Disconnected politicians

Audrey Glickman’s Jan. 3 opinion piece titled “The difference between a sentence of death and life in prison,” about President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences of 37 of 40 federal prisoners on death row, was spot-on.

I can only speak with facts and knowledge regarding one of those 40 individuals: the shooter who brutally murdered my dear parents and nine other loving individuals in the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27, 2018, in a meticulously detailed and pre-planned attack. While it is not my intent to play judge, jury or hangman, I know what I observed and heard in the courtroom during almost two-and-a-half months of testimony and evidence presented at the murderer’s trial in the spring and summer of 2023. This convicted mass-murderer was given a fair trial replete with a voluminous amount of indisputable evidence and testimony. The sole responsibility for this heinous crime planned and perpetrated by the defendant was not challenged by the defense and was never in dispute. A jury of his peers found him guilty of all charges, and after very thorough and detailed deliberation based on existing law as instructed by the presiding judge, they unanimously imposed the death penalty.

Now come some disconnected Democrat politicians, individuals and liberal organizations calling on outgoing Joe Biden to commute the death sentence of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter along with that of 39 others on death row. Presidential commutation of a federally-imposed sentence is an “act of mercy” which can be granted to a convict by a serving president, having been constitutionally mandated by Article 2. The individual having the power to grant this particular commutation, the president, was and is not directly affected nor impacted by the murderer’s evil actions. In my opinion, only the victims of such heinous crimes, as in the murderous rampage committed at Tree of Life, should be empowered with this unique and authoritative opportunity of deciding whether to provide “mercy” to the convicted perpetrator for actions done to them. In absence of their ability to consider this option due to their victimization by death or impairment at the hands of the perpetrator, then the surviving family members should be empowered to speak for them.

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To that end, it is my duty to honor and respect what I believe would have been my parents’ wishes regarding disposition of the perpetrator who brutally and senselessly murdered them and nine others simply for being Jewish and for freely practicing their religious beliefs and tenets. In assuming this unwanted role in place of my parents, and in consideration of possibly “granting mercy” in this particular situation, I refer back to my victim impact statement, read to the judge at the end of the trial, wherein I asked the judge to “give the shooter exactly what he deserves – no mercy. The same no-mercy that he gave to my dear mother, father, and nine other innocent and helpless loving souls when he purposely, willfully, and knowingly researched and planned six months in advance, single-handedly, and then personally executed his horrific plan by deliberately hunting down and slaughtering them all — everyone he saw, in cold blood in the most brutal fashion imaginable with his high-powered assault rifle while they were simply praying to God in a house of worship. Again, give that defendant exactly what he deserves, no mercy. That is what my entire family wants, and I can unequivocally assure you that is exactly what my parents would want.”

Joe Biden granting a commutation to the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter would have been an extreme miscarriage of justice and circumvention of the justice system. More importantly, it would have amounted to disrespecting and discounting the lives and horrific deaths of the 11 victims. Most of the survivors and immediate victim family members are in favor of the death sentence and remain strongly united against commutation. I am sure that many of the victim families of the other 37 death-row convicts who were commuted feel betrayed by Joe Biden and his politically-motivated decision. Presidential commutation and pardon is a powerful tool that can be easily abused for political gain at the expense of forever-grieving family members and survivors who would only be victimized once again by such actions of a president with no skin in the game and acting only for the sake of political pandering. I believe that Biden utilized poor judgment due to his diminished mental faculties and pressure from those actually running the country. Maybe it is time to revisit Article 2 of the Constitution, which gives a president unchecked power to pardon or commute a federal death sentence.

Finally, the “ultimate punishment” for the most heinous crimes is a sentence of death. Its imposition has nothing to do with retribution. Its chief purpose is to provide proper, fair and effective justice for the victims and their families, as well as to serve as a deterrent to others from committing similar heinous criminal actions. Thus, in the bigger picture, the whole of society benefits from the imposition of death sentences. PJC

Marc A. Simon’s parents, Bernice and Sylvan Simon, were murdered in the Tree of Life building on Oct. 27, 2018.