Starke, FL – During the rather antiseptic execution of Martin Grossman for killing Wildlife Officer Peggy Park in 1984 in North Pinellas County, Park’s mother stared at her daughter’s killer who was just 10 feet away. Afterwards, Margaret Park said she was thinking of the children of Haiti who were buried under concrete and died a horrible, scary death. Park says she thinks Grossman had it easy.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Park’s sister Betsy says 25 years is an excruciating long time to have to wait and have the way her sister died brought up over and over. Betsy Park was sad her father didn’t live to see the day the killer died.
Park says she was upset with some opponents of the execution including the Pope for stepping in and some Jewish groups which she said went too far. According to Park the family was harassed over the past week and she thinks it is reprehensible.
However Park says she is glad that Grossman took responsibility, but says it was long overdue.
Having covered some of the Peggy Park murder, and now being a witness at the execution of her killer, it seems as if Park’s death was more traumatizing. She was beaten over the head more than 20 times with her flashlight and then shot in the head with her service revolver. And while the execution brings some closure, it will never end for the Park family.
Margaret Park says you don’t forget, but you go on.
And they will go on knowing the man who killed their daughter has finally been served justice, even if it took a quarter of a century for that to happen.
horrible, simply horrible, Hashem yikom damo, he wasnt innocent, but he didnt deserve to die
Nobody “protected” Grossman, nor justified his murder. That it takes 25 years to give a prisoner a trial is nobody’s fault. All we asked for was the one, last chance to plead the case of a 19 year old who committed a murder while high on drugs with the delusion that he was acting in self-defense. Had your daughter been a plain, nice lady like most of us here, execution would not even be considred.
I haver to agree with the mom on this one. I hope the family can find some peace.
This article is 100% right. Even though you may have reformed your ways, you cant erase your past. an eye for an eye. its sad that he caused his own death but,if he had never been caught and ended up in jaill, do you think he would have become religeous? or do you think he would have continued a sad life of crime? obviously we wont know. It is however fortunate that the legal system does work. BDE
I think this is too far! we were trying to save a life!
Whoever contacted the Parks and harassed them did a terrible thing.
I completely agree. We only have Rachmanus for our own. I feel like its me and a few others who actually cared about the Parks family’s suffering and to see justice served. Frankly, upon reading all the details of the crimes he did previously and the details of the murder itself I couldn’t comprehend where the Rachmanus was coming from. I know of plenty of Jewish kids with bad childhoods and they use drugs, however they would NEVER act violent, NEVER shoot or try to kill someone! One does not murder unless they have a killer instinct and murderous nature. The drugs maybe helped him act fearlessly but a person on drugs is usually happy and uses it to escape really, they do not go killing people.
“Hashem yikom damo, “
yikom damo?! Who should hashem ‘avenge’? The mother of the girl who was murdered? The courts who did their job in creating a dinim? Nekama???
“he wasnt innocent, but he didnt deserve to die”
Why not? Why didnt he deserve to die? He murdered someone in cold blood! Even if you think it would be better if he just rotted in jail, your deep emotional attachment to this murderer is disturbing.
Well when the Parks go to sleep at night I hope they remember the wonderful childhood they gave their Peggy and why Peggy grew up to be a wildlife officer and not a high school drop out with a low IQ, low self esteem and a need to self-medicate. If the shoe was on the other foot, and it was their child that was the frightened uncared for child who committed a horrendous crime, what we they have done to save his life as limited as it was?
It is only for the Grace of G-d that they are in the position to be so judgmental. It is a shame that they have not gotten to a place in their hearts to show even the slightest sense of compassion and forgiveness under the circumstances. After all, we aren’t talking about an evil individual without guilt or remorse.
What would you day if he killed your daughter????
So easy to yell at the top of your lungs.
He’s a BT, He keeps mitzvahs, He puts on Teffilin……….
What you say if he killed your child???????
To Mrs. Park.
I understand your pain and anguish, but from what I’m getting from your statement, is that you want revenge, not justice.
I also understand, nothing will bring your daughter back, but saying that Martin grossman, who lived in a room 6×9 feet alone, with only one hour a day in the outdoors, with limited visitation rights, for over 25 YEARS, than gets his the death sentence, I find it hard to believe how a human being could say after all that, that he had it easy.
as a matter of fact no portion of this mans life was easy, many times not by faults of his own, I truly believe he regrets what he did, and got more than he deserved.
and please don’t tell me i have no idea the feeling, as I’ve had a very close cousin who was murdered in cold blood.
My sympathies are with the Park Family..They deserve our prayers and hope.
I am deeply ashamed, disgusted and saddened by the foolish and absurd behaviour and postings of the religious Jewish Community.
The murderer did not deserve our sympathy.
I offer my apoligies to the Park Family for the outrageous behaviour and internet postings of the supposed Religious Jewish Community.
To the Park Family , please accept my sincere apology.
Only people who have lost a child in such a horrible way, could comiserate. our Torah speaks about the Goel hadom, a mother is a goel hadom, and we must not forget her daughter was killed. Everyone tells their freinds to forget & forgive, but do those very people forget & forgive themselves.
I thought the mother spoke about closure, but it seems the death of Grossman doidn’t give closure.
I guarantee you the fear, regret and guilt of what she witnessed will do the opposite of closure & haunt her to death. No human likes to witness the death of another, under any circumstance.
Now it is time to mend, Mrs Park is upset with us, and she is entitled to be. We never saved Grossman, but why leave a hurt person out there.
I think all the Rabbis & organizations should send a letter of appoligy to Mrs Park for her feelings and a token of some type of present to mend the pain.
We have nothing to gain now, over Grossman A”H dead body.
Hamokom Yenachem eschem.
Now that we are after the execution of Grossman, we have to ask ourselves if we would have had the same opinion if he wasn’t Jewish. Of course the answer is yes. Most Orthodox Jews support the death penalty. However, we are unhappy when a Yid is sentenced Bi’echoyos Shel Goyim. We want the death penalty, and the Sheva Mitzvos says there needs to be justice. We CAN’T fault the governor or any other gentile who doesn’t support a double standard for Jews. It is irrational to say that someone who doesn’t buy into our system of prejudices, should be reviled or cursed. They are following a system of justice that makes sense. One of the best systems in the world. Most of us agree that if officers of the law were fair game, society would swallow itself up.
With all due respect I think it is about time public finds out that Jews will stick for each other. I am not an opponent of capital punishment and had to examine this case carefully before giving my support to Mr Grossman a”h. My main point of involvement was following rabbinical guidance. But it is refreshing to see the response of fellow Jews to a call to action. This should be the message to the world and to us Jews. We should not give up, we should continue to stick to one another and support the fellow Jew in need. Governor Crist should suffer consequences for not paying attention to so many petitioners. He really could have postponed the execution for 60 days. this would have given hope for tens of thousands of petitioners. 60 more days even ih he didn’t plan to commute his sentence to life in prison. 60 more days out of respect to chief rabbi of Israel, Ellie Wisel, tens of thousands of ordinary citizens. Jewish people requested a mercifull jesture from him and he refused. No Jew should support him so that he may lose and it would become known that he lost because of withdrawal of Jewish Support and because we Jews will go to far to help one another!
come to think about it the triel of the 9/11 people will end with life in prison and not death!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me tell you all something: Revenge IS justice! Scales need to be balanced. Wrongs need to be corrected. We know in the torah the mashul of the blood calling for revenge. We have all over the torah calls for revenge. That’s true justice!!
The mother is completely right.
And to poster 2, I really can’t believe you wrote that. You are saying she deserved to die? Are innocent people never killed. You’re a diseased person. Truly sick in your head. The victim deserved it because she wasn’t a nice, normal woman like you, right? Personally, the very fact that you wrote that makes me think that the victim was a lot nicer and more normal than you!
Well I agree that harassing the park’s was improper but to say he deserves dead penalty because of the trauma of the family? There is psychiatric help for trauma’s and that’s not a reason to kill someone
In no way am I trying to be insensitive to park’s killing. But one thing I haven’t seen mentioned is the fact that Officer Park took on two armed and/or impaired suspects, with one of them an inch shy of a foot taller than her and a whopping 110 pounds heavier than her. Officer Park has, IMO, acted foolishly, and taken on a task way beyond her strength and capability. By drawing her service revolver she has put herself in even greater danger, as it has, unfortunately, been proven that Grossman was able to over-power her and take the weapon from her and subsequently use it against her. I think, to a certain degree, she escalated the situation which was beyond what she could handle. Officer Park should have retreated and have waited for backup to arrive. By confronting Grossman, especially after he begged her not to report him for it will lend him back in prison, she escalated an already violent and dangerous situation. She had put herself and the two suspects in a defensive position. Grossman saw his life crumbling from beneath him and was ready to defend it. Again I reiterate, IMO Officer Park acted foolishly, but more importantly created a very dangerous situation for Grossman.
I can’t believe they killed him. He was alive just a few hours ago. And now he’s gone. Why did he get such a punishment just for keeping the mitzvot. I hope they treat him better in heaven.
poster 2 means only a law enforcement officer or cop get death penalty when killed
I cannot believe the postings on VIN. He is a murderer who was punished for his crimes. I’ve learned Sanhedrin, and there’s no such thing as not executing someone in Beis Din because they’ve had a “difficult upbringing”, or they decided to do teshuva later. That’s for Hashem to sort out, not Beis Din.
While I know that the secular courts, l’havdil, are not beis din, they are upholding one of the Sheva Mitzvos B’nei No’ach through the justice system. Having misplaced rochmanus on a murderer is pure achzoriyus. What shocks me the most is that the attitude and moral relativism expressed on this wall is completely antithetical to the Torah way of thinking. As a fellow Jew, it’s fine to attempt to win Grossman’s clemency. But to disparage the secular legal system as being broken or perverted, considering that the Jewish system of capital punishment has no concept of leniency (once there’s a gzar din of misah) bewilders me.
she is right i fully agree with her, may she find comfort and peace.
The Jewish community didn’t do anything wrong on this one. There is nothing wrong with legally advocating for one last appeal. It doesn’t matter whether he was innocent or guilty, deserved to die or not. We are still allowed to advocate, to lobby and to pursue our cause as long as it’s done through legal channels. There is no such thing as going too far. It is our right, and as sympathetic as the Mother is, it’s not up to her how and when our community chooses to exercise its rights.
I got a telegram from Gov Crist Frankly after reading all the facts of the case how the murder was comitted there was too much intantional awareness to say it was solely due to drugs. Here is a gov who prays at the Western Wall for the safety of Florida every year. Impartially I have to agree with him. His death should be a cappara for this horrible crime.
im shocked to learn the magnitude of our response, which was inapropiate at best, why let the emotions overcome the thinking, where is our trust in our leagel system??? if any criticisim it should be the other way around, why so many murders escape their deserved punishment???
now if thats not enough poeple start bashing the governer for doing his job corectly and responsibly, what is going on here??? is he supose to change his decision because the fellow is a jew??? now imagine if all murders who face axecution will find out that if you become jewish his decision will be overthrown???
the only limud zechus i can see is that chazal teach us to save a life and this was the catalys here, but it is wrong when it comes on the expense of another ones life.
and for the askunim who were involved here i questin if this was not a mitzveh habeu bavieru??? bambarder the goverment from individuals calling and emailing instead of an organzation??? there is many teechings that chazal learn us that was neglected, i hope we learn that this was a mistake and should never happen again, and in my opinion we owe the florida goverment an apology.
Isn’t Dina demalchusa dina! And are we to have rachmonus on sombody who killed do some thinking like if you were miss Parks at the time of being killed
I am utterly disgusted at the posts here that “blame the victim”. She did not “take them on”; she happened across them in the woods. Her upbringing has NO bearing on what her murderer did that day. We may “take care of our own” but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have rachmanos for the senseless murder of a non-Jew!
“And while the execution brings some closure”
What closure does it bring now that another person is dead? The only closure I can think of now that he is dead, is that he is closer to peggy the victim.
Harassment is a very loose term. If someone did anything extreme, they should certainly apologize, but I don’t think a few hundred people knocking on her door to beg her to stop the pressure to kill Grossman, if that’s what happened, is considered extreme. She is emotional, and that’s fully understandable. There is a traumatic scar forever. But a person has a responsibility to use the logic that Hashem endowed them with.
We all forgot that mr. Grossman didn’t really do anything wrong in the first place, beside not being allowed to be in that county, he was just’ playing’ and firing a gun in the woods and a normal lady officer would understand that you don’t ‘have’ to arrest him for this… Like everybody tries to bargain with an officer who stops you for a traffic violation… I am not saying that grossman right but…
my heart goes out 2 both families.they both lost loved ones,sadly on very different terms.the only thing i dont understand is why do millions of other criminals that do much more haynes crimes get either released from prison or a life sentence??he was 19 almost a child!!what he did was unforgiveable but even the family said that his death can never bring their daughter back!!why dont we first take care of the big time killers and child molesters (that cant be reformed and kill a childs spirit and innocence) first and then deal with the smaller time offenders.to me that would just make more sense!
To the Parks family,
My heart goes out for all of you and for the horrifying last moments of Peggy’s life that was tragically cut so short.
BUT, that does not determine whether Martin Grossman should be executed 26 years later!
Taking in account the circumstances of this troubled teen ager, the broken home where he came from, his drug addiction, his low IQ, and then his remorse on his actions, his prison confinement and so on, there is no reason or justification that he be killed now, just because some hurt people want to see revenge in him.
It was painful enough that Peggy’s life was taken away, why was it important to waste another human life?!
I really feel the pain of the Park family. But I still feel that Grossman was not supposed to be executed this way.
All who intervened to try to halt the execution had the same feeling, “his execution won’t bring Ms. Park back anyway”, let him do his time in prison instead of just killing him, that won’t do anything positive to anybody.
I’ve said it before. My thoughts and prayers are with the family of Peggy Park. And I hope no one else is ever put in their position ever again. But, having said that, this talk of closure is nonsense. They don’t have the death penalty in NY or NJ, or Canada for that matter. How do the families of Canadian murder victims find closure? Civilized people don’t need to kill someone to feel better. Mrs. Parks had it in her hands to step forward and prevent another senseless death. She didn’t. She need not have asked for mercy. But there needs to be a realization that she and her family could continue with or without Martin Grossman.
And I think it was proper for the Jewish community to take the lead here. Grossman was ours. At least she’s also mad at the Pope. (It seems sometimes we can’t win. If we stand up, we’re too aggressive. If we don’t stand up, we’re seen as weak.)
BDE. I think it took too long to execute him. 25 years is way too long. He should have been executed 20 years ago. The officer can now rest in peace.
2 ignore the calls of so many ppl 2 protact the life of grossman hy”d, shows the antisematic of gov crist
Governor Charlie Crist is a decent man with a solid record of working for and representing the people of the State of Florida. ..I as a frum religous satmar jew support him fully. This story is a tall tree that some unresponsible asken climbed up and he will have a hard time climbing down now. There is a lot of explanation to do here.
Other groups protest the executions of their people, so too Jews have the right to protest.
It’s unbelievable how people can be so childish. They will find every excuse on Grossman, but they will be ignorant when it comes to someone else.
BDE on Grossman. And I hope the parker family is at peace now that justice has been done.
The Frum Velt made a Chillul Ha-shm! Big Whoops, and we have no follow up, since today is the day after I don’t see any of these “Organizations that represent Jews in USA” putting up a candidate for Governor of Florida. The Jews are LEADERLESS AND SHAME ON US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To all the previous posters:
There was no harrasment. Studies show that executing the prisoner does not bring closure to the family of the deceased. The only calls that were made were to the family to offer to set up a fund for the memory of Peggy Parks and to ask the family to ask the gov to stop the execution in exchange for a memorial fund and based on the fact that it wont bring closure.
I am tired of the Jewish community crying anti semetism when a non jew hurts a jew… however the second a jew hurts a non- jew, hold on, pull out the f- book of excuses.How dare you harass Officer Park’s sister! How dare you! What a Chillul Hashem! May all those who went out of their way to go against the Torah, may they be punished.
This poor woman had to suffer. You say it was her fault that she died? Grossman’s mother should have had enough sense to send him to a home for retards. We have many of those in Brooklyn. He would have been welcomed. It is time for many Jewish parents to realize when their children is not normal. Stop trying to pass off your kid as normal. You see DY testing doesn’t stop retarded from being born.
Let me ask you this, is it crazy when a black man shoots a Rabbi. How come we don’t make the same excuses. Why not say, oh the black man he had brain trauma, and he dropped our of school at an early age, and his medication wasn’t working, and he was on drugs and didn’t know what he was doing.
Be honest, Talmud says to make sure to get every Jew out of Jail. Torah also doesn’t agree with USA Capital Punishment. Dont harass people to makeup excuses for ..
Grossman is dead. Finished!! I would like to know if the murderer had been a nice white christian, would he have been executed? with the same IQ of 77, on drugs at the time of the murder, slightly retarded, and maybe his defense at the time of trial was not the greatest and he probably did not even know that!! Now would Gov Crist still execute prisoner X?
If he had been a black who killed a Jew and found J-sus while in prison I don’t think we would be happy if his church petitioned the state to not execute. And yes, shooting a law enforcement officer is a bigger crime that shooting an ordinary citizen.
First of all he had many trials and appeals. Twice at the Supreme Court. It is not as if he didn’t have a fair chance in court. Besides, we frum people by a vast majority are for the death penalty. Or is it only for the goyim and not if a jew kills. Are we hypocrites. He killed and deserves the punishment. We should not have rachmonus on him.
He was the killer, not Parks. We should sympathize with the officer’s family not the killer. I don’t care if he became religious. That is what they all do in prison. They suddenly find G-D. That should never sway our impartiality and judgment. The Ramban says KOL HAMRACHEIM AL HO-ACHZORIM SOFO LIHYOS ACHZOR AL HORACHAMONIM. This is exactly what is going on here.
I wonder had it not taken 25 years for Mr. Grossman to be executed and his punishment been dealt sooner …and had he not turned to his religion would there be such an outcry to try to save him. I am an American and a Jew…..certain crimes should never be dismissed or declared less than severe just because the criminal is Jewish….. we must be accountable for our actions.