Martin Grossman Should Not Die
Update below.
Did you ever see the movies where people who don't deserve to die are about to be hung in the town square, already with a noose around their neck, and the protagonist comes riding in on his horse, shooting the rope that holds the noose, thereby freeing the victims, and then he swoops up the victims on his horse, and carries them away, riding into the sunset?
Don't you wish you were the one on that horse?
Martin Grossman did a terrible thing at one stage of his life. However, he really never deserved the death penalty for this crime in the first place both according to US law and Jewish law. He is now a changed man and a Baal Teshuva. He is scheduled to die on Tuesday. Please pray to Hashem for salvation. See SaveMartinGrossman.com for updated info.
For those sending letters to the governor of Florida, tell the governor that commuting the sentence to life in prision here does not equal being soft on crime. It equals being just and fair in a way of emulating G-d. Tell him that we learn from Exodus 33:19 that just like G-d is merciful when appropriate, we should also be merciful when appropriate. This is an appropriate time.
Letter from the Aguda:
To Friends and Constituents of Agudath Israel:
We are little more than 24 hours away from the scheduled execution, Rachmona litzlan, of Martin Grossman, Michoel Yechiel ben Miriam Sorah.
I wish I would have positive news to report, but the best I can say at this time is that there is still hope his life can be spared. His lawyers have a legal motion pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, on which the Court is expected to rule by tomorrow morning. The effort to persuade Florida Governor Charlie Crist to stay the execution and grant him a new clemency hearing also continues on a variety of fronts.
Our Gedolei Yisroel have asked us to do whatever we can to help save our brother's life. Therefore, at this moment of ne'ilas she'arim, let us continue to let the Governor know how strongly we feel about this matter. Please, even if you have already contacted his office, call him tonight or tomorrow morning at 850- 488-5603 to respectfully request that Martin Grossman's life be spared. (Note: This is a different number than the one we circulated last week; we are told that the other number, 850-488-7146, may not be operative at this time.)
The community's response to this tragic situation has been nothing short of overwhelming. May our display of ahavas Yisroel, together with our ongoing tefillos, find favor in the Eyes of the King of all kings, in whose Hands the hearts of all earthly leaders reside.
Chaim Dovid Zwiebel
Unfortunate Update: Martin Grossman was executed. Baruch Dayan Ha'Emet.
posted by yaak @ 2/15/2010 05:32:00 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
What you wrote was great.
All the phone ##s and email to the Governor are disconnected or otherwise; he has been receiving more than he can handle. I truly think that the fact that the Pope got involved in this matter (i.e. international EYE ON GOVERNOR CRIST) we may see a stay of execution IY"H. Otherwise he may not have felt sufficiently secure in issuing a "stay". I hope this "EYE" on Florida pushes him into doing the right and humane thing!
http://habayitah.blogspot.com/2010/02/to-save-soul.html
http://www.vosizneias.com/49584/2010/02/17/new-york-editorial-a-postmortem-on-the-grossman-execution
read this letter. While we should all have rachmanus, and I personally think the DP should be abolished untill we can use DNA in every single case to eliminate as much faulty human testimony as possible, there are other considerations here as well.
when the parents of the victims get called ""nazis", maybe the PR campaign ought to rethink itself.
I read it earlier today, and he makes some valid points. I am for the death penalty, but only when certain criteria are met - here, they weren't.
Furthermore, I disagree with Rabbi Hoffman's final upshot. Saving a Jewish life outweighs all the points he makes. Nothing is doheh Piku'ah Nefesh except for 3 aveirot.
Whoever called the parents of the victims "nazis" should be ashamed of themselves, but you shouldn't throw out the baby with the bath water just because of a few bad apples. The campaign was the right thing to do, and I would support it again.
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