I find it a strange paradox that many of us will be celebrating Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday with parades, fried foods, pancakes and frivolity while in a small, sterile white room in the Florida State Prison in Raiford, a Jewish man with a low IQ will be ritually, quietly put to death by lethal injection.Martin Grossman is accused of killing Margaret "Peggy" Park, a Florida Wildlife officer, in December of 1984. Grossman, who was 19 at the time of the crime, and a 17 year-old friend were shooting off a stolen handgun in the wildlife preserve where Park was patrolling. When Park confronted the two, Grossman, who his defenders say was high on drugs at the time, begged her not to turn him in. He had just been released from jail for burglary and was on probation. When she refused, Grossman apparently grabbed her flashlight and hit her 20-30 times in the face. Park fired her weapon, but Grossman wrestled her gun from her and shot her in the head. He and his cohort were arrested two weeks later, and then tried together. Grossman's lawyers never presented any mental health evidence at the trial, even though Martin suffered from epilepsy and was on medications for that and had an IQ of 77. After the fact, during what's called the post-conviction appeals, Grossman's new lawyers hired a forensic psychologist to evaluate their client. That psychologist reports that, given Martin's IQ and drug abuse coupled with possible brain damage, his actions, as wrong as they were in beating and killing Officer Park, are not pre-meditated... a standard that is supposed to be the threshhold for the death penalty.
Grossman's case has been appealed, and turned down. Governor Charlie Crist has received petitions and phone calls to stop this execution. He has washed his hands. Jewish groups from across the U.S. and around the globe have been rallying for a 60-day stay of execution to allow for new evidence to be presented. So far, no change on the part of the Governor or the courts.
Officer Park's family, while not excited by an execution, are nonetheless tired of waiting for justice to occur for their loved one. When the state promises to execute the individual, the victim's family is not given closure until the execution occurs. This leads to anger and frustration with a system that allows for vigourous representation of people on death row. The Grossman case raises two questions: is it right to have put the Park family through this when life imprisonment with no possibility of parole could have been the final sentence? And are we really safer when we execute a man of marginal IQ?
The cynic in me sees this execution as yet another political ploy by Governor Charlie Crist in his sorry effort to convince Republicans in this state that he's a "tough guy". Crist, and the newbies now running Florida's media, didn't talk much during his gubernatorial campaign about how Crist delighted in the nickname "Chaingang Charlie" when he was a state senator from St. Petersburg. Crist was proud that one of his first major bills he passed would require inmates to be in the stereotypical prison garb of black and white striped jumpsuits as they picked up trash along the highways. And they would be chained. And there would have to be a sign announcing that this was a prison work crew (because it wouldn't be obvious enough!)
But somehow Crist must have fallen down on the job of keeping up the "tough guy" image. Why else would he decide that now, when he's suddenly finding himself in a tight race for the open U.S. Senate seat against fellow Republican Marco Rubio, would Crist decide to sign a death warrant? And why Grossman? It wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that the crime occured in Pinellas County, Crist's home base, where the local county Republicans held a straw poll and picked Rubio over their hometown boy. That happened on January 11th. Crist signed Grossman's death warrant on the 12th. Coincidence? Nah, just politics. Will killing Martin Grossman make Charlie Crist a "tough guy"? Sorry, Charlie: you will be far removed from that death chamber. You will not have to eyeball the man you are asking others to kill in our name. I have watched our state kill a man. To be a participant in this ritual of death didn't make me "tough". It tore me up because I saw the man.
Many of us continue to hope and pray that someone will stop this Mardi Gras execution of Martin Grossman. But time is growing short.
Governor Crist is a Methodist, and I'm sure he'll want people to know that he has attended church on one of the most solemn days in the Christian calendar: Ash Wednesday. I wonder if he'll remember Martin Grossman when he hears the words, "You are dust, and to dust you shall return." Will he even make that connection.
*****************************************UPDATE: The state of Florida executed Martin Grossman tonight. He died at 6:17pm. According to witnesses at the execution, Mr. Grossman expressed remorse and apologized to the family of Margaret "Peggy" Park. He then recited the Shema, the core prayer of belief for Jews, and his final words were "Ahavos Yisroel"... an expression which links him with his fellow Jews, and one hopes was the fulfillment of Grossman's connection with God. To have love for Israel comes in a package of having love of G-d and love of Torah. With those latter two, comes the love of all of Israel. May the blessings of the God of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob be on Martin Grossman and his family... as well as the family of Peggy Park. Florida has created another victim, another victim's family. God have mercy upon us.
11 comments:
My prayers include Martin, his family and friends, Charlie, the Park family, and for those whose work is to do the execution and those who must watch. My phone may ring just before 6.. so I will be 'free' to spend those few minutes in the chapel.
Phoebe: I will likely stop in at the chapel, briefly, to pray and then will be heading to the Governor's mansion for a vigil. I can't participate in the gathering at the Capitol on Wednesday because I will be where you will be. This event is certainly adding to the weight of Ash Wednesday for me.
What a sad state of affairs, Susan, and I shall have the same group in my prayers that Phoebe does, as it requires all of us to think about this.
Peggins
First of all, I don't buy that he has an IQ of 77. Google Martin Eddie Grossman poet and you'll see how this man writes. Most of the people who claim he has a serious cognitive impairment don't express themselves like that.
Second of all, the very people who are sobbing about him being executed are the same people who enthusiastically support it when a black man is being executed. This is only because Grossman is a born-again religious Jew. Suddenly, rabbis are sending kids home from jewish day schools with messages for their parents, people are being called Nazis if they don't sympathize with Grossman and call the governor of Florida. It's a very unpleasant situation.
I'm an observant Jew and am totally opposed to the Death Penalty. But I am disgusted that my fellow observant Jews care only about a Jew on Death Row, and cheer when a candidate says he/she supports the Death Penalty. They complain about the pathetic liberals who oppose it. But a Jew on Death Row? Now that's a different story.
I don't want him to die but I don't want anyone on Death Row to die. Wait and see when the next execution comes up, especially if it's a man of color . These people who are rending their clothes today will rejoice.
Truly Anonymous: If you google "Martin Grossman", you will get many "Martin Grossmans. Just like if you google "Susan Gage", you will get Susan Gage the DC caterer, Susan Gage the Oregon-based journalist, Susan Gage, the journalism professor in Nebraska... and me. So I wouldn't be so quick to assume you have the right Martin Grossman.
And while there may be some who are using his Judaism as an opportunity to rend their clothes over the execution of a member of the tribe of Israel, I personally know many who would be doing the same kind of activism (and have done the same activism!) on behalf of death row inmates of color... not just of African descent, but Latinos as well.
In the end, this execution is not the actions of people on either side of the issue. This is a question of whether or not it is moral for the state to take a life, particularly when there is evidence that had it been introduced, may very well have been a mitigating factor in his death sentence. I do not think society is served well by the death penalty at all. Cases such as Martin Grossman's only further show how wrong-headed this form of punishment is, and how it has needlessly prolonged and protracted the justice that the victim's family has been seeking. Even after Martin Grossman breathes his last... Officer Park will still be dead. Death only brings more death. And nobody is safer because of it. On this point, you and I agree. Shalom.
I know which Martin Grossman was a poet. This is his personal ad:
http://www.ccadp.org/martingrossman.htm
He absolutely is the same Martin Grossman who was executed this evening. You can't tell me that a man who was seriously cognitively/intellectually impaired wrote those poems.
This annoys me about all of the sites using his poetry to have him freed. Sure, he was a sensitive guy when he wrote those poems, but not a guy with an IQ of 77.
I know plenty of Jews who oppose the Death Penalty. But the Jews who were signing the petition were the Orthodox Jews who do not care about people of color on Death Row. Trust me, go check out the Jewish news sites. They make comments like, "The blacks have Al Sharpton, they don't need us..." and, "I support the Death Penalty must I must save a fellow Yid."
I am very cynical about what I have read on Jewish Orthodox message boards. I feel it is, to use a Jewish term, a chillul Hashem, a desecration of God's name. I'm ashamed and angry right now.
I'm not happy that he is dead. The Death Penalty is a terrible thing. But I don't think anything will change, in the way that my fellow observant Jews vote or how they feel. I'm not sharing the ugliest comments with you because I, as a Jew, don't want to invite any more anti-Jewish sentiment. But I have a very bitter taste in my mouth tonight, and not just because I'm sad about Eddie Grossman's fate.
Just checked out the Orthodox Jewish news sites that I, and my friends, read. Nope, not one comment about the Death Penalty. Lots of stuff about hating the governor, lots of stuff about how wrong THIS execution was, plenty of accusations of capital punishment.
Not one yet condemning capital punishment. And they're pouring in.
Sorry, I made a mistake. I meant to say, "plenty of accusations of anti-Semitism."
Truly Anonymous: A couple of things. First, please sign a name, any name, I don't care if it's your real name or your Hebrew name. It's my preference to communicate with a name rather than "anonymous".
Secondly, you and I are probably more alike than not. I checked and found you are correct about the poetry. You may not believe someone with an IQ of 77 can write something spiritual and meaningful. But this guy seems to have immersed himself in Torah, and I can see that reflected in some of what he is writing. And I have seen where children (in this case, African-American children) who have learning disabilities, and major hurdles to overcome, have written things that would blow you away.
The case is moot now because he's dead.
As to what Orthodox Jews are saying or doing... I'm no fan of people who are strident in ANY direction on religion. And, again, I know plenty of devout REFORMED Jews who prayed the Kaddish this evening for Martin Grossman. To Orthodox Jews, my friends in the Reformed tradition probably aren't "real" Jews. But, as one of them is fond of saying to the Orthodox critic, "I'd be Jewish enough for Hitler!"
Like I said, there's no point in us arguing because we're both, on the grand scale, against the death penalty. And Martin Grossman is now dead. What a sad end to Mardi Gras for this Christian.
Okay, this is embarrassing, but I tried to post a name each time I posted, and it didn't work. I'm so ridiculously inept when it comes to these things. All I could get it to do is say Anonymous. I'll try again this time.
You're catching me, and my feelings, at the tail end of a very emotional week. I've been very worked up about this particular execution. Not that I don't get upset about all of them, but the way this has been handled by my fellow Jews just drives me batty. I've encouraged them again and again to check out the Northwestern Innocence Project and channel all this energy into challenging the morality of the Death Penalty. Instead they're cursing the governor, cursing the poor victim's mother for showing up at the execution (and, let's be honest, none of us wants to walk a mile in the shoes of a 79 year old woman who has had to grow old without her daughter and endure 26 years of appeals), cursing Obama (because apparently he's responsible for absolutely everything), cursing Anti-Semites, because we all know that anything that happens to a Jew is a result of anti-Semitism. I've heard them call those Jews who don't agree with them Nazis. As a child of Holocaust survivors, having that name bandied about between Jews is despicable.
So, to be honest, I've been grappling with my own feelings. Honestly, I don't know whether to believe that Martin repented or found God in prison. Until the moment before he died, he never, ever apologized to the victim's family. Rabbi Katz, who was involved in this religious transformation, pushed very hard for clemency. Those of us who don't know Eddie (and I've read comments from some who did, before the murder, as well as people who knew Officer Park) will never know. Nor will we know his real intellectual capabilities. But all of the ugliness that was flying around led me to feel ambivalent. I didn't want these people who were fighting this execution to succeed using the argument that no Jew should die. It's not about a Jew or Christian or Muslim. Before and after, nobody took a stand that acknowledged that maybe they had been wrong to support the death penalty. They just became enraged at the governor.
Correction: In the hundreds of comments I read (some angry at Grossman and unsympathetic, some angry at the governor), I read one comment where somebody, after his execution, realized that the Death Penalty might be barbaric. This is something. The others just blamed Liberals. This is ironic, as it is largely liberal voters who have fought the Death Penalty. But we all know that logic and emotion don't always go hand in hand.
So I'm sad that he's dead, but I'm sadder still that Officer Park died in such a frightening and brutal way. I'm sad that he's dead, but I'm sadder still that nobody has learned anything about the horror of the Death Penalty from the execution. Just another dead inmate. And the next time somebody is executed, these people will ignore it because it'll be a non-Jew, maybe a black or Hispanic one, and we just don't concern ourselves with them.
I feel quite hopeless about everything. i did cry for Grossman tonight but I also cried because things just seem really awful at times like this.
Ruth,
That's so much nicer than "truly anonymous". I realize that sometimes Blogger can whelm, and overwhelm, and I am happy you were able to figure this out so we can have a better conversation.
I empathize with your frustration, your anger, your sadness. I spent the last six years of my reporting career "specializing" in the death penalty issues in Florida, of which we had TONS (we were still using an electric chair at that time)! I often felt like I was just screaming into the wind.
People are coming around, slowly, on the moral issues on the death penalty. Again, Orthodox Jews... particularly if they are only seeing Martin Grossman as a Jew... are the same as Pat Robertson suddenly caring about the death penalty ONLY in the case of Karla Faye Tucker in Texas because she returned to God while in prison. I hope for both her and Martin Grossman that their return to God is sincere because, in my belief system, this is what is necessary for their sake, not for God's sake.
Again, you and I really are on the same page on the very basic issue of the death penalty as a no-win solution to society's ills. Even if we have slightly different takes on all the particulars, the fact remains that Martin Grossman is dead, Peggy Park is still dead, and the citizens of Florida are no safer tonight than we were last night.
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