TALLAHASSEE, FL -- The execution of a bay area man is still on for next week after the Florida Supreme Court rejected multiple claims filed by the death row inmate.
Martin Edward Grossman claimed he wasn't given a fair opportunity to prove his trial lawyer had been ineffective nor allowed to present certain mitigating evidence against a death sentence.
The high court rejected those claims and ruled Grossman was premature in arguing that he may be mentally incompetent. An insanity claim must first go to the governor before it can be appealed to the court system.
Grossman is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on February 16.
The 45-year-old was convicted of first degree murder in the shooting death of 26-year-old wildlife officer Margaret "Peggy" Park in 1984. She was shot with her own gun.
The murder was not Grossman's first run-in with law enforcement. In 1983, he was convicted of burglary and grand theft in Pasco County. He served less than fourteen months of a two year sentence and was released in July 1984.
Less than five months after his release on December 13, 1984, the then 19-year-old Grossman and a companion were in a wooded area in Pinellas County firing off a stolen handgun. Park approached the two and confiscated the shotgun and Grossman's license.
Grossman pleaded with Park not to report him for possessing a weapon and being outside of Pasco County, both being violations of his probation for the burglary charge.
Park picked up her radio to call the sheriff's office but was hit over the head with her own flashlight by Grossman. Park managed to fire a wild shot at the two suspects but Grossman who was a hundred pounds heavier than the ranger wrestled the gun away from her and shot her once in the back of the head.
Grossman and his companion fled the scene with Grossman's license, the stolen shotgun and Park's gun.
Governor Charlie Crist signed the death warrant for Grossman's execution on January 12. When it is carried out, Grossman's execution would be the fifth in Florida since Crist assumed office in January 2007.
