Executed Jewish inmate’s last words: ‘Ahavat Yisroel ...’

Martin Grossman is believed to be the first Jewish inmate to be executed since the U.S. death penalty was reinstated over 30 years ago, but, at least one other is waiting on Death Row nationwide.

Grossman, 45, was executed on Feb. 16 for the 1984 murder of Florida Wildlife Officer Peggy Park despite an intense effort to save him by a wide spectrum of mostly Orthodox Jewish organizations and a plea to Gov. Charlie Crist from Pope Benedict XVI at the request of the Jewish groups.

Richard Dieter, the executive director of the Washington-based Death Penalty Information Center, said he could not recall any other Jewish executions since his organization began tracking the nearly 1,200 which have occurred since 1979. The DPIC lists executions by age, sex and race but not by religion.

The most prominent Jews to be executed in the United States were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. They were electrocuted in 1953 after they were convicted of giving secrets about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. A study released in 2000 found only 1,700 Jews among the 1.5 million federal and state inmates, including 10 on death row.

One of those inmates, Max Soffar, was sentenced to death in Texas in 1981 for a triple murder in Houston he says he did not commit. His original conviction was overturned in 2004 but he was retried and convicted again in 2006. He is continuing to appeal.

Seven organizations — Agudath Israel of America, the Aleph Institute, the National Council of Young Israel, the Orthodox Union, the Rabbinical Council of America, the United Jewish Community Advocacy Relations and Enrichment and United Jewish Organization — organized a campaign, including an Internet petition drive, asking for clemency for Grossman through appeals to Crist.

They said that Grossman should be given a life sentence instead, saying he was under the influence of drugs and alcohol when he committed his crime but has since shown “profound remorse and regret” for his actions.

The Pope agreed, saying in a letter, “He has repented and is now a changed person, having become a man of faith.”

Crist said his office received nearly 50,000 calls and emails on behalf of Grossman. But he said the facts of the case justified a death sentence.

Critics of the clemency campaign contended the concern was strictly because Grossman was Jewish.

Grossman, then 19 and living in Pasco County, was firing a gun with a friend in a wooded area near Tarpon Springs when Park, 26, found them on Dec. 13, 1984.

Grossman asked Park not to arrest him because he was on probation for a robbery and would be sent to prison. She refused and Grossman attacked her with a flashlight and, as she called for backup, shot her in the head with her own gun. He was convicted of first degree murder in 1985 and sentenced to death.

His supporters, including Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, said Grossman did not deserve the death penalty because of his age, his IQ of 77 and the facts of the case.

“He does not belong on death row,” Dershowitz said in a statement. “His crime, committed when he was a teenager, was unplanned, unpremeditated and impulsive.”

Just before he was executed at the Florida State Prison at Starke, Grossman said, “I would like to extend my heartfelt remorse to the victim’s family. I fully regret everything that occurred that night. For everything that was done — whether I remember everything or not — I accept responsibility.”

Grossman then recited the Shema and was given a lethal injection.

Park’s mother, brother and sister came from Ohio to witness the execution. Afterward, her mother told reporters, “I’m glad. It was long overdue and it was appropriate.”

Grossman spent his last afternoon with Rabbi Menachem Katz, director of Prison & Military Outreach, of the Aleph Institute. Rabbi Katz was Grossman’s spiritual adviser for the past 15 years.

Rabbi Katz said Grossman’s father died when Martin was 14. His mother, who had mental problems and used drugs, died after Martin’s arrest.

“He was a man full of strong remorse and repentance,” Katz said. “He grew up to be a humble, kind caring person. He truly turned his life around.

“He took a life, which is terrible. But his life was a tragedy too,” Katz said.

Katz said Grossman was given a Jewish funeral and was buried in upstate New York at a donated burial site. His only relatives were his mother’s sister and a few cousins.

The Aleph Institute helps Jewish prison inmates. Katz said he did not know of any other Jewish executions in recent years.

Rabbi Nochem Kurinsky of the Chabad of Ponte Verda Beach near Jacksonville witnessed the execution. In a website posting, he said Grossman’s last words were, “Ahavat Yisroel” — love of the people of Israel.

“Martin died a repentant man. He brought us together with true Jewish identity,” Rabbi Kurinsky wrote.

Rabbi David Zwiebel, executive vice-president of Agudath Israel of America, said he felt deep anguish and sorrow over Grossman’s execution. “There are many lessons one might draw from this terrible tragedy, but in the end we acknowledge ‘Baruch Dayan Haemes— Blessed be the true Judge’.”