May we have happier occasions to demonstrate our achdus and ahavas Yisroel.
And may our action here merit us such times.
Please pray for Martin Grossman, Michoel Yechiel ben Miriam Sorah.
Rabbi Pesach Lerner- Young Israel
Rabbi David Zwiebel- Agudath Israel
Rabbi Steven Weil- OU
Rabbi Dovid Niederman- UJO
Rabbi Moshe Visel- UJ Care
Rabbi Basil Herring- RCA
Rabbi Aaron Lipskar- Aleph Institute
Sign the petition to Governor Crist http://www.thepetitionsite.com/m/sign/584394380
Quote from attorney Alan M. Dershowitz:
“Even 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. He does not belong on death row. His crime, committed when he was a teenager, was unplanned, unpremeditated and impulsive—the product of a serious mental illness, that can now be proved by medical technology that was unavailable at the time of his sentencing. He has been in prison for more than a quarter of a century, during which time he has been a model prisoner who has shown great remorse for what he did. All that he is seeking now is a 60 day postponement of his execution, so that his supporters can martial the evidence and present his case for clemency. No one should be rushed to execution while doubts remain unresolved. Justice demands that he be given the 60 days to prove that he does not deserve to die at the hands of the state.”
Alan M. Dershowitz
NOTE: YWN has learned from sources inside the Gov. Office that the Governor is “feeling the heat”. We have also learned that it will take an overwhelming about of pressure from constituents to get the 60 day stay.
(YWN Desk – NYC)
Op-Ed: 10 Reasons Why Martin Grossman Should Get Clemency
http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/47934/Op-Ed:+10+Reasons+Why+Martin+Grossman+Should+Get+Clemency.html
Op-Ed: 10 Reasons Why Martin Grossman Should Get Clemency
[Op-Ed By Yossi Gestetner] Following are Fact-Points regarding Martin Grossman – Why he should get Clemency instead of being executed on Feb 16, 2010 6:00 PM EST, for a crime he committed approximately 25 years ago, while intoxicated at age 19.
1) At age 15, Martin’s father passed away. Martin was the one needed to take care for his challenged Mom, rather than the other way around. In addition, Martin had little family around him. Result? A youngster who was ripe to get into trouble roamed the streets of Florida.
2) When Martin killed the 26-year-old Wildlife officer in the woods, he was under the influence of contraband drugs and/or he drank alcohol shortly after taking medicine for his mental challenges. Either way, he was NOT in a state of stable-mind to control everything he did or shouldn’t do at that time.
3) In addition to point two, Martin has an IQ of 77.
4) Martin did NOT shoot the officer in cold blood. Instead, because he was on probation, he pleaded with her that she not arrest him. She went on trying to arrest him. Things got out of hand, which took the life of Ms. Parks.
5) Some people wonder, if Martin was not in a stable state of mind, in addition to having a low IQ, how did he know that Ms. Parks may cost him trouble? Well, small-minded and deranged people understand that walking off a roof-top isn’t exactly a good idea. Sensing danger is what Under Influence people detect.
6) It appears criminal that Martin was on probation, however be aware of the fact that his crime was a stupid burglary, committed when he was age seventeen, a Juvenile without parents.
7) The MAIN reason prosecutors treated the Martin/Parks case as a first degree murder and in-turn requested the ultimate penalty, is due to Martin’s probation. As a result, prosecutors were able to claim that the Parks killing took place during a crime in progress. However, as indicated above, the “crime in progress” was Martin’s violating probation for a burglary he committed as a juvenile… (No one is advocating that burglary is not a crime. However, we would not want that a person should lose their life based on a burglary either…)
8 ) Martin did NOT have proper legal nor biological (family) representation at the time, thus permitting the prosecutors to have a free ride with this case.
9) The crime was done 25 years ago. While time does not take away the fact that the Parks family had pain all those years, executing Grossman at the scheduled time will not serve justice, considering that the calm, well-behaving, staying-away-from-trouble, repentant, grown-man, at age 44 in 2010 who never had a chance of a normal lovable life, is NOT the same person as the lost, 19 year-old, orphan who turned to alcohol and/or drugs to forget of his pains. The death penalty by NO MEANS is intended for such circumstances!
10) Justice waited more than 9,125 days (25-plus years) to finally get its day. Therefore, can justice wait maybe just another 60-90 more days to give those caring for Martin a chance to explore all legal avenues available?
We all ask and plea that YES should be the answer.
NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.
To read more from and about Yossi, visit www.yossigestetner.com.
(Yossi Gestetner – YWN)
Op-Ed: 10 Reasons Why Martin Grossman Should Get Clemency
[Op-Ed By Yossi Gestetner] Following are Fact-Points regarding Martin Grossman – Why he should get Clemency instead of being executed on Feb 16, 2010 6:00 PM EST, for a crime he committed approximately 25 years ago, while intoxicated at age 19.
1) At age 15, Martin’s father passed away. Martin was the one needed to take care for his challenged Mom, rather than the other way around. In addition, Martin had little family around him. Result? A youngster who was ripe to get into trouble roamed the streets of Florida.
2) When Martin killed the 26-year-old Wildlife officer in the woods, he was under the influence of contraband drugs and/or he drank alcohol shortly after taking medicine for his mental challenges. Either way, he was NOT in a state of stable-mind to control everything he did or shouldn’t do at that time.
3) In addition to point two, Martin has an IQ of 77.
4) Martin did NOT shoot the officer in cold blood. Instead, because he was on probation, he pleaded with her that she not arrest him. She went on trying to arrest him. Things got out of hand, which took the life of Ms. Parks.
5) Some people wonder, if Martin was not in a stable state of mind, in addition to having a low IQ, how did he know that Ms. Parks may cost him trouble? Well, small-minded and deranged people understand that walking off a roof-top isn’t exactly a good idea. Sensing danger is what Under Influence people detect.
6) It appears criminal that Martin was on probation, however be aware of the fact that his crime was a stupid burglary, committed when he was age seventeen, a Juvenile without parents.
7) The MAIN reason prosecutors treated the Martin/Parks case as a first degree murder and in-turn requested the ultimate penalty, is due to Martin’s probation. As a result, prosecutors were able to claim that the Parks killing took place during a crime in progress. However, as indicated above, the “crime in progress” was Martin’s violating probation for a burglary he committed as a juvenile… (No one is advocating that burglary is not a crime. However, we would not want that a person should lose their life based on a burglary either…)
8 ) Martin did NOT have proper legal nor biological (family) representation at the time, thus permitting the prosecutors to have a free ride with this case.
9) The crime was done 25 years ago. While time does not take away the fact that the Parks family had pain all those years, executing Grossman at the scheduled time will not serve justice, considering that the calm, well-behaving, staying-away-from-trouble, repentant, grown-man, at age 44 in 2010 who never had a chance of a normal lovable life, is NOT the same person as the lost, 19 year-old, orphan who turned to alcohol and/or drugs to forget of his pains. The death penalty by NO MEANS is intended for such circumstances!
10) Justice waited more than 9,125 days (25-plus years) to finally get its day. Therefore, can justice wait maybe just another 60-90 more days to give those caring for Martin a chance to explore all legal avenues available?
We all ask and plea that YES should be the answer.
NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.
To read more from and about Yossi, visit www.yossigestetner.com.
(Yossi Gestetner – YWN)
Jewish groups plead for Crist to save life of convicted killer Martin Grossman
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-martin-grossman-death-row-petition-20100210,0,6154390.story
Jewish groups plead for Crist to save life of convicted killer Martin Grossman
By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel
8:05 p.m. EST, February 10, 2010
Orthodox Jewish groups are trying to persuade Gov. Charlie Crist to spare the life of Martin Grossman, a convicted killer scheduled for execution Tuesday.
More than 13,000 people have signed an online petition, and Amnesty International also has intervened.
Grossman's advocates argue that the jury never heard mental-health evidence that would support Grossman's case, he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of the crime and that he was only 19 when he shot a wildlife officer to death in Pinellas County in December 1984. He was convicted the following year.
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America and the nonprofit Aleph Institute are among 200 organizations asking Crist to grant a 60-day stay of execution to allow a clemency application to be considered. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty also is trying to get Crist to spare Grossman's life.
Grossman was convicted of shooting Margaret Park, 26, in the head after she found him and a friend at a nature reserve, where they went to fire a gun. Grossman asked Park not to report him because it would have been a violation of his probation on a burglary conviction. There was a struggle, Park drew her gun and Grossman shot her with it.
The Florida Supreme Court this week upheld the sentence.
Jewish groups plead for Crist to save life of convicted killer Martin Grossman
By Susan Jacobson, Orlando Sentinel
8:05 p.m. EST, February 10, 2010
Orthodox Jewish groups are trying to persuade Gov. Charlie Crist to spare the life of Martin Grossman, a convicted killer scheduled for execution Tuesday.
More than 13,000 people have signed an online petition, and Amnesty International also has intervened.
Grossman's advocates argue that the jury never heard mental-health evidence that would support Grossman's case, he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time of the crime and that he was only 19 when he shot a wildlife officer to death in Pinellas County in December 1984. He was convicted the following year.
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America and the nonprofit Aleph Institute are among 200 organizations asking Crist to grant a 60-day stay of execution to allow a clemency application to be considered. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty also is trying to get Crist to spare Grossman's life.
Grossman was convicted of shooting Margaret Park, 26, in the head after she found him and a friend at a nature reserve, where they went to fire a gun. Grossman asked Park not to report him because it would have been a violation of his probation on a burglary conviction. There was a struggle, Park drew her gun and Grossman shot her with it.
The Florida Supreme Court this week upheld the sentence.
Effort to Save Death Row Inmate Gains Steam
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135972
Effort to Save Death Row Inmate Gains Steam
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) Jewish groups and individuals have begun a last-minute campaign for a 60-day delay in the execution of a Jewish killer in Florida.
The National Council of Young Israel, the Orthodox Union, Agudath Israel of America, the Israel Law Center, Lubavitch International and others are asking Florida Governor Charlie Crist to grant a 60-day stay, in order that evidence can be gathered to make a case for clemency for death-row inmate Martin Grossman.
Grossman, 44, is scheduled to be executed this coming Tuesday at 6 p.m. With an IQ of 77 (borderline retarded), a history of drug addiction, and having dropped out of high school at the age of 15 – after his father died and his mother became dysfunctional – he was convicted of killing a Florida Wildlife Officer when he was 19 years old. He has been in prison since then.
Request for Clemency
Israel Law Center head Attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner is one of several individuals and groups who have written Gov. Crist, asking for clemency. "There is no public or social interest that will be served by Martin Grossman's execution that cannot be similarly served by granting him clemency and commuting his sentence to life in prison without parole," she wrote.
An open letter from the National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) states that Grossman committed the crime "while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and in an act of panic, not premeditation. He has conducted himself as a model prisoner since his incarceration some 25 years ago and has shown profound remorse and regret for his actions."
NCYI notes that Governor Crist has indicated that he would consider staying the execution: "It is important that [he] hear from the grassroots as well - certainly from people who live or spend significant time in Florida, but even from non-Floridians. His e-mail address is Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com … and he can be faxed at 850-487-0801 850-487-0801. Letters and calls should [ask] the Governor to take into account Mr. Grossman's youth and impairment at the time of the crime, and his good behavior and remorse in the years since." An online petition can be signed at www.thepetititionsite.com/2/save-martin-grossman.
Rabbi: "He Turned His Life Around"
Rabbi Katz of the Aleph Institute, who has been Martin’s spiritual advisor for the past 15 years, states that Grossman has turned his life around and struggles daily for repentance. "He is now a solid, humble human being, far from the disturbed youth who shot Margaret Parks over 25 years ago," Rabbi Katz says.
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz has joined the cause as well, writing as follows:
"Even 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. He does not belong on death row. His crime, committed when he was a teenager, was unplanned, unpremeditated and impulsive - the product of a serious mental illness, that can now be proved by medical technology that was unavailable at the time of his sentencing. He has been in prison for more than a quarter of a century, during which time he has been a model prisoner who has shown great remorse for what he did. All that he is seeking now is a 60-day postponement of his execution, so that his supporters can marshall the evidence and present his case for clemency. No one should be rushed to execution while doubts remain unresolved. Justice demands that he be given the 60 days to prove that he does not deserve to die at the hands of the state."
Only 3% of people convicted of murder are sentenced to death, the organizers of the Grossman effort say: "Although any murder is despicable, capital punishment is generally reserved for cold, calculated, heinous murders – whereas this is a case of drugged up, mildly retarded teenager who panicked."
Effort to Save Death Row Inmate Gains Steam
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) Jewish groups and individuals have begun a last-minute campaign for a 60-day delay in the execution of a Jewish killer in Florida.
The National Council of Young Israel, the Orthodox Union, Agudath Israel of America, the Israel Law Center, Lubavitch International and others are asking Florida Governor Charlie Crist to grant a 60-day stay, in order that evidence can be gathered to make a case for clemency for death-row inmate Martin Grossman.
Grossman, 44, is scheduled to be executed this coming Tuesday at 6 p.m. With an IQ of 77 (borderline retarded), a history of drug addiction, and having dropped out of high school at the age of 15 – after his father died and his mother became dysfunctional – he was convicted of killing a Florida Wildlife Officer when he was 19 years old. He has been in prison since then.
Request for Clemency
Israel Law Center head Attorney Nitzana Darshan-Leitner is one of several individuals and groups who have written Gov. Crist, asking for clemency. "There is no public or social interest that will be served by Martin Grossman's execution that cannot be similarly served by granting him clemency and commuting his sentence to life in prison without parole," she wrote.
An open letter from the National Council of Young Israel (NCYI) states that Grossman committed the crime "while under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and in an act of panic, not premeditation. He has conducted himself as a model prisoner since his incarceration some 25 years ago and has shown profound remorse and regret for his actions."
NCYI notes that Governor Crist has indicated that he would consider staying the execution: "It is important that [he] hear from the grassroots as well - certainly from people who live or spend significant time in Florida, but even from non-Floridians. His e-mail address is Charlie.Crist@myflorida.com … and he can be faxed at 850-487-0801 850-487-0801. Letters and calls should [ask] the Governor to take into account Mr. Grossman's youth and impairment at the time of the crime, and his good behavior and remorse in the years since." An online petition can be signed at www.thepetititionsite.com/2/save-martin-grossman.
Rabbi: "He Turned His Life Around"
Rabbi Katz of the Aleph Institute, who has been Martin’s spiritual advisor for the past 15 years, states that Grossman has turned his life around and struggles daily for repentance. "He is now a solid, humble human being, far from the disturbed youth who shot Margaret Parks over 25 years ago," Rabbi Katz says.
Harvard Law Professor Alan M. Dershowitz has joined the cause as well, writing as follows:
"Even 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. He does not belong on death row. His crime, committed when he was a teenager, was unplanned, unpremeditated and impulsive - the product of a serious mental illness, that can now be proved by medical technology that was unavailable at the time of his sentencing. He has been in prison for more than a quarter of a century, during which time he has been a model prisoner who has shown great remorse for what he did. All that he is seeking now is a 60-day postponement of his execution, so that his supporters can marshall the evidence and present his case for clemency. No one should be rushed to execution while doubts remain unresolved. Justice demands that he be given the 60 days to prove that he does not deserve to die at the hands of the state."
Only 3% of people convicted of murder are sentenced to death, the organizers of the Grossman effort say: "Although any murder is despicable, capital punishment is generally reserved for cold, calculated, heinous murders – whereas this is a case of drugged up, mildly retarded teenager who panicked."
Leaders Seek to Prevent Execution
For Immediate Release
February 10th, 2010
Leaders Seek to Prevent Execution
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America, are amongst a list of 200 organizations pleading with the Florida Governor to grant a 60-day stay which would enable for a comprehensive clemency application to be presented and considered.
Both Jewish and non-Jewish community leaders are petitioning Florida Governor Charlie Crist for an emergency stay of execution for death-row prisoner Martin Grossman, scheduled to be executed on Feb. 16th.
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America, are amongst a list of 200 organizations pleading with the Florida governor to grant a 60-day stay which would enable Grossman’s legal team to formulate a comprehensive clemency application to be presented and considered.
The case of Martin Grossman is gaining national attention. Grossman, in 1984 was a 19-year-old drug-addicted, high-school drop-out with a juvenile record for trespassing. He and a friend, Thanye Taylor, drove to an isolated nature reserve to fire a found handgun. A wildlife officer stopped them, searched their car, and confiscated the gun. Martin, who is reported to have an IQ of 77, panicked and began pleading with the officer not to report him as he would be in violation of his probation. When she reached for her radio a struggle ensued, which resulted in the officer reaching for her own gun, whereupon Martin panicked, snatched her gun and shot her. A psychiatrist who evaluated him concluded, from his psychological and medical condition, that he could not have formed the intent to kill. Taylor served less than three years in prison while Martin was sentenced to death. Mr. Grossman has been on death row for over 25 years.
The petition argues that the death sentence meted out to him is disproportionate in the extreme and that his defense was inadequate. Only one-percent of murder sentences end in capital punishment, crimes commonly referred to as the worst of the worst.
The petition further argues that Martin’s crime, considering the lack of premeditation, his drug addiction, his IQ level, and several other compelling factors does not qualify for the death penalty, and that the court ignored mitigating circumstances. Only four of thirty-three available defense witnesses were used in the sentencing phase. Additionally, there are allegations of prosecutorial misconduct as well. A fellow prisoner and key witness for the government swears that he lied at trial, and that he was rewarded by having his own charges dropped. Martin Grossman’s appeals regarding these issues have been rejected without hearings, but they could be considered in a clemency petition.
Martin has shown deep and profound remorse over the years, and is no longer the same wild reckless person he was 26 years ago argues Rabbi Menachem Katz from the Aleph Institute, who has visited Martin regularly over the past 15 years.
As of this release, Governor Crist has not agreed to grant a stay. Execution is set for February 16th, 2010 at 6:00 PM. Concerned citizens are encouraged to call or email the governor and ask for clemency and mercy for Martin Grossman. Thanks in advance for taking a few minutes of your valuable time to assure that justice prevails and Mr. Grossman is granted the time needed so that unconsidered issues may be aired and resolved.
Grossman, on the day of his Bar Mitzvah
http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=17350
Charlie.Crist@eog.myflorida.com
http://florida-issues.blogspot.com/2010/02/leaders-seek-to-prevent-execution.html
February 10th, 2010
Leaders Seek to Prevent Execution
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America, are amongst a list of 200 organizations pleading with the Florida Governor to grant a 60-day stay which would enable for a comprehensive clemency application to be presented and considered.
Both Jewish and non-Jewish community leaders are petitioning Florida Governor Charlie Crist for an emergency stay of execution for death-row prisoner Martin Grossman, scheduled to be executed on Feb. 16th.
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America, are amongst a list of 200 organizations pleading with the Florida governor to grant a 60-day stay which would enable Grossman’s legal team to formulate a comprehensive clemency application to be presented and considered.
The case of Martin Grossman is gaining national attention. Grossman, in 1984 was a 19-year-old drug-addicted, high-school drop-out with a juvenile record for trespassing. He and a friend, Thanye Taylor, drove to an isolated nature reserve to fire a found handgun. A wildlife officer stopped them, searched their car, and confiscated the gun. Martin, who is reported to have an IQ of 77, panicked and began pleading with the officer not to report him as he would be in violation of his probation. When she reached for her radio a struggle ensued, which resulted in the officer reaching for her own gun, whereupon Martin panicked, snatched her gun and shot her. A psychiatrist who evaluated him concluded, from his psychological and medical condition, that he could not have formed the intent to kill. Taylor served less than three years in prison while Martin was sentenced to death. Mr. Grossman has been on death row for over 25 years.
The petition argues that the death sentence meted out to him is disproportionate in the extreme and that his defense was inadequate. Only one-percent of murder sentences end in capital punishment, crimes commonly referred to as the worst of the worst.
The petition further argues that Martin’s crime, considering the lack of premeditation, his drug addiction, his IQ level, and several other compelling factors does not qualify for the death penalty, and that the court ignored mitigating circumstances. Only four of thirty-three available defense witnesses were used in the sentencing phase. Additionally, there are allegations of prosecutorial misconduct as well. A fellow prisoner and key witness for the government swears that he lied at trial, and that he was rewarded by having his own charges dropped. Martin Grossman’s appeals regarding these issues have been rejected without hearings, but they could be considered in a clemency petition.
Martin has shown deep and profound remorse over the years, and is no longer the same wild reckless person he was 26 years ago argues Rabbi Menachem Katz from the Aleph Institute, who has visited Martin regularly over the past 15 years.
As of this release, Governor Crist has not agreed to grant a stay. Execution is set for February 16th, 2010 at 6:00 PM. Concerned citizens are encouraged to call or email the governor and ask for clemency and mercy for Martin Grossman. Thanks in advance for taking a few minutes of your valuable time to assure that justice prevails and Mr. Grossman is granted the time needed so that unconsidered issues may be aired and resolved.
Grossman, on the day of his Bar Mitzvah
http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=17350
Charlie.Crist@eog.myflorida.com
http://florida-issues.blogspot.com/2010/02/leaders-seek-to-prevent-execution.html
Save Martin Grossman
Save Martin Grossman
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/584394380
Target:
50,000
Sponsored by:
Aleph Institute and Chabad
Please Visit http://www.savemartingrossman.com
after signing petition.
Community Leaders Seek to Prevent Execution:
Both Jewish and non-Jewish community leaders are petitioning Florida Governor Charlie Crist for an emergency stay of execution for death-row prisoner, Martin Grossman, scheduled to for Feb. 16th.
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America, are amongst a list of 200 organizations pleading with the Florida Governor to grant a 60 day stay which would enable for a comprehensive clemency application to be presented to the court.
The case of Martin Grossman is gaining national attention. Mr.Grossman, who in 1984 was a 19-year-old drug-addicted and high-school drop-out with a juvenile record for trespassing. He and a friend, Thanye Taylor, drove to an isolated nature reserve to fire a found handgun for fun. Meanwhile, a wildlife officer stopped them, searched their car and confiscated the gun. Martin, who is reported to have an IQ of 77, and a history of epilepsy, panicked and began pleading with the officer not to report him as he would be in violation of his probation. When she reached for her radio a struggle ensued, which resulted in the officer reaching for her own gun. Then Martin panicked, snatched her gun and shot her. A psychiatrist who evaluated him concluded, from his psychological and medical condition, that he could not have formed the intent to kill. Taylor served less than three years in prison while Martin was sentenced to death.
Mr. Grossman has been on death row for over 25 years!
The petition argues that the death sentence meted out to him is disproportionate in the extreme and that his defense was inadequate. Only one percent of murder sentences end in capital punishment, crimes commonly referred to as "the worst of the worst."
The petition further argues that Martin's crime, considering the lack of premeditation, his drug addiction, his IQ level, and several other compelling factors does not qualify for the death penalty, and that the court ignored mitigating circumstances. Only four of thirty-three available defense witnesses were used in the sentencing phase. Additionally, there are allegations of prosecutorial misconduct as well. A fellow prisoner and key witness for the government swears that he lied at trial, and that he was rewarded by having his own charges dropped. Martin's appeals regarding these issues have been rejected without hearings, but they could be considered in a clemency petition.
"Martin has shown deep and profound remorse over the years, and is no longer the same wild reckless person he was 26 years ago" argues Rabbi Menachem Katz of the Aleph Institute, who has visited Martin regularly over the past 15 years.
As of this release, Governor Crist has thus far not agreed to grant a stay. Execution is set for NEXT TUESDAY!- February 16 at 6:00 PM.
We URGE YOU to call, fax or email the Governor and ask for clemency and mercy for Martin Grossman:
Phone: 850-488-7146 Fax: 850-487-0801 email: Charlie.Crist@eog.myflorida.com
Please Visit www.savemartingrossman.com after signing petition.
Those organizations or individuals who can assist in this emergency effort are asked to contact
Rabbi Zvi Boyarsky at zvi@aleph-institute.org 718-415-2221
Or Rabbi Moshe Matz at mmatz@agudathisrael 305-532-2500
Rabbi Shimon Weiss at luach@YishivaNet.com 845-537-1324
Please Visit www.savemartingrossman.com
after signing petition.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/584394380
Target:
50,000
Sponsored by:
Aleph Institute and Chabad
Please Visit http://www.savemartingrossman.com
after signing petition.
Community Leaders Seek to Prevent Execution:
Both Jewish and non-Jewish community leaders are petitioning Florida Governor Charlie Crist for an emergency stay of execution for death-row prisoner, Martin Grossman, scheduled to for Feb. 16th.
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America, are amongst a list of 200 organizations pleading with the Florida Governor to grant a 60 day stay which would enable for a comprehensive clemency application to be presented to the court.
The case of Martin Grossman is gaining national attention. Mr.Grossman, who in 1984 was a 19-year-old drug-addicted and high-school drop-out with a juvenile record for trespassing. He and a friend, Thanye Taylor, drove to an isolated nature reserve to fire a found handgun for fun. Meanwhile, a wildlife officer stopped them, searched their car and confiscated the gun. Martin, who is reported to have an IQ of 77, and a history of epilepsy, panicked and began pleading with the officer not to report him as he would be in violation of his probation. When she reached for her radio a struggle ensued, which resulted in the officer reaching for her own gun. Then Martin panicked, snatched her gun and shot her. A psychiatrist who evaluated him concluded, from his psychological and medical condition, that he could not have formed the intent to kill. Taylor served less than three years in prison while Martin was sentenced to death.
Mr. Grossman has been on death row for over 25 years!
The petition argues that the death sentence meted out to him is disproportionate in the extreme and that his defense was inadequate. Only one percent of murder sentences end in capital punishment, crimes commonly referred to as "the worst of the worst."
The petition further argues that Martin's crime, considering the lack of premeditation, his drug addiction, his IQ level, and several other compelling factors does not qualify for the death penalty, and that the court ignored mitigating circumstances. Only four of thirty-three available defense witnesses were used in the sentencing phase. Additionally, there are allegations of prosecutorial misconduct as well. A fellow prisoner and key witness for the government swears that he lied at trial, and that he was rewarded by having his own charges dropped. Martin's appeals regarding these issues have been rejected without hearings, but they could be considered in a clemency petition.
"Martin has shown deep and profound remorse over the years, and is no longer the same wild reckless person he was 26 years ago" argues Rabbi Menachem Katz of the Aleph Institute, who has visited Martin regularly over the past 15 years.
As of this release, Governor Crist has thus far not agreed to grant a stay. Execution is set for NEXT TUESDAY!- February 16 at 6:00 PM.
We URGE YOU to call, fax or email the Governor and ask for clemency and mercy for Martin Grossman:
Phone: 850-488-7146 Fax: 850-487-0801 email: Charlie.Crist@eog.myflorida.com
Please Visit www.savemartingrossman.com after signing petition.
Those organizations or individuals who can assist in this emergency effort are asked to contact
Rabbi Zvi Boyarsky at zvi@aleph-institute.org 718-415-2221
Or Rabbi Moshe Matz at mmatz@agudathisrael 305-532-2500
Rabbi Shimon Weiss at luach@YishivaNet.com 845-537-1324
Please Visit www.savemartingrossman.com
after signing petition.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Dershowitz Weighs In on Grossman Case
http://chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=17372
Dershowitz Weighs In on Grossman Case
Jewish-American legalist, Prof. Alan M. Dershowitz weighs in on the Grossman Case, saying he's neither recidivists nor heinous, and should be given another 60 days to prove his innocence. Full article
Alan Dershowitz
26 Shvat 5770 (10.02.2010)
“Even 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. He does not belong on death row. His crime, committed when he was a teenager, was unplanned, unpremeditated and impulsive - the product of a serious mental illness, that can now be proved by medical technology that was unavailable at the time of his sentencing.
“He has been in prison for more than a quarter of a century, during which time he has been a model prisoner who has shown great remorse for what he did. All that he is seeking now is a 60-day postponement of his execution, so that his supporters can martial the evidence and present his case for clemency.
“No one should be rushed to execution while doubts remain unresolved. Justice demands that he be given the 60 days to prove that he does not deserve to die at the hands of the state.”
Dershowitz Weighs In on Grossman Case
Jewish-American legalist, Prof. Alan M. Dershowitz weighs in on the Grossman Case, saying he's neither recidivists nor heinous, and should be given another 60 days to prove his innocence. Full article
Alan Dershowitz
26 Shvat 5770 (10.02.2010)
“Even 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. He does not belong on death row. His crime, committed when he was a teenager, was unplanned, unpremeditated and impulsive - the product of a serious mental illness, that can now be proved by medical technology that was unavailable at the time of his sentencing.
“He has been in prison for more than a quarter of a century, during which time he has been a model prisoner who has shown great remorse for what he did. All that he is seeking now is a 60-day postponement of his execution, so that his supporters can martial the evidence and present his case for clemency.
“No one should be rushed to execution while doubts remain unresolved. Justice demands that he be given the 60 days to prove that he does not deserve to die at the hands of the state.”
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Community Leaders Seek to Prevent Execution
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/584394380
Save Martin Grossman
Target:
50,000
Sponsored by:
Aleph Institute and Chabad
Community Leaders Seek to Prevent Execution:
Both Jewish and non-Jewish community leaders are petitioning Florida Governor Charlie Crist for an emergency stay of execution for death-row prisoner, Martin Grossman, scheduled to for Feb. 16th.
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America, are amongst a list of 200 organizations pleading with the Florida Governor to grant a 60 day stay which would enable for a comprehensive clemency application to be presented to the court.
The case of Martin Grossman is gaining national attention. Mr.Grossman, who in 1984 was a 19-year-old drug-addicted and high-school drop-out with a juvenile record for trespassing. He and a friend, Thanye Taylor, drove to an isolated nature reserve to fire a found handgun for fun. Meanwhile, a wildlife officer stopped them, searched their car and confiscated the gun. Martin, who is reported to have an IQ of 77, and a history of epilepsy, panicked and began pleading with the officer not to report him as he would be in violation of his probation. When she reached for her radio a struggle ensued, which resulted in the officer reaching for her own gun. Then Martin panicked, snatched her gun and shot her. A psychiatrist who evaluated him concluded, from his psychological and medical condition, that he could not have formed the intent to kill. Taylor served less than three years in prison while Martin was sentenced to death.
Mr. Grossman has been on death row for over 25 years!
The petition argues that the death sentence meted out to him is disproportionate in the extreme and that his defense was inadequate. Only one percent of murder sentences end in capital punishment, crimes commonly referred to as "the worst of the worst."
The petition further argues that Martin's crime, considering the lack of premeditation, his drug addiction, his IQ level, and several other compelling factors does not qualify for the death penalty, and that the court ignored mitigating circumstances. Only four of thirty-three available defense witnesses were used in the sentencing phase. Additionally, there are allegations of prosecutorial misconduct as well. A fellow prisoner and key witness for the government swears that he lied at trial, and that he was rewarded by having his own charges dropped. Martin's appeals regarding these issues have been rejected without hearings, but they could be considered in a clemency petition.
"Martin has shown deep and profound remorse over the years, and is no longer the same wild reckless person he was 26 years ago" argues Rabbi Menachem Katz of the Aleph Institute, who has visited Martin regularly over the past 15 years.
As of this release, Governor Crist has thus far not agreed to grant a stay. Execution is set for NEXT TUESDAY!- February 16 at 6:00 PM.
We URGE YOU to call, fax or email the Governor and ask for clemency and mercy for Martin Grossman:
Phone: Fax: email: Charlie.Crist@eog.myflorida.com
Please sign the online petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-martin-grossman
Those organizations or individuals who can assist in this emergency effort are asked to contact
Rabbi Zvi Boyarsky at zvi@aleph-institute.org
Or Rabbi Moshe Matz at mmatz@agudathisrael
Rabbi Shimon Weiss at luach@YishivaNet.com
Save Martin Grossman
Target:
50,000
Sponsored by:
Aleph Institute and Chabad
Community Leaders Seek to Prevent Execution:
Both Jewish and non-Jewish community leaders are petitioning Florida Governor Charlie Crist for an emergency stay of execution for death-row prisoner, Martin Grossman, scheduled to for Feb. 16th.
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America, are amongst a list of 200 organizations pleading with the Florida Governor to grant a 60 day stay which would enable for a comprehensive clemency application to be presented to the court.
The case of Martin Grossman is gaining national attention. Mr.Grossman, who in 1984 was a 19-year-old drug-addicted and high-school drop-out with a juvenile record for trespassing. He and a friend, Thanye Taylor, drove to an isolated nature reserve to fire a found handgun for fun. Meanwhile, a wildlife officer stopped them, searched their car and confiscated the gun. Martin, who is reported to have an IQ of 77, and a history of epilepsy, panicked and began pleading with the officer not to report him as he would be in violation of his probation. When she reached for her radio a struggle ensued, which resulted in the officer reaching for her own gun. Then Martin panicked, snatched her gun and shot her. A psychiatrist who evaluated him concluded, from his psychological and medical condition, that he could not have formed the intent to kill. Taylor served less than three years in prison while Martin was sentenced to death.
Mr. Grossman has been on death row for over 25 years!
The petition argues that the death sentence meted out to him is disproportionate in the extreme and that his defense was inadequate. Only one percent of murder sentences end in capital punishment, crimes commonly referred to as "the worst of the worst."
The petition further argues that Martin's crime, considering the lack of premeditation, his drug addiction, his IQ level, and several other compelling factors does not qualify for the death penalty, and that the court ignored mitigating circumstances. Only four of thirty-three available defense witnesses were used in the sentencing phase. Additionally, there are allegations of prosecutorial misconduct as well. A fellow prisoner and key witness for the government swears that he lied at trial, and that he was rewarded by having his own charges dropped. Martin's appeals regarding these issues have been rejected without hearings, but they could be considered in a clemency petition.
"Martin has shown deep and profound remorse over the years, and is no longer the same wild reckless person he was 26 years ago" argues Rabbi Menachem Katz of the Aleph Institute, who has visited Martin regularly over the past 15 years.
As of this release, Governor Crist has thus far not agreed to grant a stay. Execution is set for NEXT TUESDAY!- February 16 at 6:00 PM.
We URGE YOU to call, fax or email the Governor and ask for clemency and mercy for Martin Grossman:
Phone: Fax: email: Charlie.Crist@eog.myflorida.com
Please sign the online petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/save-martin-grossman
Those organizations or individuals who can assist in this emergency effort are asked to contact
Rabbi Zvi Boyarsky at zvi@aleph-institute.org
Or Rabbi Moshe Matz at mmatz@agudathisrael
Rabbi Shimon Weiss at luach@YishivaNet.com
Alan Dershowitz On The Martin Grossman Situation
Alan Dershowitz On The Martin Grossman Situation
http://matzav.com/alan-dershowitz-on-the-martin-grossman-situation
Wednesday February 10, 2010 12:01 PM
Jewish-American legalist, Prof. Alan M. Dershowitz has weighed in on the
matter of Martin Grossman, a death-row inmate scheduled forexecution next
Tuesday. The following comments by Professor Dershowitz were obtained by
Matzav.com:
"Even 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. He does ?not belong on death row.
His crime, committed when he was a teenager, was unplanned, ?unpremeditated
and impulsive - the product of a serious mental illness, that can now be
proved ?by medical technology that was unavailable at the time of his
sentencing.
"He has been in prison ?for more than a quarter of a century, during which
time he has been a model prisoner who has ?shown great remorse for what he
did. All that he is seeking now is a 60-day postponement of his ?execution,
so that his supporters can martial the evidence and present his case for
clemency.
"No ?one should be rushed to execution while doubts remain unresolved.
Justice demands that he be ?given the 60 days to prove that he does not
deserve to die at the hands of the state." ?
{Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}
http://matzav.com/alan-dershowitz-on-the-martin-grossman-situation
http://matzav.com/alan-dershowitz-on-the-martin-grossman-situation
Wednesday February 10, 2010 12:01 PM
Jewish-American legalist, Prof. Alan M. Dershowitz has weighed in on the
matter of Martin Grossman, a death-row inmate scheduled forexecution next
Tuesday. The following comments by Professor Dershowitz were obtained by
Matzav.com:
"Even 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. He does ?not belong on death row.
His crime, committed when he was a teenager, was unplanned, ?unpremeditated
and impulsive - the product of a serious mental illness, that can now be
proved ?by medical technology that was unavailable at the time of his
sentencing.
"He has been in prison ?for more than a quarter of a century, during which
time he has been a model prisoner who has ?shown great remorse for what he
did. All that he is seeking now is a 60-day postponement of his ?execution,
so that his supporters can martial the evidence and present his case for
clemency.
"No ?one should be rushed to execution while doubts remain unresolved.
Justice demands that he be ?given the 60 days to prove that he does not
deserve to die at the hands of the state." ?
{Noam Amdurski-Matzav.com Newscenter}
http://matzav.com/alan-dershowitz-on-the-martin-grossman-situation
Orthodox groups ask clemency for Jewish killer
Orthodox groups ask clemency for Jewish killer
By Ron Kampeas · February 10, 2010
(JTA) -- Seven Orthodox Jewish groups appealed to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to grant clemency to a convicted Jewish murderer on death row.
Martin Edward Grossman, whose execution has been scheduled for Feb. 16, killed Margaret Park, a state wildlife officer, on Dec. 13, 1984.
The seven signatories -- Agudath Israel of America, the Orthodox Union, the Rabbinical Council of America, the National Council of Young Israel, The Aleph Institute, United Jewish Community Advocacy Relations and Enrichment, and United Jewish Organizations -- ask Gov. Charlie Crist to allow Grossman to spend the rest of his life in prison.
"There are several factors in this case that militate against imposing the ultimate penalty of capital punishment," says the letter, which was signed by the groups' leaders. "Mr. Grossman was all of 19 years old at the time he committed his crime., He may have killed, but he is not a killer. He acted under the influence of drugs and alcohol."
The letter goes on to describe Grossman having become, since his imprisonment, "a proud practitioner of his faith and a humble servant of his G-d" and asks for a face-to-face meeting with Crist.
Grossman was 19 when Park tried to arrest him for shooting a stolen gun in an undeveloped area. He and a companion beat Park before shooting her with her own gun. At the time Grossman was on probation for grand theft and breaking and entering.
The Florida Supreme Court on Monday upheld Grossman's death sentence.
The court denied Grossman's claims that he was entitled to a new hearing to determine if his trial lawyer was ineffective for not having him examined by a competent mental health professional and for not presenting mitigating evidence to avoid a death sentence.
By Ron Kampeas · February 10, 2010
(JTA) -- Seven Orthodox Jewish groups appealed to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to grant clemency to a convicted Jewish murderer on death row.
Martin Edward Grossman, whose execution has been scheduled for Feb. 16, killed Margaret Park, a state wildlife officer, on Dec. 13, 1984.
The seven signatories -- Agudath Israel of America, the Orthodox Union, the Rabbinical Council of America, the National Council of Young Israel, The Aleph Institute, United Jewish Community Advocacy Relations and Enrichment, and United Jewish Organizations -- ask Gov. Charlie Crist to allow Grossman to spend the rest of his life in prison.
"There are several factors in this case that militate against imposing the ultimate penalty of capital punishment," says the letter, which was signed by the groups' leaders. "Mr. Grossman was all of 19 years old at the time he committed his crime., He may have killed, but he is not a killer. He acted under the influence of drugs and alcohol."
The letter goes on to describe Grossman having become, since his imprisonment, "a proud practitioner of his faith and a humble servant of his G-d" and asks for a face-to-face meeting with Crist.
Grossman was 19 when Park tried to arrest him for shooting a stolen gun in an undeveloped area. He and a companion beat Park before shooting her with her own gun. At the time Grossman was on probation for grand theft and breaking and entering.
The Florida Supreme Court on Monday upheld Grossman's death sentence.
The court denied Grossman's claims that he was entitled to a new hearing to determine if his trial lawyer was ineffective for not having him examined by a competent mental health professional and for not presenting mitigating evidence to avoid a death sentence.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Leaders Seek to Prevent Execution
Grossman, on the day of his Bar Mitzvah
http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=17350
Leaders Seek to Prevent Execution
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America, are amongst a list of 200 organizations pleading with the Florida Governor to grant a 60 day stay which would enable for a comprehensive clemency application to be presented and considered.
Chabad.Info Editor
25 Shvat 5770 (09.02.2010)
Both Jewish and non-Jewish community leaders are petitioning Florida Governor Charlie Crist for an emergency stay of execution for death-row prisoner Martin Grossman, scheduled to be executed on Feb. 16th.
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America,Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America, are amongst a list of 200 organizations pleading with the Florida Governor to grant a 60 day stay which would enable for a comprehensive clemency application to be presented and considered.
The case of Martin Grossman is gaining national attention. Grossman, in 1984 was a 19-year-old drug-addicted high-school drop-out with a juvenile record for trespassing. He and a friend, Thanye Taylor, drove to an isolated nature reserve to fire a found handgun. A wildlife officer stopped them, searched their car and confiscated the gun. Martin,who is reported to have an IQ of 77, panicked and began pleading with the officer not to report him as he would be in violation of his probation. When she reached for her radio a struggle ensued, which resulted in the officer reaching for her own gun, whereupon Martin panicked, snatched her gun and shot her. A psychiatrist who evaluated him concluded, from his psychological and medical condition, that he could not have formed the intent to kill. Taylor served less than three years in prison while Martin was sentenced to death.
Mr. Grossman has been on death row for over 25 years.
The petition argues that the death sentence meted out to him is disproportionate in the extreme and that his defense was inadequate. Only one percent of murder sentences end in capital punishment, crimes commonly referred to as “the worst of the worst.”
The petition further argues that Martin’s crime, considering the lack of premeditation, his drug addiction, his IQ level, and several other compelling factors does not qualify for the death penalty, and that the court ignored mitigating circumstances. Only four of thirty-three available defense witnesses were used in the sentencing phase. Additionally, there are allegations of prosecutorial misconduct as well. A fellow prisoner and key witness for the government swears that he lied at trial, and that he was rewarded by having his own charges dropped. Martin Grossman’s appeals regarding these issues have been rejected without hearings, but they could be considered in a clemency petition.
“Martin has shown deep and profound remorse over the years, and is no longer the same wild reckless person he was 26 years ago” argues Rabbi menachem Katz from the Aleph Institute, who has visited Martin regularly over the past 15 years.
As of this release, Governor Crist has not agreed to grant a stay. Execution is set for February 16 at 6:00 PM.
Concerned citizens are encouraged to call or email the Governor and ask for clemency and mercy for Martin Grossman:
Charlie.Crist@eog.myflorida.com
http://www.chabad.info/index.php?url=article_en&id=17350
Leaders Seek to Prevent Execution
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America, are amongst a list of 200 organizations pleading with the Florida Governor to grant a 60 day stay which would enable for a comprehensive clemency application to be presented and considered.
Chabad.Info Editor
25 Shvat 5770 (09.02.2010)
Both Jewish and non-Jewish community leaders are petitioning Florida Governor Charlie Crist for an emergency stay of execution for death-row prisoner Martin Grossman, scheduled to be executed on Feb. 16th.
National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America,Orthodox Union, Chabad, Satmar, Rabbinical Alliance of America, are amongst a list of 200 organizations pleading with the Florida Governor to grant a 60 day stay which would enable for a comprehensive clemency application to be presented and considered.
The case of Martin Grossman is gaining national attention. Grossman, in 1984 was a 19-year-old drug-addicted high-school drop-out with a juvenile record for trespassing. He and a friend, Thanye Taylor, drove to an isolated nature reserve to fire a found handgun. A wildlife officer stopped them, searched their car and confiscated the gun. Martin,who is reported to have an IQ of 77, panicked and began pleading with the officer not to report him as he would be in violation of his probation. When she reached for her radio a struggle ensued, which resulted in the officer reaching for her own gun, whereupon Martin panicked, snatched her gun and shot her. A psychiatrist who evaluated him concluded, from his psychological and medical condition, that he could not have formed the intent to kill. Taylor served less than three years in prison while Martin was sentenced to death.
Mr. Grossman has been on death row for over 25 years.
The petition argues that the death sentence meted out to him is disproportionate in the extreme and that his defense was inadequate. Only one percent of murder sentences end in capital punishment, crimes commonly referred to as “the worst of the worst.”
The petition further argues that Martin’s crime, considering the lack of premeditation, his drug addiction, his IQ level, and several other compelling factors does not qualify for the death penalty, and that the court ignored mitigating circumstances. Only four of thirty-three available defense witnesses were used in the sentencing phase. Additionally, there are allegations of prosecutorial misconduct as well. A fellow prisoner and key witness for the government swears that he lied at trial, and that he was rewarded by having his own charges dropped. Martin Grossman’s appeals regarding these issues have been rejected without hearings, but they could be considered in a clemency petition.
“Martin has shown deep and profound remorse over the years, and is no longer the same wild reckless person he was 26 years ago” argues Rabbi menachem Katz from the Aleph Institute, who has visited Martin regularly over the past 15 years.
As of this release, Governor Crist has not agreed to grant a stay. Execution is set for February 16 at 6:00 PM.
Concerned citizens are encouraged to call or email the Governor and ask for clemency and mercy for Martin Grossman:
Charlie.Crist@eog.myflorida.com
10000 signatures to save Martin Grossman
10000 persons have now signed the petition to save Martin Grossman`s life.
The petition asks for help to encourage the Governor to allow Martin to
spend life in prison instead of being executed.
The petition is issued by the Aleph Institute and Chabad.
You can read the petition here :
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/584394380
The petition asks for help to encourage the Governor to allow Martin to
spend life in prison instead of being executed.
The petition is issued by the Aleph Institute and Chabad.
You can read the petition here :
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/petition/584394380
Court upholds Jewish inmate’s death sentence
http://jta.org/news/article/2010/02/09/1010543/florida-court-upholds-jewish
Court upholds Jewish inmate’s death sentence
February 9, 2010
(JTA) -- The Florida Supreme Court upheld a death sentence against a Jewish death row inmate.
The court on Monday denied Martin Edward Grossman's claims that he was entitled to a new hearing to determine if his trial lawyer was ineffective for not having him examined by a competent mental health professional and for not presenting mitigating evidence to avoid a death sentence.
Court upholds Jewish inmate’s death sentence
February 9, 2010
(JTA) -- The Florida Supreme Court upheld a death sentence against a Jewish death row inmate.
The court on Monday denied Martin Edward Grossman's claims that he was entitled to a new hearing to determine if his trial lawyer was ineffective for not having him examined by a competent mental health professional and for not presenting mitigating evidence to avoid a death sentence.
Powerful Letter from Martin Grossman about spending Hanukkah on Death Row
Powerful Letter from Martin Grossman about spending Hanukkah on Death Row
Martin Grossman, on the Day of His Bar Mitzvah
Martin wrote the following powerful and poignant lette to his Aunt Rosol, Hanukkah, 2008.
“Dear Tantellaski, Chanukkah Night
Feelin (drawing of a sad face with tears)
Happy Chanukkah,
May this wacky letter find you all in great spirituality and healthfulness.
Really missin’ my mammalaski…
Thank you… for the unexpected $50.00 gelt,
And the book of cute holiday stamps.
Thank you…. for the love and wishes for Chanukkah.
Be forwarned, the other page enclosed was scribbled
during, shortly after my watching 2 Chanukkah specials on P.B.S.
Please photocopy and give one to Rhonda for me.
Maybe she’d want to include it in the documentary?
I’m outta here.
May the lord always be with, bless, love and protect you always.
Love always,
Martin
I have just been blessed to view two Chanukkah programs on P.B.S.
1) “A Chunukkah Celebration” hosted by the beautiful Fran Drescher.
2) “Lights Celebrate Hanukkah Live Concert 2008”
The following are some raw emotions during/after my viewing:
Being able to feel such sadness and heartache at one point during
Chanukkah - or this is the first Chanukkah without my dear mother…
and quite probably “my very last Chanukkah” due to my situation!
But to also feel such joy/pain, pride/regret, watching all of the beautiful
children and young adults singing the blessings – -
I am overwhelmed by a wave of emotion,
my heart begins to swell, my throat tighten up,
and all of these damn cold tears stream down my cheeks
instantly I have been reduced to a blubbering mess.
Something so moving, so beautiful,
yet also so very painful and bittersweet
the absolute reality of my loneliness takes hold of me,
for the first time in 24 years I now feel its’ total being!
No one to share the miracle with —
No wife, No girlfriend, No children
No fellowship here in Death Row – i am all alone here amongst 300 + !
No candles to light, No menorah, No Dreidel to spin (the remants of my youth)
No latkes, g-d how i miss the latkes.
Please understand this is how i your brother in Judaism must endure …
I am but an island of Judaism here,
self supporting, self reliant, steadfast in my beliefs, observances.
Lord I long for my own maccabean miracle,
surviving in my existence for over 24 years and counting, quite a feat,
(Insert: Unable to read this line)
Instantly I have been reduced to a blubbering mess.
Something so moving, so beautiful,
Yet also oh so very painful and bittersweet
The absolute reality of my loneliness takes hold of me,
For the first time in 24 years I now feel its’ total being!
No one to share the miracle with –
No wife, No Girlfriend, No Children,
No fellowship here in Death Row – I am all alone here amongst 300 + !
No latkes, g-d how i miss the latkes.
Please understand this is how i your brother in Judaism must endure …
I am, but an island of Judaism here,
Self supporting, self reliant, steadfast in my beliefs, observances.
Lord I long for my own maccabean miracle,
Surviving in my existence for over 24 years and counting, quite a feat
g-d willing I might still have more survival aspects to mount.
Martin Edward Grossman #A089742
On Chanukkah Kislev 25. 5769.”
Martin Grossman, on the Day of His Bar Mitzvah
Martin wrote the following powerful and poignant lette to his Aunt Rosol, Hanukkah, 2008.
“Dear Tantellaski, Chanukkah Night
Feelin (drawing of a sad face with tears)
Happy Chanukkah,
May this wacky letter find you all in great spirituality and healthfulness.
Really missin’ my mammalaski…
Thank you… for the unexpected $50.00 gelt,
And the book of cute holiday stamps.
Thank you…. for the love and wishes for Chanukkah.
Be forwarned, the other page enclosed was scribbled
during, shortly after my watching 2 Chanukkah specials on P.B.S.
Please photocopy and give one to Rhonda for me.
Maybe she’d want to include it in the documentary?
I’m outta here.
May the lord always be with, bless, love and protect you always.
Love always,
Martin
I have just been blessed to view two Chanukkah programs on P.B.S.
1) “A Chunukkah Celebration” hosted by the beautiful Fran Drescher.
2) “Lights Celebrate Hanukkah Live Concert 2008”
The following are some raw emotions during/after my viewing:
Being able to feel such sadness and heartache at one point during
Chanukkah - or this is the first Chanukkah without my dear mother…
and quite probably “my very last Chanukkah” due to my situation!
But to also feel such joy/pain, pride/regret, watching all of the beautiful
children and young adults singing the blessings – -
I am overwhelmed by a wave of emotion,
my heart begins to swell, my throat tighten up,
and all of these damn cold tears stream down my cheeks
instantly I have been reduced to a blubbering mess.
Something so moving, so beautiful,
yet also so very painful and bittersweet
the absolute reality of my loneliness takes hold of me,
for the first time in 24 years I now feel its’ total being!
No one to share the miracle with —
No wife, No girlfriend, No children
No fellowship here in Death Row – i am all alone here amongst 300 + !
No candles to light, No menorah, No Dreidel to spin (the remants of my youth)
No latkes, g-d how i miss the latkes.
Please understand this is how i your brother in Judaism must endure …
I am but an island of Judaism here,
self supporting, self reliant, steadfast in my beliefs, observances.
Lord I long for my own maccabean miracle,
surviving in my existence for over 24 years and counting, quite a feat,
(Insert: Unable to read this line)
Instantly I have been reduced to a blubbering mess.
Something so moving, so beautiful,
Yet also oh so very painful and bittersweet
The absolute reality of my loneliness takes hold of me,
For the first time in 24 years I now feel its’ total being!
No one to share the miracle with –
No wife, No Girlfriend, No Children,
No fellowship here in Death Row – I am all alone here amongst 300 + !
No latkes, g-d how i miss the latkes.
Please understand this is how i your brother in Judaism must endure …
I am, but an island of Judaism here,
Self supporting, self reliant, steadfast in my beliefs, observances.
Lord I long for my own maccabean miracle,
Surviving in my existence for over 24 years and counting, quite a feat
g-d willing I might still have more survival aspects to mount.
Martin Edward Grossman #A089742
On Chanukkah Kislev 25. 5769.”
Florida Supreme Court Refuses To Halt Execution Of Martin Grossman Next Week
Florida Supreme Court Refuses To Halt Execution Of Martin Grossman Next Week
http://matzav.com/florida-supreme-court-refuses-to-halt-execution-of-martin-grossman-next-week
Monday February 8, 2010 4:46 PM
The Florida Supreme Court today refused to halt the execution of a man convicted of murdering a state wildlife officer 25 years ago. The justices rejected Martin Edward Grossman’s claims (see Matzav.com’s reports here and here) that he wasn’t given a fair chance to prove his trial lawyer had been ineffective nor allowed to present certain mitigating evidence against a death sentence. Grossman’s execution is set for next week.
In a 6-0 unsigned opinion, the justices wrote that his arguments had been raised and rejected in prior appeals.
The high court also ruled Grossman was premature in claiming he may be mentally incompetent.
An insanity claim first must go to Gov. Charlie Crist for a ruling before it can be appealed. Upon being notified that an inmate may be incompetent, state law requires the governor to appoint a panel of three psychiatrists to examine the prisoner before making a decision based on the panel’s recommendations.
A spokeswoman for a state legal office that represents death row inmates said a federal court appeal also is planned.
Grossman, 45, is set for execution Feb. 16 for the 1984 murder of wildlife officer Margaret “Peggy” Park, 26, in a wooded area of Pinellas County.
Park was shot with her own gun after confiscating a stolen handgun Grossman, then 19, and another teen had been shooting in the woods.
Grossman, who was on probation for a burglary, beat Park with her flashlight as she picked up her radio microphone to call the sheriff’s office, prosecutors said. They said she drew her gun and fired a shot that missed before Grossman wrestled it from her and shot her once in the back of the head.
Chief Justice Peggy Quince did not participate in the ruling.
{Miami Herald/Matzav.com Newscenter}
http://matzav.com/florida-supreme-court-refuses-to-halt-execution-of-martin-grossman-next-week
Monday February 8, 2010 4:46 PM
The Florida Supreme Court today refused to halt the execution of a man convicted of murdering a state wildlife officer 25 years ago. The justices rejected Martin Edward Grossman’s claims (see Matzav.com’s reports here and here) that he wasn’t given a fair chance to prove his trial lawyer had been ineffective nor allowed to present certain mitigating evidence against a death sentence. Grossman’s execution is set for next week.
In a 6-0 unsigned opinion, the justices wrote that his arguments had been raised and rejected in prior appeals.
The high court also ruled Grossman was premature in claiming he may be mentally incompetent.
An insanity claim first must go to Gov. Charlie Crist for a ruling before it can be appealed. Upon being notified that an inmate may be incompetent, state law requires the governor to appoint a panel of three psychiatrists to examine the prisoner before making a decision based on the panel’s recommendations.
A spokeswoman for a state legal office that represents death row inmates said a federal court appeal also is planned.
Grossman, 45, is set for execution Feb. 16 for the 1984 murder of wildlife officer Margaret “Peggy” Park, 26, in a wooded area of Pinellas County.
Park was shot with her own gun after confiscating a stolen handgun Grossman, then 19, and another teen had been shooting in the woods.
Grossman, who was on probation for a burglary, beat Park with her flashlight as she picked up her radio microphone to call the sheriff’s office, prosecutors said. They said she drew her gun and fired a shot that missed before Grossman wrestled it from her and shot her once in the back of the head.
Chief Justice Peggy Quince did not participate in the ruling.
{Miami Herald/Matzav.com Newscenter}
Florida Supreme Court opinion in Martin Grossman
http://www.martingrossman.com/legal/fscopinion.htm
http://www.martingrossman.com/legal/Filed_02-08-2010_Opinion.pdf
Supreme Court of Florida
No. SC10-118
MARTIN EDWARD GROSSMAN,
Appellant,
vs.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
[February 8, 2010]
http://www.martingrossman.com/legal/Filed_02-08-2010_Opinion.pdf
Supreme Court of Florida
No. SC10-118
MARTIN EDWARD GROSSMAN,
Appellant,
vs.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
[February 8, 2010]
Fla. justices refuse to halt execution next week
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1469565.html
Fla. justices refuse to halt execution next week
The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Florida Supreme Court has refused to halt the execution next week of a man convicted of murdering a state wildlife officer 26 years ago.
The justices Monday rejected claims from Martin Edward Grossman that he wasn't given a fair chance to prove his trial lawyer had been ineffective nor allowed to present certain mitigating evidence against a death sentence.
The high court also ruled he was premature in arguing that he may be mentally incompetent. An insanity claim must first go to Gov. Charlie Crist for a ruling before it can be appealed.
Grossman, 45, is set for execution Feb. 16 for the 1984 murder of wildlife officer Margaret "Peggy" Park, 26, in Pinellas County. She was shot with her own gun.
Fla. justices refuse to halt execution next week
The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The Florida Supreme Court has refused to halt the execution next week of a man convicted of murdering a state wildlife officer 26 years ago.
The justices Monday rejected claims from Martin Edward Grossman that he wasn't given a fair chance to prove his trial lawyer had been ineffective nor allowed to present certain mitigating evidence against a death sentence.
The high court also ruled he was premature in arguing that he may be mentally incompetent. An insanity claim must first go to Gov. Charlie Crist for a ruling before it can be appealed.
Grossman, 45, is set for execution Feb. 16 for the 1984 murder of wildlife officer Margaret "Peggy" Park, 26, in Pinellas County. She was shot with her own gun.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Florida rabbis seek to prevent Jew's execution
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3845600,00.html
Florida rabbis seek to prevent Jew's execution
Martin Grossman, 45, convicted of murdering female police officer 26 years ago. His execution approved by Florida governor, scheduled to take place in nine days
Yitzhak Benhorin Published: 02.07.10, 18:07 / Israel News
WASHINGTON – Florida rabbis in recent days have been working to prevent the execution of Martin Grossman, 45, who was convicted of murdering a female police officer in a nature reserve 26 years ago.
A petition submitted to Florida Governor Charlie Crist pleaded with him to have pity on Grossman, who is scheduled to be executed with a lethal injection in nine days.
Grossman was 19 when he and his 17-year-old friend traveled to an isolated nature reserve to fire a stolen handgun. The two were approached by wildlife officer Peggy Park, 26, who asked Grossman for his weapon license.
Grossman pleaded with her to let him go, as he was violating his probation for a burglary charge, but she refused. When she tried to call for help over the radio, Grossman hit her 20 to 30 times, and when she tried to reach her weapon and fired one shot, Grossman shot her in the back of the head.
Grossman's friend, Thayne Taylor, served three years in prison for his involvement in the incident, while Grossman himself was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
Grossman's lawyer appealed to the Florida Supreme Court in a bid to stop the execution, saying that his client did not undergo a psychiatric evaluation during his trial.
Last week, Governor Crist signed Grossman's death warrant, after years of legal discussions. Now the Aleph Institute – a rabbinical institution caring for Jewish prisoners – is attempting to convince the government to hold a hearing and pardon Grossman.
Rabbi Menachem Katz, who visited Grossman in jail over the past 15 years, says that the Jewish prisoner has reformed and regrets his actions. If the sentence is implemented, Grossman will be the 25th person to be executed in the state of Florida in the past decade.
Florida rabbis seek to prevent Jew's execution
Martin Grossman, 45, convicted of murdering female police officer 26 years ago. His execution approved by Florida governor, scheduled to take place in nine days
Yitzhak Benhorin Published: 02.07.10, 18:07 / Israel News
WASHINGTON – Florida rabbis in recent days have been working to prevent the execution of Martin Grossman, 45, who was convicted of murdering a female police officer in a nature reserve 26 years ago.
A petition submitted to Florida Governor Charlie Crist pleaded with him to have pity on Grossman, who is scheduled to be executed with a lethal injection in nine days.
Grossman was 19 when he and his 17-year-old friend traveled to an isolated nature reserve to fire a stolen handgun. The two were approached by wildlife officer Peggy Park, 26, who asked Grossman for his weapon license.
Grossman pleaded with her to let him go, as he was violating his probation for a burglary charge, but she refused. When she tried to call for help over the radio, Grossman hit her 20 to 30 times, and when she tried to reach her weapon and fired one shot, Grossman shot her in the back of the head.
Grossman's friend, Thayne Taylor, served three years in prison for his involvement in the incident, while Grossman himself was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
Grossman's lawyer appealed to the Florida Supreme Court in a bid to stop the execution, saying that his client did not undergo a psychiatric evaluation during his trial.
Last week, Governor Crist signed Grossman's death warrant, after years of legal discussions. Now the Aleph Institute – a rabbinical institution caring for Jewish prisoners – is attempting to convince the government to hold a hearing and pardon Grossman.
Rabbi Menachem Katz, who visited Grossman in jail over the past 15 years, says that the Jewish prisoner has reformed and regrets his actions. If the sentence is implemented, Grossman will be the 25th person to be executed in the state of Florida in the past decade.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Davis defense begins presenting insanity defense
By ROBERT NAPPER - rnapper@bradenton.c
BRADENTON - A doctor testified this morning in court that brain scans of Clifford Davis showed abnormalities that may have resulted in a psychotic brain disorder.
California psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Wu testified on behalf of Davis' defense, which is hoping to spare Davis the death penalty by trying to prove he was insane when he killed his mother and grandfather in December 2005.
Davis, 23, has admitted in court - outside the presence of the jury - that he killed his mother, Stephanie Davis, and grandfather, Joel Hill, in a Wares Creek apartment he shared with his mother.
During cross examination, Wu acknowledged to Assistant State Attorney Art Brown that the testing done on Davis' brain did not provide a definitive diagnosis as to whether he is insane.
In addition to two counts of first-degree murder, Davis is also accused of sexually assaulting his mother's dead body and robbery.
Davis' attorney, Assistant Public Defender Carolyn Schlemmer, is expected to take the rest of the day presenting witnesses as part her client's insanity defense. Circuit Judge Gilbert Smith said the jury could begin deliberations as early as Tuesday.
If Davis is convicted, a punishment phase would then take place during which jurors will make a recommendation to Smith on whether Davis should be sent to death row. Smith would then make a ruling while giving the jury's recommendation great weight, according to Florida law.
Smith would decide Davis' fate should a jury find him not guilty by reason of insanity, which could include a lifetime commitment to a mental hospital.
BRADENTON - A doctor testified this morning in court that brain scans of Clifford Davis showed abnormalities that may have resulted in a psychotic brain disorder.
California psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Wu testified on behalf of Davis' defense, which is hoping to spare Davis the death penalty by trying to prove he was insane when he killed his mother and grandfather in December 2005.
Davis, 23, has admitted in court - outside the presence of the jury - that he killed his mother, Stephanie Davis, and grandfather, Joel Hill, in a Wares Creek apartment he shared with his mother.
During cross examination, Wu acknowledged to Assistant State Attorney Art Brown that the testing done on Davis' brain did not provide a definitive diagnosis as to whether he is insane.
In addition to two counts of first-degree murder, Davis is also accused of sexually assaulting his mother's dead body and robbery.
Davis' attorney, Assistant Public Defender Carolyn Schlemmer, is expected to take the rest of the day presenting witnesses as part her client's insanity defense. Circuit Judge Gilbert Smith said the jury could begin deliberations as early as Tuesday.
If Davis is convicted, a punishment phase would then take place during which jurors will make a recommendation to Smith on whether Davis should be sent to death row. Smith would then make a ruling while giving the jury's recommendation great weight, according to Florida law.
Smith would decide Davis' fate should a jury find him not guilty by reason of insanity, which could include a lifetime commitment to a mental hospital.
Death Penalty Juror Weighs In On Massacre Suspect Facing Death
Juror In Turnpike Murders Speaks About Merhige Being Tried As Death Penalty Case
POSTED: 12:36 pm EST January 29, 2010
UPDATED: 3:04 pm EST January 29, 2010
JUNO BEACH, Fla. -- A juror in the turnpike murder trial who helped sentence the killers to death said that when innocent children are involved, it makes it easier to send someone to death row.
Rick DiCresce said jurors in Paul Michael Merhige's death penalty case will face a similar situation.
"A little 6-year-old was killed while she was sleeping," said DiCresce. "You know, that's how I felt about the turnpike murders. I saw no reason why the children needed to be killed."
DiCresce helped convict and send Ricardo Sanchez and Daniel Troya to death row for fatally shooting a family of four, including 3- and 4-year-old boys. The family was found dead on the side of Florida's Turnpike near Port St. Lucie on Oct. 13, 2006.
Merhige is accused of fatally shooting four relatives, including his 6-year-old cousin, after a Thanksgiving dinner in Jupiter. He is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder.
The Palm Beach County state attorney Thursday announced plans to try Merhige as a death penalty case.
POSTED: 12:36 pm EST January 29, 2010
UPDATED: 3:04 pm EST January 29, 2010
JUNO BEACH, Fla. -- A juror in the turnpike murder trial who helped sentence the killers to death said that when innocent children are involved, it makes it easier to send someone to death row.
Rick DiCresce said jurors in Paul Michael Merhige's death penalty case will face a similar situation.
"A little 6-year-old was killed while she was sleeping," said DiCresce. "You know, that's how I felt about the turnpike murders. I saw no reason why the children needed to be killed."
DiCresce helped convict and send Ricardo Sanchez and Daniel Troya to death row for fatally shooting a family of four, including 3- and 4-year-old boys. The family was found dead on the side of Florida's Turnpike near Port St. Lucie on Oct. 13, 2006.
Merhige is accused of fatally shooting four relatives, including his 6-year-old cousin, after a Thanksgiving dinner in Jupiter. He is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted first-degree murder.
The Palm Beach County state attorney Thursday announced plans to try Merhige as a death penalty case.
Inmate: Cellmate 'needed to be killed'
Reported by: TCPalm
Last Update: 1/29 1:21 pm
STUART, FL — Prison inmate Ricky Silva thinks the death penalty is too severe a punishment for strangling his cellmate with a shoestring. In fact, he’s proud of what he did.
And he wants you to be proud of him, too.
“It’s not like I killed an innocent citizen or somebody who was undeserving,” said Silva, 29, of Terry Bell’s Oct. 14 homicide at the Martin Correctional Institution, where both men were serving life prison terms.
“Under my belief system, there’s still some people in the world that need killing and he was one of them,” he said. “I don’t believe I should pay for killing somebody that needed to be killed.”
Bell, 45, was convicted for raping a young Marion County girl after entering her bedroom through a window while her parents slept down the hall, said to Jerry Burford, a former state prosecutor who tried the 1999 crime. Bell left behind a palm print on a windowsill, he said, and Bell’s DNA was found on the victim.
Silva told several investigators he caught Bell committing an inappropriate act while holding a photo of Silva’s young niece. Silva said that prompted the attack.
But a fellow inmate has said Silva’s attack on Bell was racially motivated, and he’s threatened to kill again, said Assistant State Attorney Nita Denton, who said putting him on death row might be the only way to prevent Silva from harming anyone.
Silva, a former Fort Lauderdale laborer and landscaper serving life in prison, was no stranger to violence after twice brandishing a knife during a 2007 crime spree in Broward County. He has been convicted of armed-robbery, armed-carjacking kidnapping and other crimes.
During an interview at the Martin County jail, Silva recited details of Bell’s death.
“I stepped off the bed, I hit him, when he hit the door he fell to the ground,” he recalled, his voice flat. “I continued to hit him a couple of more times and then I wrapped a noose around his neck and I strangled him.”
A guard found Bell on a bottom bunk lying on his stomach with a black shoestring wrapped around his neck — the other end attached to a metal bed frame. , He was reported dead at 2:40 a.m.
“If you had kids, you would understand,” Silva later told a prison nurse treating wounds to his right hand. “You should thank me for it.”
Despite confessing to the grisly crime, Silva has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. He said it’s wrong for state prosecutors to seek the death penalty against him.
“I don’t believe I should be punished,” he insisted. “I believe people should be celebrating and clapping their hands.”
Denton couldn’t disagree more.
“He has no respect for human life,” she said.
She said based on a stack of confession letters he’s written to her office, she alerted jail authorities that he’d threatened to kill again.
“He was asking for the death penalty,” Denton said, “and that he would continue to kill not only inmates, but the people he came around if he in fact did not get the death penalty.”
Silva in his letters, she said, railed on the prison system and claimed he killed Bell as a message to prison officials.
“I’m tired of the system,” Silva wrote. “They feed us like little kids, they won’t pay us for work ... there is no reason for me not to kill again.”
He’d keep killing, he wrote, until correction officials “give back everything they took from us: packages, weights, hobby crafts, paying jobs and three decent meals a day, or until I am dead.”
“I suggest (Bell) be taken as a warning,” Silva threatened, “because next time it will not be a black inmate who is killed.”
Silva, too, was accused by another inmate of killing Bell, an African-American, because of ties to a white supremacist group.
“He stated he’s made it his mission — from now on — to murder any blacks he gets access to inside the prison system,” George Warner wrote to prosecutors. “That was his chief motive for strangling his black roommate.”
But in a letter Silva wrote to Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers, the New York native presented himself as a struggling drug addict who was abused by an alcoholic mother until at age 3, he and his sister were separated and bounced from one foster family to another. By age 16, he was alone and often in trouble.
“I had no family,” he wrote, “I started using drugs and by 19 I was an addict.”
By age 27, he was sentenced to life in prison for a series of crimes including breaking into a Fort Lauderdale man’s apartment, forcing him at knifepoint to drive to an ATM to withdraw cash before returning $20 to the victim and stealing his SUV. He was arrested shortly after committing an armed carjacking at a 7-Eleven.
Then, while in prison and suicidal, Silva reconnected with his long-lost sister.
“She sent me a picture of my niece and two nephews,” Silva said. “Here is the family I craved, but never had.”
He kept the photo at the edge of his bed. On Oct. 14, he woke up, saw Bell holding it and went into a rage.
“Here was someone violating the only people I have in my life,” Silva said. “I am not trying to justify murder but if people could see it through my eyes they might understand and hopefully agree I don’t deserve the death penalty.”
Meanwhile, Denton’s not buying it.
“If he had such a hatred of Bell because of the crime he committed, he could have asked to be moved,” she said. “He could have asked to be transferred to another prison.”
Reported by: Melissa E. Holsman Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers
Last Update: 1/29 1:21 pm
STUART, FL — Prison inmate Ricky Silva thinks the death penalty is too severe a punishment for strangling his cellmate with a shoestring. In fact, he’s proud of what he did.
And he wants you to be proud of him, too.
“It’s not like I killed an innocent citizen or somebody who was undeserving,” said Silva, 29, of Terry Bell’s Oct. 14 homicide at the Martin Correctional Institution, where both men were serving life prison terms.
“Under my belief system, there’s still some people in the world that need killing and he was one of them,” he said. “I don’t believe I should pay for killing somebody that needed to be killed.”
Bell, 45, was convicted for raping a young Marion County girl after entering her bedroom through a window while her parents slept down the hall, said to Jerry Burford, a former state prosecutor who tried the 1999 crime. Bell left behind a palm print on a windowsill, he said, and Bell’s DNA was found on the victim.
Silva told several investigators he caught Bell committing an inappropriate act while holding a photo of Silva’s young niece. Silva said that prompted the attack.
But a fellow inmate has said Silva’s attack on Bell was racially motivated, and he’s threatened to kill again, said Assistant State Attorney Nita Denton, who said putting him on death row might be the only way to prevent Silva from harming anyone.
Silva, a former Fort Lauderdale laborer and landscaper serving life in prison, was no stranger to violence after twice brandishing a knife during a 2007 crime spree in Broward County. He has been convicted of armed-robbery, armed-carjacking kidnapping and other crimes.
During an interview at the Martin County jail, Silva recited details of Bell’s death.
“I stepped off the bed, I hit him, when he hit the door he fell to the ground,” he recalled, his voice flat. “I continued to hit him a couple of more times and then I wrapped a noose around his neck and I strangled him.”
A guard found Bell on a bottom bunk lying on his stomach with a black shoestring wrapped around his neck — the other end attached to a metal bed frame. , He was reported dead at 2:40 a.m.
“If you had kids, you would understand,” Silva later told a prison nurse treating wounds to his right hand. “You should thank me for it.”
Despite confessing to the grisly crime, Silva has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. He said it’s wrong for state prosecutors to seek the death penalty against him.
“I don’t believe I should be punished,” he insisted. “I believe people should be celebrating and clapping their hands.”
Denton couldn’t disagree more.
“He has no respect for human life,” she said.
She said based on a stack of confession letters he’s written to her office, she alerted jail authorities that he’d threatened to kill again.
“He was asking for the death penalty,” Denton said, “and that he would continue to kill not only inmates, but the people he came around if he in fact did not get the death penalty.”
Silva in his letters, she said, railed on the prison system and claimed he killed Bell as a message to prison officials.
“I’m tired of the system,” Silva wrote. “They feed us like little kids, they won’t pay us for work ... there is no reason for me not to kill again.”
He’d keep killing, he wrote, until correction officials “give back everything they took from us: packages, weights, hobby crafts, paying jobs and three decent meals a day, or until I am dead.”
“I suggest (Bell) be taken as a warning,” Silva threatened, “because next time it will not be a black inmate who is killed.”
Silva, too, was accused by another inmate of killing Bell, an African-American, because of ties to a white supremacist group.
“He stated he’s made it his mission — from now on — to murder any blacks he gets access to inside the prison system,” George Warner wrote to prosecutors. “That was his chief motive for strangling his black roommate.”
But in a letter Silva wrote to Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers, the New York native presented himself as a struggling drug addict who was abused by an alcoholic mother until at age 3, he and his sister were separated and bounced from one foster family to another. By age 16, he was alone and often in trouble.
“I had no family,” he wrote, “I started using drugs and by 19 I was an addict.”
By age 27, he was sentenced to life in prison for a series of crimes including breaking into a Fort Lauderdale man’s apartment, forcing him at knifepoint to drive to an ATM to withdraw cash before returning $20 to the victim and stealing his SUV. He was arrested shortly after committing an armed carjacking at a 7-Eleven.
Then, while in prison and suicidal, Silva reconnected with his long-lost sister.
“She sent me a picture of my niece and two nephews,” Silva said. “Here is the family I craved, but never had.”
He kept the photo at the edge of his bed. On Oct. 14, he woke up, saw Bell holding it and went into a rage.
“Here was someone violating the only people I have in my life,” Silva said. “I am not trying to justify murder but if people could see it through my eyes they might understand and hopefully agree I don’t deserve the death penalty.”
Meanwhile, Denton’s not buying it.
“If he had such a hatred of Bell because of the crime he committed, he could have asked to be moved,” she said. “He could have asked to be transferred to another prison.”
Reported by: Melissa E. Holsman Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers
Amicus brief filed to Florida Supreme Court in Martin Grossman
http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/pub_info/summaries/briefs/10/10-118/Filed_02-04-2010_Amicus_Werner.pdf
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA
IN RE: MARTIN GROSSMAN, Case No.: SC10-118
Appellant,
L.T. Case No.: 84-11698 CFANO
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
_________________________/
EDWARD WERNER, Petitioner
PETITIONER’S AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF APPELLANT’S BRIEF
COMES NOW the Petitioner, Edward Werner, and hereby files this Amicus Curiae
Brief in support of Appellant Martin Grossman.s Brief before this Honorable Court, and
hereby moves this Honorable Court to stay the Appellant.s pending execution. In support
thereof, Petitioner states the following:
I. PETITIONER’S STANDING
Petitioner is a citizen of the State of Florida. The execution is purported to be done in the
name of the People of Florida. Petitioner therefore claims standing as one of the People
of Florida to argue against said execution.
II. FACTS OF THE CASE
The facts of this case are well-known to this Court through the trial record and record on
appeal. In December 1984, at the age of 19, and with no prior criminal record save for a
burglary, the Appellant was with another teenage friend shooting a stolen gun in the
woods of Pinellas County. Officer Margaret Parks of the Florida Freshwater Fish and
Game Commission came upon the Appellant and confronted him for shooting the gun on
public property. The Appellant, being on probation for the aforementioned burglary, and
being in violation of said probation by being within Pinellas County, and being outside
neighboring Pasco County, pleaded with Officer Parks not to report the Appellant for
being there and for shooting the gun. Officer Parks, however, proceeded to repeatedly
taunt the Appellant, then a 19 year old, with an IQ of 77, that he was going to prison.
Appellant then, in an awful spur of the moment action, physically attacked Officer Parks
by hitting her over the head with her flashlight. Officer Parks then raised her .357
Magnum gun at the Appellant, as though about to shoot, at which point Appellant,
recognizing that he was about to be shot to death, wrestled the gun away from Officer
Parks. Officer Parks in the struggle over the gun shot at the Appellant and missed. The
Appellant then shot Officer Parks with her own gun. Appellant was convicted and
sentenced to death, in significant part as a result of subsequently recanted testimony as to
Appellant.s motives, and then spent the past 26 years of his life on Death Row. The State
now seeks to execute a man, with an IQ of 77, who spent the past 26 years on Death
Row, who committed a murder in an unplanned spur of the moment confrontation with
no malice aforethought, at the age of 19, with no meaningful prior criminal record, who
has suffered immeasurably for the past 26 years for what he did, and who is full of
demonstrably sincere remorse for his actions that day 26 years ago.
III. ARGUMENT
1. The jury was inflamed by false testimony which led to the death sentence. Charles
Brewer, the other teenager who was with the Appellant that night, testified that Officer
Parks begged the Appellant and that the Appellant ignored this plea and brazenly shot
Officer Parks. Mr. Brewer, however, in a pang of conscience after he got a little older,
admitted that this was false testimony, and recanted the testimony. In view of this, to
execute the Appellant would be in direct contravention of the most basic standards of
fairness and justice.
2. Appellant.s age and overall criminal profile at the time of the crime argue against the
application of the death penalty. The death penalty is the ultimate penalty. It should be
reserved for only the most cold, calculating killers, not a 19 year old whose only
previously committed crime was a burglary. He was a typical 19 year old delinquent, not
some serial killer or particularly heinous killer. What was he doing when Officer Park
came upon him? Shooting a stolen gun in the woods with a friend. He had no intention,
no plan, no desire to kill someone that day before it happened. What was his violation of
probation? He was a few miles over the County Line from Pasco County into extreme
northern Pinellas County. The death penalty, as the ultimate penalty, should not be given
to a teenage delinquent who made a horrible, tragic decision in an altercation that went
horribly wrong. If the death penalty is appropriate at all, it is appropriate only in the case
of a hardened, remorseless, calculating and premeditated killer, not someone like Martin
Grossman. He was a delinquent, a kid who made bad decisions. He was a kid like yours
or mine, a kid gone wrong in a tragic horrific moment gone wrong that changed two
people.s lives forever. It was not a calculating, deliberate killer who set out to kill in cold
blood. It was something that should not have happened, did not need to happen, that
tragically did happen. Executing the Appellant now only compounds the tragedy.
3. As noted above, Appellant was 19 years old at the time he committed the crime. As we
know, 18 years old is an adult in Florida. The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down as
unconstitutional executing juveniles under 18 years of age. But if 17 is too young to
constitutionally execute, then does that mean that 18 or even 19 is constitutionally
unproblematic? Is there a magic window whereby 17 years and 364 days is
unconstitutionally cruel and unusual but 18 and one day is constitutionally neither cruel
nor unusual? Is it a clear-cut case that any and all aspects of adulthood attach at 18, or
does Florida Law recognize a gradual status, whereby some aspects of adulthood
attach at 18 and some at a later age? Indeed, Florida Law does recognize such a „gradual„,
rather than „instantaneous. reaching of adulthood. The drinking age in Florida is 21, not
18. Thus, by allowing this execution, the Court would de facto be setting forth a policy
whereby in the State of Florida one can not drink at the age of 19, but one can be
executed. Nor is this merely a semantic difference. Indeed, the reason that the drinking
age is 21, even though at 18 a youth can sign a contract and engage in other aspects of
adulthood, is that the law recognizes that a young man.s judgment is not fully developed
at 18, and that, indeed, the young man or woman is undergoing a gradual process of
adulthood, whereby he or she is developing his judgment and sense of responsibility
gradually over those years, rather than all at once when he or she reaches the age of
18. We do not let them drink until 21 because inherent in the law in Florida is the public
policy view that at 21 the young person will make more responsible decisions regarding
the responsible use of alcohol than he or she would at they age of 18. In other words, the
law is saying that a young person is not mature enough, that his or her judgment is not
developed enough, to make the responsible societal decisions about drinking at the age of
18 as will be the case at 21. Thus, according to Florida Law:
i. At 15, a young person gets his or her „restricted. driver.s license, whereby he
or she can drive during daylight hours with an adult present.
ii. At 16, a young person gets his or her driver.s license and can drive at all
times, without adult supervision.
iii. At 17, a young person can join the military or get married with parental
permission.
iv. At 18, the young person can sign contracts, vote, and get married and join the
military without parental permission.
v. At 21, the young person can legally drink and purchase alcohol in the State of
Florida.
vi. At 25, he or she can rent a car (according to all major car rental companies).
We see from the above that Florida law (and society in general) recognizes that young
people gradually mature, and that a 19 year old does not have the same judgment as a 21
year old. Given this, the proper guidance that this Court should take from Florida Law is
not that it is cruel and unusual to execute a 17 year old, but „perfectly okay. to execute a
19 year old, but rather that if it is cruel and unusual to execute a 17 year old, then there
should be a presumption against executing 19 year olds. Or, to put it another way, Florida
Law, in its application of different rights and responsibilities for different age groups,
implies that there should be a „balancing test. in determining whether execution is
appropriate, and that without a doubt one of the major factors to consider in determining
whether that balancing test of appropriateness is met, is the perpetrator.s age. The State,
by contrast, seeks to ignore the Appellant.s age at the time of crime, or at the very least
ascribes no meaningful value to it. It should be noted that, prior to the US Supreme Court
ruling finding execution of 17 year olds cruel, the State was perfectly happy to ignore the
age of the 17 year olds it sought to execute, as well. In that case, as in the case of Jim
Crow laws so many years before it, it was the Federal Judiciary and the Federal
Government that had to step in and tell the State of Florida to do the right thing. This
Court now has the opportunity to do the right thing without having to be told to do so by
the Federal government. This Court now has the opportunity to develop its own
constitutional „balancing test. to determine if an execution is constitutional, and, using
the US Supreme Court.s ruling in striking down execution of 17 year olds, this Court
would understand that age is one of the primary determinants of that constitutional
balancing test. As an additional measure of the wisdom of applying relative weight to
offenses committed at varying ages, it is instructive to look at this Court.s very own
standards regarding aspiring lawyers seeking admission to the Florida Bar and deemed to
be possessing the Bar.s character and fitness standards. As one of the factors this Court
uses in determining the weight to give to applicants. past offenses, in determining their
eligibility for Bar membership, the age at which the offense took place is given
significant weight. We can ask then, if writing bad checks at 19 is less of an offense for
purposes of admittance to the Bar than writing bad checks at 35, then by what standard of
reason is committing murder at the age of 19 not viewed differently by this Court than
committing murder at the age of 35? And if this Court indeed does view committing
murder at age 19 to be different in significant and relevant measure than committing
murder at 35, then by what standard of reason can we allow the society.s ultimate and
worst punishment for a murder committed at 19? Would this Court take the same
global view of the totality of the circumstances in assessing a petitioner.s right to live as
it would in assessing a petitioner.s right to admittance to the Bar? Would this Court apply
the same cookie-cutter age-be-damned one-size-fits-all approach the State seeks to apply
in executing Mr. Grossman, to the process of admitting or rejecting applicants to the Bar?
Or can we admit that relative age IS a factor, and should be, in determining whether a
citizen of Florida purchases a beer, drives a car, is admitted to the Bar, or lives or dies.
4. In the situation in which the Appellant found himself mired that evening, the Appellant
acted in a very stupid way. As mentioned earlier, his violation of probation was that he
has gone from Pasco County to Pinellas County. Given what his punishment for violating
the probation was likely to be, as compared with his likely punishment for murder, his
actions that day, in addition to their tragic consequences, were also inconsistent with his
own interests. There is a reason for this, and that is his low IQ. He has an IQ of 77. He
acted out of stupidity, not out of evil. In a reasonable, compassionate system of justice,
the man would belong, perhaps, in a mental institution, not an executioner.s vise.
Petitioner understands that we don.t „do. that here in Florida. We put him in a prison and
make no distinction for his mental state. But to execute a man with an IQ of 77 is simply
itself criminal. It may be „legal. in the sense that refusing to serve black people at lunch
counters was „legal. in this State less than 50 years ago, but that doesn.t make it right.
Future generations saw that Jim Crow was wrong. It took time but eventually
everyone agreed that it was wrong. At the time, to some, it was not so obvious. Petitioner
has no doubt that soon enough it will be evident to all civilized members of society that
executing a man with an IQ of 77 is wrong. Petitioner can only hope that this Court
recognizes that basic reality, and does not allow this execution to take place. This Court
has an opportunity to be remembered as a wise Court, a Court that made a difference,
stood for sanity and justice and reason, a Court like Brown v. Board of Education, or this
Court can be remembered as just another Court that went along with the established
social order, that justified what future generations will surely see as unjustifiable, a Court
like Dred Scott v. Sanford. This is not just about a man.s life, as important as that is. It.s
about standing for the principles that define us as a society. This Court.s decision
will say a lot about what those principles are, and about who we are as a society in the
year 2010, the same way that the Dred Scott decision said a lot about who we were in
1896, or that Brown said a lot about who we were in 1954, or at least tried to be.
5. Execution is not necessary for justice to be done. Even if the Appellant is not executed,
he has suffered terribly and will in all likelihood continue to suffer terribly for the rest of
his life. Let.s not kid ourselves. Whatever happens here, Martin Grossman has suffered.
From the day he was arrested, he has been physically attacked by other inmates. He has
had not one day of peace for the last 26 years. Attached hereto as Exhibit A is an affidavit
from Charles Brian Croston, who was arrested for a DUI probation violation in Pinellas
County in the fall of 1985, while the Appellant was on trial. Mr. Croston.s Affidavit
states that he was in the next cell over from the Appellant while the Appellant was on
trial. Mr. Croston testifies that the Appellant was attacked daily. He testifies that the suit
that the Appellant was allowed to wear at his trial was urinated on and spit on by other
inmates. This was in 1985. It is now 2010 – 26 years later. Does anyone
seriously believe that a man who has had to endure this daily for the past 16 years has not
suffered, and suffered horribly, for what he did? Does this bring back Margaret Parks?
No. But neither will executing him. But let us please not take seriously the State.s
argument that Mr. Grossman must be executed in order to provide justice for Margaret
Parks. The man has suffered every single day of his life for the past 26 years. He will
continue to suffer. Nothing can bring back Margaret Parks, but if suffering is any
measure of justice, then justice has been done, and we do not need to execute Martin
Grossman in order to achieve it.
6. Executing the Appellant after 26 years on Death Row constitutes cruel and unusual
punishment. Proponents of the death penalty argue that the death penalty is a deterrent for
murderers. If that is true, then Petitioner asks: where is the deterrent in executing
someone after 26 years on Death Row? There is no deterrent, and it is cruel and unusual,
and therefore this Court should not allow the execution to proceed.
7. In addition to the lack of a deterrent to the death penalty in executing someone who has
been on Death Row for 26 years, being on Death Row and facing death for 26 years has a
rotting effect on a man.s mind. It is difficult, even for a layman, to see how someone can
face death for 26 years on Death Row and still be of sound mind and body. At a
minimum, Justice demands a Stay in order to conduct a hearing to determine the
Appellant.s mental state. Even if the State doesn.t care that he spent 26 years on Death
Row, doesn.t care that he was 19, doesn.t care that he has an IQ of 77, and still maintains
that he should be executed, this Court must surely recognize that, at the very minimum,
basic standards of fairness and justice demand that a hearing be conducted into the man.s
mental state before executing him. To refuse to do so would be tantamount to this Court
declaring that the mental state of those executed in Florida is irrelevant. And such a
position would be a very sad commentary of the state of justice in Florida indeed.
8. In addition to the fact that executing someone who has been on Death Row for 26
years makes a mockery of any deterrent effect the death penalty is purported to have, and
in additional to the effect of the 26 years on Death Row on the Appellant.s mental state,
there is another factor related to the Appellant.s 26 years on Death Row that must be
considered in assessing the issue now before this Court. And that is that executing a man
after he has been facing execution for 26 years would not be allowed in any other
civilized country on Earth. The custom in all civilized countries of the world is that if
someone is not executed in a timely manner, they are not executed. If a man goes to the
gallows and the gallows breaks, such that he does not die, he is spared. That is the custom
in civilized countries. This does not mean that he goes free or that he does not suffer
punishment for his crime, but simply that his life is spared. It is not a „get out of jail free.
card. It is a statement of humanity, that people, even the condemned, are human beings
and are deserving of dignity. Imagine a man going to the gallows again and again, and
each time the rope breaks and he does not die, but we send him there again and again to
face death again and again. What civilized person would not consider that a sick carnival,
a mockery of all meaningful human values? Yet we keep a man on „Death Row. for 26
years, facing death every day, and yet have the moral audacity to bring him now to the
death chamber? No civilized state, no civilized nation on the face of the Earth would
do this. Yet, we do this here in Florida? Iran would not do it. Russia would not do it.
They would consider it undignified, uncivilized, beneath them. But we have no
compunctions to treat a man like this? By way of example, most people would kill
cockroaches. Yet most people would not place a cockroach under a glass and leave it
there to slowly suffocate. Even though we consider a cockroach a loathsome creature
deserving to die, a creature dangerous to our health and well-being, we still are humane
towards it in some measure. We recognize a living creature. We recognize that it is
sentient. Yet we bring a man out to die 26 years after living every day facing death.
Honorable Justices, with no exaggeration or hyperbole, in the most literal of terms, we
would not treat a cockroach that way. We would not bring it out to be killed after 26
years. None of us would do it. Yet we do it to a fellow human being? Does not the fact
that no civilized nation on Earth would do such a thing give us even momentary pause,
even such nations as we claim to abhor, claim to be superior to, does the fact that they
would not do such a thing not even give us the most momentary of pause, to pause and
consider that maybe we too should not do such a thing?
9. Appellant.s remorse is sincere, serious and meaningful. This remorse, coupled with the
other mitigating factors expressed above, should weigh heavily on the Court.s decision
and, taken together with the other mitigating factors enumerated above, argues against
allowing the execution. Attached hereto as Exhibit B is an affidavit from the Appellant.s
Rabbi, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Katz of Miami. In this affidavit, Rabbi Katz testifies
that he is the Appellant.s spiritual advisor, and that he has spent significant time getting
to know the Appellant. Rabbi Katz further testifies that the Appellant is in no way, shape
or form the same person that he was 16 years ago. This is not to suggest that the
Appellant should not pay for what he did 26 years ago, merely because he is a different
person today. But as noted above, he already has suffered, is continuing to suffer, and
will continue to suffer. The fact that the Appellant is not the same person he was 26 years
ago is relevant, however, to the cause of justice for Margaret Parks. The Appellant
sincerely, passionately regrets what he did 16 years ago. He hates that part of himself
that let it happen. He hates his stupidity in doing it. He hates that he took the life of
someone who was loved by her family and community as the Appellant is loved by his
family and community. He hates that he can.t take it back, unwind the clock, redo things,
start over; he knows its too late now for any of that, has been too late for a long time now,
a generation, too late for Margaret.s family, too late for Martin, too late, in a sense, for all
of us. But is it too much to ask that the Appellant.s deep, sincere, soul-felt remorse not at
least be a relevant factor in not executing him after 26 years sitting on Death Row for a
spur of the moment action that he now hates with every fiber of his being?
10. Almost as bad as executing someone at the age of 19 or keeping someone in a
perpetual state of facing death for 26 years and then seeking to execute them, is executing
a 44 year old for something he did when he was 19. Now that he.s a different person,
now that he.s grown up and has the more fully developed sense of judgment that he did
not have at 19 (albeit still severely limited by his mental state), now we execute him. It is
as if we say to someone, „ok, you.re too young to fully appreciate what you did, you.re
still a young tyke, so we.re going to keep you around for a couple of decades and then,
when you.re old enough to fully appreciate what you did, we.ll execute you..
11. The Death penalty, as mentioned above, is the ultimate penalty, and should be
reserved for the most heinous murders, with the least mitigating circumstances -- a
standard far from met in this case, where there are numerous mitigating circumstances.
The death penalty should also only be reserved for first-degree murder. The record
reflects that the Appellant was convicted of first-degree murder. Further, Petitioner
recognizes, as the State asserts, that the trial judge and jury are best suited to be the triers
of fact. However, the unique and special nature of the Death penalty, due to
its finality and inability to be corrected later, argues for an even higher standard. In a case
where a person is put to death, it should be crystal-clear that first-degree murder was
committed. In the present case, there was no malice aforethought, an element necessary
to be present for first-degree murder. Here, the Appellant was out shooting a gun in the
woods. Had Margaret Parks not come upon him, no murder would have been committed.
The Appellant was not looking to murder someone. He was not looking to murder
Margaret Parks. Unfortunately, due to his stupidity, as noted above, that is what
happened, which, as noted above, he deeply and passionately regrets. By this was not
malice aforethought. This was, as noted above, a spur of the moment altercation that led
to a spur of the moment tragic and horrific action, which was the death of Margaret
Parks. But is was not a murder with malice aforethought. It was therefore not
first degree murder. Petitioner recognizes that Appellate Courts must respect the verdicts
of juries, and should, as a general rule not try to second-guess trial judges. However, in a
death penalty case, where there is no possibility of later reversal, no possibility of later
redress if error is found, it is critically important to make sure that first degree murder
was present, even if that means second-guessing the trial., Why? Because executing a
man who does not meet the legal standard required for execution is a greater wrong than
second-guessing the trial judge. The facts here are that the Appellant, Martin Grossman,
did NOT have malice aforethought, and therefore should not have been convicted of first-
degree murder, and therefore should not be executed.
12. Pinellas County, where this happened, has sentenced more people to death than any
other county in Florida. Therefore, the fact that a Defendant from Pinellas County was
sentenced to death should not carry the same weight with the Court as would be the case
from a county that did not lead the state in sentencing people to the death penalty. This
does not mean that just because Pinellas leads the state in death convictions that a death
conviction from Pinellas County is not justified -- just that the Court should view it more
with a grain of salt and look at the facts more closely, given the commonality with which
Pinellas County sentences Defendants to death. In fact, this Court should be very familiar
with overzealous prosecutorial conduct when it comes to Pinellas County. When the
Florida Supreme Court reversed the murder conviction of James Floyd in 2005 because
the Pinellas state attorney.s office had withheld evidence, Pinellas County Assistant State
Attorney Douglas Crow said it most likely was an “honest mistake”. Floyd had been
sitting on death row, sentenced to die for allegedly murdering an 86-year-old
woman. Pinellas prosecutors had failed to produce statements from a neighbor who had
claimed to see two other men entering the woman.s house at the time of her death. They
also failed to tell the defense about inconsistent reports from detectives and about how a
snitch tried to barter his testimony for a lighter sentence on his own criminal charges.
Anything for a conviction seems to be the motto in Pinellas County. Pinellas County also
has bonds higher than other counties. They are 100 to 200% higher. This is a factor in
why the Pinellas County Jail is overcrowded. Florida.s law states defendants are entitled
to a reasonable bond, unless there is a flight risk or a threat to society. If someone is
sitting in jail for two years waiting to go to trial, the bond is obviously not reasonable.
Pinellas County thus far goes unchallenged in this behavior. All of this simply suggests
that the explosion of death penalty cases in Pinellas County warrants this Court looking
at such cases with a very skeptical eye. Indeed, it is reasonable to suspect, given the facts
of Mr. Grossman.s case, that had Mr. Grossman.s case taken place in a different county
in Florida, life imprisonment would likely have been the sentence. It therefore seems
particularly specious that, at this late date, it is Pinellas County that is continuing to beat
the drumbeat to “close” yet another in their assembly line of cases seeking to put people
to death. Lest anyone think that their interest is merely in seeking „justice. for murder
victims, the Floyd case makes clear that they are in fact more interested in winning death
cases, regardless of the particularities of the case. This Court should recognize that
something is wrong when executions from a particular county become commonplace.
13. The jury at trial was instructed as to felony murder. We know that Florida recognizes
felony murder, whereby when a Defendant commits a felony, if someone.s murder occurs
as a result of a chain of events that grew out of that felony, felony murder attaches, even
if that Defendant did not intend to commit murder. We know as well that Florida allows
the death penalty in cases of felony murder. However, it is well to ask whether this
should be the case. Petitioner understands that the statutory responsibility rests with the
Legislature, but the application of the law rests with this Court. Petitioner submits to the
Court that executing someone in a case of felony murder as opposed to murder where
bona fide malice aforethought is present, should not be sanctioned. Petitioner submits that
in such a case, such as the case at Bar, execution is not appropriate.
14. There is a public interest in the fairness of the application of the death penalty. In the
application of the death penalty, the totality of the circumstances should argue against
mitigation, and there should be a dearth of mitigating circumstances. In the present case,
there are numerous mitigating circumstances: his age, his state of mind, the length of time
he has been on Death Row, the length of time since the crime, his demonstrated remorse,
his low IQ, his mental state, his lack of prior intention to murder someone, the fact that he
has suffered very significantly, the fact that the jury brought the death penalty on the
basis of false testimony. Taken together, these numerous and very serious mitigating
circumstances argue strongly against allowing the Appellant.s execution. Indeed,
allowing the execution under the present circumstances would constitute a travesty of
justice.
IV. A FINAL WORD
The Appellant, Martin Grossman, is of the Jewish faith. It therefore seems appropriate to
present to this Court, by way of alternative, and hopefully persuasive, law, the view of
Jewish Law on the matter of execution. It is well known that Jewish Law provides for the
application of the death penalty in certain cases. What may be less well-known is that
Jewish Law considers a Court which allows one execution in 70 years to be a Murderous
Court. Why this apparent contradiction? Because the Torah, the source of Jewish Law,
recognizes that life is always paramount, and that a Court should try to find a way to
preserve a Defendant.s life. Death should only be a last resort, and should be rare. Jewish
Law also rules that a man is not punished for his transgressions until the age of 20. He is
responsible to keep the laws from the age of 13, or Bar Mitzvah. But he is not actually
punished for not keeping the laws until the age of 20. The reason for this is that the Torah
recognizes that a man.s mind, judgment and critical thinking are not fully developed
before that age. It is thus instructive, ironic, and more than a little sad that Mr.
Grossman, according to Jewish Law, would have been considered too young to suffer for
his crime. In such a case, it would of course be very difficult for the family of a murder
victim to accept this. It is of course true that their pain would be great. But the Court
would know that its job is to mete out justice in a fair and logical manner, and it would
know that someone who is under 20 simply cannot be dealt with the same way as
someone older, even despite the pain of the family, because that person simply doesn.t
have the presence of mind, the judgment, the experience in life, to be judged as harshly as
someone who does. We know as well that the Bible states „an eye for an eye, a tooth for a
tooth.. Many people assume that this means that Jewish Law advocates or provides
for the execution of one who murders, as a matter of course. In fact, in Jewish Law „an
eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. refers to monetary damages for the loss of a tooth or
an eye, not a literal tooth or a literal eye. Thus, we understand how Jewish Law would
view a Court who executed one man in 70 years to be a murderous Court. In Jewish Law,
all nations of the world are required to set up court systems, so that people can resolve
their disputes in a civilized manner, and so that there is order and not anarchy. But those
courts are also expected to have compassion, compassion for someone who is killed and
his or her family, to be sure, but also to temper justice with compassion in judging the
killer as well. Courts are supposed to emulate Divine elements of Justice: There is the
aspect of Severity of Justice, but also the aspect of Mercy of Justice. They are the male
and female components required for Justice to be in balance There can not be one
without the other. If there is, then it is not true Justice. There must be severity but there
must also be mercy. That is how courts are supposed to rule. Petitioner understands that
Jewish Law does not apply here, Florida Law applies. But Petitioner asks only this: Some
would say that an execution such as the one the State advocates in this case is an example
of „Judeo-Christian. values. That is simply not true. In point of fact, there is nothing
„Judeo. about it. So if the State wants to execute Mr. Grossman in this case, there may be
little the Petitioner can do about it. But just this: Please don.t call it our values. Just this:
Not in my name. Not in our name.
Respectfully Submitted,
______________________
Edward Werner, Petitioner, Pro Se
9270 East Bay Harbor Drive, Suite 3B
Bay Harbor Islands, FL 33154
Tel.: (786) 262-1888
Email: wernered1234@yahoo.com
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I HEREBY CERTIFY that I e-mailed a true and correct copy of the foregoing to
warrant@flcourts.org, that I mailed the original and eight copies via overnight mail to the
Clerk of The Supreme Court of Florida, 500 S. Duval St., Tallahassee, FL 32399, and
that I mailed true and correct copies of the foregoing to the parties listed below, this 3rd
day of February, 2010.
1) Carol Marie Dittmar
Florida Attorney General.s Office
3507 E. Frontage Rd., Suite 200
Tampa, FL 33607
carol.dittmar@myfloridalegal.com
2) Carloyn M. Snurkowski
4519 Camden Rd.
Tallahassee, FL 32303
carolyn.snurkowski@myfloridalegal.com
3) Douglas E. Crow
14250 49th Street North
Clearwater, FL 33762
dcrow@co.pinellas.fl.us
4) Ali Andrew Shakoor
CCRC - Middle Region
3801 Corporex Park Dr., Suite 210
Tampa, FL 33619
cbus03@gmail.com
5) Richard E. Kiley
CCRC - Middle Region
3801 Corporex Park Dr., Suite 210
Tampa, FL 33619
Kiley@ccmr.state.fl.us
6) James V. Viggiano, Jr.
CCRC - Middle Region
3801 Corporex Park Dr., Suite 210
Tampa, FL 33619
jviggiano@tampabay.rr.com
EXHIBIT “A”
AFFIDAVIT OF CHARLES BRIAN CROSTON
AFFIDAVIT OF CHARLES BRIAN CROSTON
In the State of Florida,
County of Miami-Dade,
___________________________________________ being duly sworn, deposes and
states as follows:
1. I, Charles Brian Croston, was arrested in the fall of 1985 for a DUI violation, and
incarcerated in the Pinellas County Jail.
2. I was incarcerated there for approximately 5 days.
3. The time that I was incarcerated in the jail coincided with Martin Grossman.s trial.
4. At the time that I was at the jail, I was told first-hand by those with knowledge of it
that numerous continuous assaults against Mr. Grossman took place.
5. From what I was told while in the jail, the assaults against Mr. Grossman were
repeated and continuous from the time that he first arrived at the jail.
6. I personally witnessed inmates spitting on and urinating on the suit that Mr. Grossman
was using to wear to Court during the trial.
7. I was further told while there that the assaults and abuse got so bad that he was
eventually placed in solitary confinement for his own protection.
In witness whereof he has hereto set his hand and seal.
______________________________
(SEAL )
______________________________
(Title)
I, ____________________________, a Notary Public of the County and State aforesaid,
hereby certify that ______________________________ personally known to me to be
the affiant in the foregoing affidavit, personally appeared before me this day and having
been by me duly sworn deposes and says that the facts set forth in the above affidavit are
true and correct.
Witness my hand and official seal this the _________ day of __________, _________.
(SEAL) ______________________________
Notary Public
My Commission expires:
____ / ____ / ________.
EXHIBIT “B”
AFFIDAVIT OF RABBI MENACHEM MENDEL KATZ
AFFIDAVIT OF RABBI MENACHEM MENDEL KATZ
In the State of Florida,
County of Miami-Dade,
___________________________________________ being duly sworn, deposes and
states as follows:
1. My name is Menachem Mendel Katz. I am an Orthodox Rabbi in Miami, Florida.
2. I am Martin Grossman.s spiritual advisor.
3. Based on my meetings and discussions with Martin Grossman in my capacity as his
spiritual advisor, it is my sincere opinion that Mr. Grossman is deeply and sincerely
remorseful over the death of Margaret Parks.
4. Based on my meetings and discussions with Martin Grossman in my capacity as his
spiritual advisor, it is evident to me that he has grown as a person and is in no way the
same person he was in December, 1984.
5. It is my sincere opinion that Mr. Grossman desires the chance to live in order to do
some good in the world in his limited prison environment, and to in some small way
recompense society for the wrong that he knows he committed.
6. I ask the Court to spare his life.
In witness whereof he has hereto set his hand and seal.
______________________________
(SEAL )
______________________________
(Title)
I, ____________________________, a Notary Public of the County and State aforesaid,
hereby certify that ______________________________ personally known to me to be
the affiant in the foregoing affidavit, personally appeared before me this day and having
been by me duly sworn deposes and says that the facts set forth in the above affidavit are
true and correct.
Witness my hand and official seal this the _________ day of __________, _________.
(SEAL) ______________________________
Notary Public
My Commission expires:
____ / ____ / ________.
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA
IN RE: MARTIN GROSSMAN, Case No.: SC10-118
Appellant,
L.T. Case No.: 84-11698 CFANO
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
_________________________/
EDWARD WERNER, Petitioner
PETITIONER’S AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF APPELLANT’S BRIEF
COMES NOW the Petitioner, Edward Werner, and hereby files this Amicus Curiae
Brief in support of Appellant Martin Grossman.s Brief before this Honorable Court, and
hereby moves this Honorable Court to stay the Appellant.s pending execution. In support
thereof, Petitioner states the following:
I. PETITIONER’S STANDING
Petitioner is a citizen of the State of Florida. The execution is purported to be done in the
name of the People of Florida. Petitioner therefore claims standing as one of the People
of Florida to argue against said execution.
II. FACTS OF THE CASE
The facts of this case are well-known to this Court through the trial record and record on
appeal. In December 1984, at the age of 19, and with no prior criminal record save for a
burglary, the Appellant was with another teenage friend shooting a stolen gun in the
woods of Pinellas County. Officer Margaret Parks of the Florida Freshwater Fish and
Game Commission came upon the Appellant and confronted him for shooting the gun on
public property. The Appellant, being on probation for the aforementioned burglary, and
being in violation of said probation by being within Pinellas County, and being outside
neighboring Pasco County, pleaded with Officer Parks not to report the Appellant for
being there and for shooting the gun. Officer Parks, however, proceeded to repeatedly
taunt the Appellant, then a 19 year old, with an IQ of 77, that he was going to prison.
Appellant then, in an awful spur of the moment action, physically attacked Officer Parks
by hitting her over the head with her flashlight. Officer Parks then raised her .357
Magnum gun at the Appellant, as though about to shoot, at which point Appellant,
recognizing that he was about to be shot to death, wrestled the gun away from Officer
Parks. Officer Parks in the struggle over the gun shot at the Appellant and missed. The
Appellant then shot Officer Parks with her own gun. Appellant was convicted and
sentenced to death, in significant part as a result of subsequently recanted testimony as to
Appellant.s motives, and then spent the past 26 years of his life on Death Row. The State
now seeks to execute a man, with an IQ of 77, who spent the past 26 years on Death
Row, who committed a murder in an unplanned spur of the moment confrontation with
no malice aforethought, at the age of 19, with no meaningful prior criminal record, who
has suffered immeasurably for the past 26 years for what he did, and who is full of
demonstrably sincere remorse for his actions that day 26 years ago.
III. ARGUMENT
1. The jury was inflamed by false testimony which led to the death sentence. Charles
Brewer, the other teenager who was with the Appellant that night, testified that Officer
Parks begged the Appellant and that the Appellant ignored this plea and brazenly shot
Officer Parks. Mr. Brewer, however, in a pang of conscience after he got a little older,
admitted that this was false testimony, and recanted the testimony. In view of this, to
execute the Appellant would be in direct contravention of the most basic standards of
fairness and justice.
2. Appellant.s age and overall criminal profile at the time of the crime argue against the
application of the death penalty. The death penalty is the ultimate penalty. It should be
reserved for only the most cold, calculating killers, not a 19 year old whose only
previously committed crime was a burglary. He was a typical 19 year old delinquent, not
some serial killer or particularly heinous killer. What was he doing when Officer Park
came upon him? Shooting a stolen gun in the woods with a friend. He had no intention,
no plan, no desire to kill someone that day before it happened. What was his violation of
probation? He was a few miles over the County Line from Pasco County into extreme
northern Pinellas County. The death penalty, as the ultimate penalty, should not be given
to a teenage delinquent who made a horrible, tragic decision in an altercation that went
horribly wrong. If the death penalty is appropriate at all, it is appropriate only in the case
of a hardened, remorseless, calculating and premeditated killer, not someone like Martin
Grossman. He was a delinquent, a kid who made bad decisions. He was a kid like yours
or mine, a kid gone wrong in a tragic horrific moment gone wrong that changed two
people.s lives forever. It was not a calculating, deliberate killer who set out to kill in cold
blood. It was something that should not have happened, did not need to happen, that
tragically did happen. Executing the Appellant now only compounds the tragedy.
3. As noted above, Appellant was 19 years old at the time he committed the crime. As we
know, 18 years old is an adult in Florida. The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down as
unconstitutional executing juveniles under 18 years of age. But if 17 is too young to
constitutionally execute, then does that mean that 18 or even 19 is constitutionally
unproblematic? Is there a magic window whereby 17 years and 364 days is
unconstitutionally cruel and unusual but 18 and one day is constitutionally neither cruel
nor unusual? Is it a clear-cut case that any and all aspects of adulthood attach at 18, or
does Florida Law recognize a gradual status, whereby some aspects of adulthood
attach at 18 and some at a later age? Indeed, Florida Law does recognize such a „gradual„,
rather than „instantaneous. reaching of adulthood. The drinking age in Florida is 21, not
18. Thus, by allowing this execution, the Court would de facto be setting forth a policy
whereby in the State of Florida one can not drink at the age of 19, but one can be
executed. Nor is this merely a semantic difference. Indeed, the reason that the drinking
age is 21, even though at 18 a youth can sign a contract and engage in other aspects of
adulthood, is that the law recognizes that a young man.s judgment is not fully developed
at 18, and that, indeed, the young man or woman is undergoing a gradual process of
adulthood, whereby he or she is developing his judgment and sense of responsibility
gradually over those years, rather than all at once when he or she reaches the age of
18. We do not let them drink until 21 because inherent in the law in Florida is the public
policy view that at 21 the young person will make more responsible decisions regarding
the responsible use of alcohol than he or she would at they age of 18. In other words, the
law is saying that a young person is not mature enough, that his or her judgment is not
developed enough, to make the responsible societal decisions about drinking at the age of
18 as will be the case at 21. Thus, according to Florida Law:
i. At 15, a young person gets his or her „restricted. driver.s license, whereby he
or she can drive during daylight hours with an adult present.
ii. At 16, a young person gets his or her driver.s license and can drive at all
times, without adult supervision.
iii. At 17, a young person can join the military or get married with parental
permission.
iv. At 18, the young person can sign contracts, vote, and get married and join the
military without parental permission.
v. At 21, the young person can legally drink and purchase alcohol in the State of
Florida.
vi. At 25, he or she can rent a car (according to all major car rental companies).
We see from the above that Florida law (and society in general) recognizes that young
people gradually mature, and that a 19 year old does not have the same judgment as a 21
year old. Given this, the proper guidance that this Court should take from Florida Law is
not that it is cruel and unusual to execute a 17 year old, but „perfectly okay. to execute a
19 year old, but rather that if it is cruel and unusual to execute a 17 year old, then there
should be a presumption against executing 19 year olds. Or, to put it another way, Florida
Law, in its application of different rights and responsibilities for different age groups,
implies that there should be a „balancing test. in determining whether execution is
appropriate, and that without a doubt one of the major factors to consider in determining
whether that balancing test of appropriateness is met, is the perpetrator.s age. The State,
by contrast, seeks to ignore the Appellant.s age at the time of crime, or at the very least
ascribes no meaningful value to it. It should be noted that, prior to the US Supreme Court
ruling finding execution of 17 year olds cruel, the State was perfectly happy to ignore the
age of the 17 year olds it sought to execute, as well. In that case, as in the case of Jim
Crow laws so many years before it, it was the Federal Judiciary and the Federal
Government that had to step in and tell the State of Florida to do the right thing. This
Court now has the opportunity to do the right thing without having to be told to do so by
the Federal government. This Court now has the opportunity to develop its own
constitutional „balancing test. to determine if an execution is constitutional, and, using
the US Supreme Court.s ruling in striking down execution of 17 year olds, this Court
would understand that age is one of the primary determinants of that constitutional
balancing test. As an additional measure of the wisdom of applying relative weight to
offenses committed at varying ages, it is instructive to look at this Court.s very own
standards regarding aspiring lawyers seeking admission to the Florida Bar and deemed to
be possessing the Bar.s character and fitness standards. As one of the factors this Court
uses in determining the weight to give to applicants. past offenses, in determining their
eligibility for Bar membership, the age at which the offense took place is given
significant weight. We can ask then, if writing bad checks at 19 is less of an offense for
purposes of admittance to the Bar than writing bad checks at 35, then by what standard of
reason is committing murder at the age of 19 not viewed differently by this Court than
committing murder at the age of 35? And if this Court indeed does view committing
murder at age 19 to be different in significant and relevant measure than committing
murder at 35, then by what standard of reason can we allow the society.s ultimate and
worst punishment for a murder committed at 19? Would this Court take the same
global view of the totality of the circumstances in assessing a petitioner.s right to live as
it would in assessing a petitioner.s right to admittance to the Bar? Would this Court apply
the same cookie-cutter age-be-damned one-size-fits-all approach the State seeks to apply
in executing Mr. Grossman, to the process of admitting or rejecting applicants to the Bar?
Or can we admit that relative age IS a factor, and should be, in determining whether a
citizen of Florida purchases a beer, drives a car, is admitted to the Bar, or lives or dies.
4. In the situation in which the Appellant found himself mired that evening, the Appellant
acted in a very stupid way. As mentioned earlier, his violation of probation was that he
has gone from Pasco County to Pinellas County. Given what his punishment for violating
the probation was likely to be, as compared with his likely punishment for murder, his
actions that day, in addition to their tragic consequences, were also inconsistent with his
own interests. There is a reason for this, and that is his low IQ. He has an IQ of 77. He
acted out of stupidity, not out of evil. In a reasonable, compassionate system of justice,
the man would belong, perhaps, in a mental institution, not an executioner.s vise.
Petitioner understands that we don.t „do. that here in Florida. We put him in a prison and
make no distinction for his mental state. But to execute a man with an IQ of 77 is simply
itself criminal. It may be „legal. in the sense that refusing to serve black people at lunch
counters was „legal. in this State less than 50 years ago, but that doesn.t make it right.
Future generations saw that Jim Crow was wrong. It took time but eventually
everyone agreed that it was wrong. At the time, to some, it was not so obvious. Petitioner
has no doubt that soon enough it will be evident to all civilized members of society that
executing a man with an IQ of 77 is wrong. Petitioner can only hope that this Court
recognizes that basic reality, and does not allow this execution to take place. This Court
has an opportunity to be remembered as a wise Court, a Court that made a difference,
stood for sanity and justice and reason, a Court like Brown v. Board of Education, or this
Court can be remembered as just another Court that went along with the established
social order, that justified what future generations will surely see as unjustifiable, a Court
like Dred Scott v. Sanford. This is not just about a man.s life, as important as that is. It.s
about standing for the principles that define us as a society. This Court.s decision
will say a lot about what those principles are, and about who we are as a society in the
year 2010, the same way that the Dred Scott decision said a lot about who we were in
1896, or that Brown said a lot about who we were in 1954, or at least tried to be.
5. Execution is not necessary for justice to be done. Even if the Appellant is not executed,
he has suffered terribly and will in all likelihood continue to suffer terribly for the rest of
his life. Let.s not kid ourselves. Whatever happens here, Martin Grossman has suffered.
From the day he was arrested, he has been physically attacked by other inmates. He has
had not one day of peace for the last 26 years. Attached hereto as Exhibit A is an affidavit
from Charles Brian Croston, who was arrested for a DUI probation violation in Pinellas
County in the fall of 1985, while the Appellant was on trial. Mr. Croston.s Affidavit
states that he was in the next cell over from the Appellant while the Appellant was on
trial. Mr. Croston testifies that the Appellant was attacked daily. He testifies that the suit
that the Appellant was allowed to wear at his trial was urinated on and spit on by other
inmates. This was in 1985. It is now 2010 – 26 years later. Does anyone
seriously believe that a man who has had to endure this daily for the past 16 years has not
suffered, and suffered horribly, for what he did? Does this bring back Margaret Parks?
No. But neither will executing him. But let us please not take seriously the State.s
argument that Mr. Grossman must be executed in order to provide justice for Margaret
Parks. The man has suffered every single day of his life for the past 26 years. He will
continue to suffer. Nothing can bring back Margaret Parks, but if suffering is any
measure of justice, then justice has been done, and we do not need to execute Martin
Grossman in order to achieve it.
6. Executing the Appellant after 26 years on Death Row constitutes cruel and unusual
punishment. Proponents of the death penalty argue that the death penalty is a deterrent for
murderers. If that is true, then Petitioner asks: where is the deterrent in executing
someone after 26 years on Death Row? There is no deterrent, and it is cruel and unusual,
and therefore this Court should not allow the execution to proceed.
7. In addition to the lack of a deterrent to the death penalty in executing someone who has
been on Death Row for 26 years, being on Death Row and facing death for 26 years has a
rotting effect on a man.s mind. It is difficult, even for a layman, to see how someone can
face death for 26 years on Death Row and still be of sound mind and body. At a
minimum, Justice demands a Stay in order to conduct a hearing to determine the
Appellant.s mental state. Even if the State doesn.t care that he spent 26 years on Death
Row, doesn.t care that he was 19, doesn.t care that he has an IQ of 77, and still maintains
that he should be executed, this Court must surely recognize that, at the very minimum,
basic standards of fairness and justice demand that a hearing be conducted into the man.s
mental state before executing him. To refuse to do so would be tantamount to this Court
declaring that the mental state of those executed in Florida is irrelevant. And such a
position would be a very sad commentary of the state of justice in Florida indeed.
8. In addition to the fact that executing someone who has been on Death Row for 26
years makes a mockery of any deterrent effect the death penalty is purported to have, and
in additional to the effect of the 26 years on Death Row on the Appellant.s mental state,
there is another factor related to the Appellant.s 26 years on Death Row that must be
considered in assessing the issue now before this Court. And that is that executing a man
after he has been facing execution for 26 years would not be allowed in any other
civilized country on Earth. The custom in all civilized countries of the world is that if
someone is not executed in a timely manner, they are not executed. If a man goes to the
gallows and the gallows breaks, such that he does not die, he is spared. That is the custom
in civilized countries. This does not mean that he goes free or that he does not suffer
punishment for his crime, but simply that his life is spared. It is not a „get out of jail free.
card. It is a statement of humanity, that people, even the condemned, are human beings
and are deserving of dignity. Imagine a man going to the gallows again and again, and
each time the rope breaks and he does not die, but we send him there again and again to
face death again and again. What civilized person would not consider that a sick carnival,
a mockery of all meaningful human values? Yet we keep a man on „Death Row. for 26
years, facing death every day, and yet have the moral audacity to bring him now to the
death chamber? No civilized state, no civilized nation on the face of the Earth would
do this. Yet, we do this here in Florida? Iran would not do it. Russia would not do it.
They would consider it undignified, uncivilized, beneath them. But we have no
compunctions to treat a man like this? By way of example, most people would kill
cockroaches. Yet most people would not place a cockroach under a glass and leave it
there to slowly suffocate. Even though we consider a cockroach a loathsome creature
deserving to die, a creature dangerous to our health and well-being, we still are humane
towards it in some measure. We recognize a living creature. We recognize that it is
sentient. Yet we bring a man out to die 26 years after living every day facing death.
Honorable Justices, with no exaggeration or hyperbole, in the most literal of terms, we
would not treat a cockroach that way. We would not bring it out to be killed after 26
years. None of us would do it. Yet we do it to a fellow human being? Does not the fact
that no civilized nation on Earth would do such a thing give us even momentary pause,
even such nations as we claim to abhor, claim to be superior to, does the fact that they
would not do such a thing not even give us the most momentary of pause, to pause and
consider that maybe we too should not do such a thing?
9. Appellant.s remorse is sincere, serious and meaningful. This remorse, coupled with the
other mitigating factors expressed above, should weigh heavily on the Court.s decision
and, taken together with the other mitigating factors enumerated above, argues against
allowing the execution. Attached hereto as Exhibit B is an affidavit from the Appellant.s
Rabbi, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Katz of Miami. In this affidavit, Rabbi Katz testifies
that he is the Appellant.s spiritual advisor, and that he has spent significant time getting
to know the Appellant. Rabbi Katz further testifies that the Appellant is in no way, shape
or form the same person that he was 16 years ago. This is not to suggest that the
Appellant should not pay for what he did 26 years ago, merely because he is a different
person today. But as noted above, he already has suffered, is continuing to suffer, and
will continue to suffer. The fact that the Appellant is not the same person he was 26 years
ago is relevant, however, to the cause of justice for Margaret Parks. The Appellant
sincerely, passionately regrets what he did 16 years ago. He hates that part of himself
that let it happen. He hates his stupidity in doing it. He hates that he took the life of
someone who was loved by her family and community as the Appellant is loved by his
family and community. He hates that he can.t take it back, unwind the clock, redo things,
start over; he knows its too late now for any of that, has been too late for a long time now,
a generation, too late for Margaret.s family, too late for Martin, too late, in a sense, for all
of us. But is it too much to ask that the Appellant.s deep, sincere, soul-felt remorse not at
least be a relevant factor in not executing him after 26 years sitting on Death Row for a
spur of the moment action that he now hates with every fiber of his being?
10. Almost as bad as executing someone at the age of 19 or keeping someone in a
perpetual state of facing death for 26 years and then seeking to execute them, is executing
a 44 year old for something he did when he was 19. Now that he.s a different person,
now that he.s grown up and has the more fully developed sense of judgment that he did
not have at 19 (albeit still severely limited by his mental state), now we execute him. It is
as if we say to someone, „ok, you.re too young to fully appreciate what you did, you.re
still a young tyke, so we.re going to keep you around for a couple of decades and then,
when you.re old enough to fully appreciate what you did, we.ll execute you..
11. The Death penalty, as mentioned above, is the ultimate penalty, and should be
reserved for the most heinous murders, with the least mitigating circumstances -- a
standard far from met in this case, where there are numerous mitigating circumstances.
The death penalty should also only be reserved for first-degree murder. The record
reflects that the Appellant was convicted of first-degree murder. Further, Petitioner
recognizes, as the State asserts, that the trial judge and jury are best suited to be the triers
of fact. However, the unique and special nature of the Death penalty, due to
its finality and inability to be corrected later, argues for an even higher standard. In a case
where a person is put to death, it should be crystal-clear that first-degree murder was
committed. In the present case, there was no malice aforethought, an element necessary
to be present for first-degree murder. Here, the Appellant was out shooting a gun in the
woods. Had Margaret Parks not come upon him, no murder would have been committed.
The Appellant was not looking to murder someone. He was not looking to murder
Margaret Parks. Unfortunately, due to his stupidity, as noted above, that is what
happened, which, as noted above, he deeply and passionately regrets. By this was not
malice aforethought. This was, as noted above, a spur of the moment altercation that led
to a spur of the moment tragic and horrific action, which was the death of Margaret
Parks. But is was not a murder with malice aforethought. It was therefore not
first degree murder. Petitioner recognizes that Appellate Courts must respect the verdicts
of juries, and should, as a general rule not try to second-guess trial judges. However, in a
death penalty case, where there is no possibility of later reversal, no possibility of later
redress if error is found, it is critically important to make sure that first degree murder
was present, even if that means second-guessing the trial., Why? Because executing a
man who does not meet the legal standard required for execution is a greater wrong than
second-guessing the trial judge. The facts here are that the Appellant, Martin Grossman,
did NOT have malice aforethought, and therefore should not have been convicted of first-
degree murder, and therefore should not be executed.
12. Pinellas County, where this happened, has sentenced more people to death than any
other county in Florida. Therefore, the fact that a Defendant from Pinellas County was
sentenced to death should not carry the same weight with the Court as would be the case
from a county that did not lead the state in sentencing people to the death penalty. This
does not mean that just because Pinellas leads the state in death convictions that a death
conviction from Pinellas County is not justified -- just that the Court should view it more
with a grain of salt and look at the facts more closely, given the commonality with which
Pinellas County sentences Defendants to death. In fact, this Court should be very familiar
with overzealous prosecutorial conduct when it comes to Pinellas County. When the
Florida Supreme Court reversed the murder conviction of James Floyd in 2005 because
the Pinellas state attorney.s office had withheld evidence, Pinellas County Assistant State
Attorney Douglas Crow said it most likely was an “honest mistake”. Floyd had been
sitting on death row, sentenced to die for allegedly murdering an 86-year-old
woman. Pinellas prosecutors had failed to produce statements from a neighbor who had
claimed to see two other men entering the woman.s house at the time of her death. They
also failed to tell the defense about inconsistent reports from detectives and about how a
snitch tried to barter his testimony for a lighter sentence on his own criminal charges.
Anything for a conviction seems to be the motto in Pinellas County. Pinellas County also
has bonds higher than other counties. They are 100 to 200% higher. This is a factor in
why the Pinellas County Jail is overcrowded. Florida.s law states defendants are entitled
to a reasonable bond, unless there is a flight risk or a threat to society. If someone is
sitting in jail for two years waiting to go to trial, the bond is obviously not reasonable.
Pinellas County thus far goes unchallenged in this behavior. All of this simply suggests
that the explosion of death penalty cases in Pinellas County warrants this Court looking
at such cases with a very skeptical eye. Indeed, it is reasonable to suspect, given the facts
of Mr. Grossman.s case, that had Mr. Grossman.s case taken place in a different county
in Florida, life imprisonment would likely have been the sentence. It therefore seems
particularly specious that, at this late date, it is Pinellas County that is continuing to beat
the drumbeat to “close” yet another in their assembly line of cases seeking to put people
to death. Lest anyone think that their interest is merely in seeking „justice. for murder
victims, the Floyd case makes clear that they are in fact more interested in winning death
cases, regardless of the particularities of the case. This Court should recognize that
something is wrong when executions from a particular county become commonplace.
13. The jury at trial was instructed as to felony murder. We know that Florida recognizes
felony murder, whereby when a Defendant commits a felony, if someone.s murder occurs
as a result of a chain of events that grew out of that felony, felony murder attaches, even
if that Defendant did not intend to commit murder. We know as well that Florida allows
the death penalty in cases of felony murder. However, it is well to ask whether this
should be the case. Petitioner understands that the statutory responsibility rests with the
Legislature, but the application of the law rests with this Court. Petitioner submits to the
Court that executing someone in a case of felony murder as opposed to murder where
bona fide malice aforethought is present, should not be sanctioned. Petitioner submits that
in such a case, such as the case at Bar, execution is not appropriate.
14. There is a public interest in the fairness of the application of the death penalty. In the
application of the death penalty, the totality of the circumstances should argue against
mitigation, and there should be a dearth of mitigating circumstances. In the present case,
there are numerous mitigating circumstances: his age, his state of mind, the length of time
he has been on Death Row, the length of time since the crime, his demonstrated remorse,
his low IQ, his mental state, his lack of prior intention to murder someone, the fact that he
has suffered very significantly, the fact that the jury brought the death penalty on the
basis of false testimony. Taken together, these numerous and very serious mitigating
circumstances argue strongly against allowing the Appellant.s execution. Indeed,
allowing the execution under the present circumstances would constitute a travesty of
justice.
IV. A FINAL WORD
The Appellant, Martin Grossman, is of the Jewish faith. It therefore seems appropriate to
present to this Court, by way of alternative, and hopefully persuasive, law, the view of
Jewish Law on the matter of execution. It is well known that Jewish Law provides for the
application of the death penalty in certain cases. What may be less well-known is that
Jewish Law considers a Court which allows one execution in 70 years to be a Murderous
Court. Why this apparent contradiction? Because the Torah, the source of Jewish Law,
recognizes that life is always paramount, and that a Court should try to find a way to
preserve a Defendant.s life. Death should only be a last resort, and should be rare. Jewish
Law also rules that a man is not punished for his transgressions until the age of 20. He is
responsible to keep the laws from the age of 13, or Bar Mitzvah. But he is not actually
punished for not keeping the laws until the age of 20. The reason for this is that the Torah
recognizes that a man.s mind, judgment and critical thinking are not fully developed
before that age. It is thus instructive, ironic, and more than a little sad that Mr.
Grossman, according to Jewish Law, would have been considered too young to suffer for
his crime. In such a case, it would of course be very difficult for the family of a murder
victim to accept this. It is of course true that their pain would be great. But the Court
would know that its job is to mete out justice in a fair and logical manner, and it would
know that someone who is under 20 simply cannot be dealt with the same way as
someone older, even despite the pain of the family, because that person simply doesn.t
have the presence of mind, the judgment, the experience in life, to be judged as harshly as
someone who does. We know as well that the Bible states „an eye for an eye, a tooth for a
tooth.. Many people assume that this means that Jewish Law advocates or provides
for the execution of one who murders, as a matter of course. In fact, in Jewish Law „an
eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. refers to monetary damages for the loss of a tooth or
an eye, not a literal tooth or a literal eye. Thus, we understand how Jewish Law would
view a Court who executed one man in 70 years to be a murderous Court. In Jewish Law,
all nations of the world are required to set up court systems, so that people can resolve
their disputes in a civilized manner, and so that there is order and not anarchy. But those
courts are also expected to have compassion, compassion for someone who is killed and
his or her family, to be sure, but also to temper justice with compassion in judging the
killer as well. Courts are supposed to emulate Divine elements of Justice: There is the
aspect of Severity of Justice, but also the aspect of Mercy of Justice. They are the male
and female components required for Justice to be in balance There can not be one
without the other. If there is, then it is not true Justice. There must be severity but there
must also be mercy. That is how courts are supposed to rule. Petitioner understands that
Jewish Law does not apply here, Florida Law applies. But Petitioner asks only this: Some
would say that an execution such as the one the State advocates in this case is an example
of „Judeo-Christian. values. That is simply not true. In point of fact, there is nothing
„Judeo. about it. So if the State wants to execute Mr. Grossman in this case, there may be
little the Petitioner can do about it. But just this: Please don.t call it our values. Just this:
Not in my name. Not in our name.
Respectfully Submitted,
______________________
Edward Werner, Petitioner, Pro Se
9270 East Bay Harbor Drive, Suite 3B
Bay Harbor Islands, FL 33154
Tel.: (786) 262-1888
Email: wernered1234@yahoo.com
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I HEREBY CERTIFY that I e-mailed a true and correct copy of the foregoing to
warrant@flcourts.org, that I mailed the original and eight copies via overnight mail to the
Clerk of The Supreme Court of Florida, 500 S. Duval St., Tallahassee, FL 32399, and
that I mailed true and correct copies of the foregoing to the parties listed below, this 3rd
day of February, 2010.
1) Carol Marie Dittmar
Florida Attorney General.s Office
3507 E. Frontage Rd., Suite 200
Tampa, FL 33607
carol.dittmar@myfloridalegal.com
2) Carloyn M. Snurkowski
4519 Camden Rd.
Tallahassee, FL 32303
carolyn.snurkowski@myfloridalegal.com
3) Douglas E. Crow
14250 49th Street North
Clearwater, FL 33762
dcrow@co.pinellas.fl.us
4) Ali Andrew Shakoor
CCRC - Middle Region
3801 Corporex Park Dr., Suite 210
Tampa, FL 33619
cbus03@gmail.com
5) Richard E. Kiley
CCRC - Middle Region
3801 Corporex Park Dr., Suite 210
Tampa, FL 33619
Kiley@ccmr.state.fl.us
6) James V. Viggiano, Jr.
CCRC - Middle Region
3801 Corporex Park Dr., Suite 210
Tampa, FL 33619
jviggiano@tampabay.rr.com
EXHIBIT “A”
AFFIDAVIT OF CHARLES BRIAN CROSTON
AFFIDAVIT OF CHARLES BRIAN CROSTON
In the State of Florida,
County of Miami-Dade,
___________________________________________ being duly sworn, deposes and
states as follows:
1. I, Charles Brian Croston, was arrested in the fall of 1985 for a DUI violation, and
incarcerated in the Pinellas County Jail.
2. I was incarcerated there for approximately 5 days.
3. The time that I was incarcerated in the jail coincided with Martin Grossman.s trial.
4. At the time that I was at the jail, I was told first-hand by those with knowledge of it
that numerous continuous assaults against Mr. Grossman took place.
5. From what I was told while in the jail, the assaults against Mr. Grossman were
repeated and continuous from the time that he first arrived at the jail.
6. I personally witnessed inmates spitting on and urinating on the suit that Mr. Grossman
was using to wear to Court during the trial.
7. I was further told while there that the assaults and abuse got so bad that he was
eventually placed in solitary confinement for his own protection.
In witness whereof he has hereto set his hand and seal.
______________________________
(SEAL )
______________________________
(Title)
I, ____________________________, a Notary Public of the County and State aforesaid,
hereby certify that ______________________________ personally known to me to be
the affiant in the foregoing affidavit, personally appeared before me this day and having
been by me duly sworn deposes and says that the facts set forth in the above affidavit are
true and correct.
Witness my hand and official seal this the _________ day of __________, _________.
(SEAL) ______________________________
Notary Public
My Commission expires:
____ / ____ / ________.
EXHIBIT “B”
AFFIDAVIT OF RABBI MENACHEM MENDEL KATZ
AFFIDAVIT OF RABBI MENACHEM MENDEL KATZ
In the State of Florida,
County of Miami-Dade,
___________________________________________ being duly sworn, deposes and
states as follows:
1. My name is Menachem Mendel Katz. I am an Orthodox Rabbi in Miami, Florida.
2. I am Martin Grossman.s spiritual advisor.
3. Based on my meetings and discussions with Martin Grossman in my capacity as his
spiritual advisor, it is my sincere opinion that Mr. Grossman is deeply and sincerely
remorseful over the death of Margaret Parks.
4. Based on my meetings and discussions with Martin Grossman in my capacity as his
spiritual advisor, it is evident to me that he has grown as a person and is in no way the
same person he was in December, 1984.
5. It is my sincere opinion that Mr. Grossman desires the chance to live in order to do
some good in the world in his limited prison environment, and to in some small way
recompense society for the wrong that he knows he committed.
6. I ask the Court to spare his life.
In witness whereof he has hereto set his hand and seal.
______________________________
(SEAL )
______________________________
(Title)
I, ____________________________, a Notary Public of the County and State aforesaid,
hereby certify that ______________________________ personally known to me to be
the affiant in the foregoing affidavit, personally appeared before me this day and having
been by me duly sworn deposes and says that the facts set forth in the above affidavit are
true and correct.
Witness my hand and official seal this the _________ day of __________, _________.
(SEAL) ______________________________
Notary Public
My Commission expires:
____ / ____ / ________.
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