RIP Martin Grossman, who left this world with remarkable dignity.
Even while being murdered by the cowardly executioners of Florida, led by chief executioner Gov. Charlie Crist, he maintained his dignity. He could have lashed out at this cruel and unjust system. Instead, he expressed profound remorse for the crime he had committed more than 25 years ago, and said Shema Yisrael, the sacred Biblical text recited in the daily prayer (see my commentary here) and, more poignantly, recited by Jewish martyrs throughout the ages as they were being executed. As reported by Tampa Bay Online:
In a final statement, Grossman expressed remorse to the family of Peggy Park, the Florida wildlife officer he beat and shot to death more than 25 years ago.
“I would like to extend my heartfelt remorse to the victim’s family,” Grossman said. “I fully regret everything that happened that night, everything that was done, whether I remember everything or not. I accept responsibility.”
“I would like to say a prayer,” the 45-year-old man added, then, lying on a gurney, hands strapped to arm boards and with needles in both arms, he began reciting a Jewish prayer called the Schma.
It is the most sacred prayer in Judaism and the first prayer that Jewish children learn. Among its verses: “The Lord is our God, God is one.”
This utterly infuriating execution diminishes the value of human life. For those of us who are opposed to the state-sponsored and governor-stamped death squads, it will take a while to gather our thoughts. But we must redouble our efforts to abolish this primitive, barbaric (in constitutional lingo “cruel and unusual”) punishment that has no place in a modern, enlightened society. How long will the United States remain in the the moral cesspool into which it has descended together with Iran, China, and Saudi Arabia?
Hold Governor Charlie Crist Accountable
Of course, the death squads will not be eliminated from our system in a quick fix. It will take significant grassroots activism and astute political skills to remove this embarrassing stain. Certainly, one necessary ingredient must be holding executioners accountable.
Florida Governor Charlie Crist must pay the ultimate political price for his crime. His rush to murder Martin Grossman, denying him even the modest 60-day stay that was justified to present a fully-supported clemency request based on new evidence regarding mitigating circumstances, was no doubt politically-motivated. Accordingly, that’s where he needs to be punished.
Crist is in a primary battle to win the Republican nomination for the upcoming Senate race in Florida. I hope the thousands of leaders and ordinary citizens that organized and pleaded to save Grossman’s life will devote their energy to ensure he never again gets elected to any public office. It’s not too early to mass mobilize to defeat his political aspirations and foil his future political plans. That would certainly send one powerful message to all the other politicians out there who are considering signing death warrants or refusing to issue commutations to life imprisonment.
