Barrabbas redux????

I assume that most people have been following the Martin Grossman story. If you weren't, Mr. Grossman was convicted and sentenced to death by lethal injection around 25 years ago for his 1984 murder at age 19 of Florida Fish and Wildlife officer Margaret ("Peggy") Parks. The facts of the case as sealed by the verdict are as follows, in summary. Officer Parks found Mr. Grossman and a friend in possession of a stolen firearm, which violated the terms of a prior probation. When she tried to radio in the violation from her car (some allege that Mr. Grossman pleaded with Officer Parks to not report the incident), Mr. Grossman attacked her with her flashlight, beating her numerous times on the head and shoulders. Officer Parks tried to fight back (some allege she fired a warning shot); Mr. Grossman took her gun away from her and shot her in the back of the head, killing her. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. He sat on death row for 25 years, (ed. - presumably held up with appeals), until he was executed by the State of Florida on February 16, 2010. Jewish organizations (as well as the Pope) such as Agudah, etc, led a grass-roots campaign to petition FL Governor Charlie Crist for a 60 day stay so as to submit an appeal for clemency, sparing Mr. Grossman's life and allowing him to serve his debt to society with life imprisonment instead. The appeals claimed the support of gedolim and called on a public communications blitz (email, phone, etc). Governor Crist sent out a response to the 50,000 some-odd callers and emailers - you can read it here, on YWN.

The death penalty, which FL revived in 1976, can be an extremely emotional and sensitive topic and this post is NOT meant to argue it's merits and demerits, nor am I intending to offend anyone's sensitivities. With that said, I don't have a problem with appeals for clemency per se, but I believe the nature and tone of this whole clemency campaign to be a misguided, poorly conceived project that was doomed to accomplish absolutely nothing and cause some unintended consequences in the process. There are problems with the campaign that I see on many levels that I'll attempt to tackle point by point.

Point 1 - The methods of the clemency seekers seem somewhat deceptive. Please read the campaign's official petition very carefully and compare to the facts of the case, as stated by Gov Crist (link posted above - these facts are documented elswhere - they aren't exclusive to Gov Crist). Do you see a difference? The petitioners obviously have an agenda (not necessarily wrong) and lightly twisted the facts of the case in such a way that softens the heinousness of what Mr. Grossman actually did and insinuates that Mr. Grossman can't be held that responsible for his actions. They say that Mr Grossman was said to have an IQ of 77, possibly lightly insinuate that the act of murder may have resulted from a (minor) epileptic seizure, and suggest that Mr. Grossman acted out of (self-perceived?) self-defense ("...which resulted in the officer reaching for her own gun. Then Martin panicked, snatched her gun and shot her."). All of these aren't necessarily problematic in and of themselves; they can be re-interpretations of a "he-said, she-said" situation where nobody really knows what exactly happened or what was going through Mr. Grossman's mind. But the petitioners deliberately leave out other salient points of the case, like the fact that he brutally beat the officer with her flashlight, some 20-30 times on the head and shoulders, which she almost died from (deep lacerations and fractured skull points attest to this in the autopsy).
Hat tip to Orthonomics for pointing this out.

Point 2 - The argument that clemency seekers make doesn't stand firmly on it's own logic. The main thrust of the argument (the official and unofficial arguments) to me was that Mr. Grossman didn't really have full control over his faculties and didn't realize the enormity of his actions, has served enough time and paid his debt, and is remorseful and repentant. He was young (19), possibly high on drugs, maybe had a seizure prior to the act, his acts were triggered by deep-seated psychosis stemming from bad upbringing, the murder wasn't premeditated (intent to kill), he has served enough time, etc etc etc etc. OK. He was young, only 19. So what? He's over the age of a minor and can be tried as an adult. He was mentally deficient for various reasons (low IQ, 'bad upbringing', high, etc) and therefore should be imprisoned for life instead of being executed. Why exactly should he rot in prison for life? This basis for clemency would logically call for an appeal for retrial (never going to happen) or transfer to a psychiatric facility instead of cold, hard life behind iron bars! His actions weren't premeditated, they were a spontaneous, psychotic act. So he gets scared he's going to get thrown in the clink again (she's going to report probation violation). So he beats her with flashlight to "silence" her ("OK, that didn't kill her..."). Then he grabs her gun and shoots her in the head ("OK, that worked"), then he covers up the murder ("Oops, I did a baddie. Gotta make sure I don't get caught"). That doesn't add up to premeditation at all??? Not a possibility for a jury to mull over? Premeditation doesn't have to necessarily refer to a case where a murderer carefully plans out his (or her) act over months or years. And, isn't any act of murder, I mean the act itself, a psychotic act?? "Mr. Grossman has been on death row for over 25 years!" He has served enough time already, he's paid his debt to society. Wait a minute - if he's served enough time, why are we asking for life imprisonment as an alternative? And, he hasn't paid his debt to society! His debt requires him, as far as the State of Florida is concerned, to be executed, which he would've been right away had there not been numerous appeals keeping him on death row for 25 years. All in all, arguing vs the merits of the death penalty itself (while it wouldn't have accomplished anything anyway) would've been a better route than making an argument with holes so big you could drive a truck through them. He was repentant, he has expressed regret and remorse for what he's done. So, does that make his debt to society any less? Many murderers feel remorse down the line - should we allow them to truncate the severity of their sentence (whether death or life imprisonment) because of it? We certainly don't believe that in Yahadus. The only kappara for taking a life is to part neshama from body, isn't it??

Point 3 - Involving the "plebeian" masses in this campaign and making it such a public spectacle was a very, very, very, very, very, very big mistake. This a most important point. OK, it's possible this point is a "20/20 in hindsight" sort of thing. But, an issue IMHO nonetheless. Appealing for clemency for a person who, let's face it, spontaneously OR premeditated, brutally beat and murdered a young woman is always rife with the toxic danger of PR fallout, no matter what. This is a "gimme" that those smart people who have leadership brains should have seen beforehand, period; even a person who doesn't have "daas Torah" could have spotted this. But somehow this was overlooked. Instead of recognizing the grave PR danger of making a public appeal on this very sensitive case and doing it quietly and firmly, those seeking clemency threw caution to the winds and created a ripe atmosphere in which this case could be blown up into a PR nightmare by snowballing a hysterically urgent, very public message that sites like YWN picked up on; messages there like Call NOW!!! There's not a MOMENT TO LOSE!!! on those sites seemed to have rapidly snowballed into messages such as PIDYON SHEVUYIM!! and THE GEDOLIM HAVE SAID THAT HE WHO SAVES THE LIFE OF A FELLOW JEW SAVES THE WHOLE WORLD!!! and WE MUST DAVEN FOR REB MICHOEL YECHIEL BEN AVRAHAM'S (apparently Mr. Grossman's name) HOLY, REPENTANT NESHOMA!!!! and HIS DEFENSE WAS INADEQUATE; THOSE MAMZERS ARE KILLING HIM BECAUSE HE'S A JEW!! and other such nonsense. If you don't believe me, just search for articles relating to the appeal on YWN, Matzav, VIN, and general Google searches. Read the comments extensively; heck, read the comments on Gov Crist's response to callers - some of them paint the Gov as some anti-semitic hack who is just a total, evil bastard. What? Read this article for more of the same. Are you kidding me? Then, the piece de resistance, read this article, where Gov Crist attempts to explain his rejection of the appeal, and the comments that ensue. They are a bit nauseating and stomach-turning. Some comments bash Gov Crist by totally sidestepping the issues ("he's an incompetent governor on the way out"). Some just dismiss any legitimacy Gov Crist has because of... his name ("sounds like Christ, that MAMZER!!"). Some comments actually contain a voice of sanity. In reading many of these comments though, I don't know whether to laugh or cry (or both). The comments are so riddled with words of insanity and idiocy that I can't possibly list them all here.

Then we have reports of people calling up Officer Parks' (the victim) family, harassing them, possibly calling them 'Nazi' for supporting and invoking the death penalty, and other such terms.

There are comments, websites, newspapers, etc publishing sentiments that are elevating Mr. Grossman to quasi-saint status (!!!), calling him a 'true baal-teshuva', a person who died a 'kadosh', and other blathering. These are too numerous to post - just search around the web and you'll see what I'm talking about. We have footage from the funeral - held in Monsey, NY - that can seem to paint Mr. Grossman (if this footage is true and relates to the story at hand) as some sort of "lamed vav-nik" or something given the size, scope, and raw emotion in the eulogy. IT'S ON YOUTUBE, FOR G-D'S SAKE! How more public can one get?

Then we get the Pope involved. I see. So we're not allowed to have anything to do with the Pope vis a vis dialogue on interfaith relations (not interfaith doctrine), but we'll gladly take his support when it suits us.

The bottom line really lies in an article written by R' Yair Hoffman for VIN and a well written response written here. ED. COMMENT - I just came across this interview of R' Hoffman on the Dov Hikind show where he respectfully defends his strong opinion - it's not long as is worthwhile listening to. There are others - just search. Not all that possess "daas Torah" are on the same side of the fence; others far greater than I (such as R' Hoffman above) have expressed publicly and in open forums much shock and dismay at the lack of preparation for the campaign as well as disgust for what it's become. The bottom line is that the man brutally murdered and snuffed out the life of a young woman. The bottom line is that many people are erroneously, too vocally and publicly, elevating the status of the murderer to some sort of sainthood. The bottom line is that there is another (non-Jewish) family suffering terribly because of Mr. Grossman's actions, and we as a people need to be sensitive to that. The bottom line is that the Jewish community, as a unit, acted in a horridly insensitive, non-sensical, hysterical and inappropriate way, whether you believe the appeal for clemency itself is appropriate or not.

The bottom line is that this campaign sowed the seeds of potential chillul Hashem and too many of our brethren may very well reap that foul harvest.

I am not arguing the merits or demerits of the death penalty. I'm not even discussing whether or not Mr. Grossman deserves clemency, philosophically or otherwise. What I am is critical of the way this campaign was waged and utterly disgusted of what it's become. I never thought I'd say this or feel this, but I am truly ashamed of many of my fellow Jews who so ridiculously and hysterically hijacked this "cause" and transformed it into what could very well be a public circus and chillul Hashem, as if we needed more of that. This could have been done in a dignified manner, but it degenerated into a circus. I am appalled and astounded at the horrid lack of foresight shown by those we deign to call and who deign to assume the mantle of "leaders". Haven't we learned from the various chillulei Hashem scandals in the past? Haven't we learned from the kidney scandals, the pedophilia "cover-ups", the conversion firestorms, the financial frauds, etc etc etc about the importance of political fallout? When will we wake up and realize that we need to be cognizant of every action, reaction, word and turn of phrase that we engage in and utter??? The notion that "'the goyim' are just going hate us anyway and what do they know and they'll never treat us fairly" needs to be discarded or modified, because it's not that simple, has gotten us in more trouble than it's worth, and may very well have done nothing but besmirch the standards of Judaism in the public eye.

Like one of the blog posts I linked to above, I didn't want to discuss this. I'm trying to wind down my "rantiness" here because that does nothing any good and isn't always appropriate. This is also a sensitive and emotional issue itself and I don't want to tread on anyone's toes. But the Jewish people as a unit have gone too far, from what I can see. People will see the youtube videos. These comments and sentiments elevating Mr. Grossman to sainthood will make their way around the internet and print media, like it or not. It's not Jews I'm worried about reading these things - it's non-Jews Googling the story and stumbling upon some pretty weird and vile comments in cyberspace. The way many people acted just makes me so sick and disgusted I feel like I have to write about this.

In the end, I hold Yahadus dear. Besides everything else, I love and am grateful to HKB"H for blessing me with a wonderful wife and child. I will not stand idly by while His name could be dragged through the mud, again.