Despite 11th hour pleas from religious leaders, legal experts, human rights activists and tens of thousands of petitioners across the globe, the state of Florida Tuesday evening executed Martin Grossman, a 45-year-old Jewish inmate who had sat on death row for 25 years.

Grossman, who was convicted for the 1984 murder of wildlife officer Margaret “Peggy” Park, had been a model prisoner, said those who knew him, and exhibited profound regret and remorse for his actions as a troubled 19-year-old drug addict. Just before technicians at the Florida State Prison near Starke delivered his lethal injection, Grossman asked for forgiveness from Park’s family – who had travelled from Ohio to witness the execution – and prayed the Shema prayer proclaiming G‑d’s unity.

Rabbi Nochum Kurinsky, director of Chabad-Lubavitch at the Beaches in Ponte Vedra, witnessed the execution, while Rabbi Menachem Katz of the Aleph Institute provided counseling in his last moments. The pair were among rabbis and religious leaders from the National Council of Young Israel, Agudath Israel of America, the Orthodox Union, the Rabbinical Alliance of America, and both of Israel’s chief rabbis, who mounted a campaign over the past month to win a 60-day stay of execution from Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

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“It’s just yet another tragedy, another loss,” Kurinsky told reporters after the execution. But, “I know Martin benefited, knowing everyone stood with him.”

All told, more than 30,000 people signed an online petition begging for mercy on Grossman’s behalf. Noted Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz signed on to the effort, as did Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel. In letters and statements, they argued that Grossman did not have the benefit of adequate counsel during his original trial, and that his crime was not premeditated.

In the days leading up to the execution, both the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene.

All that was left was for Grossman to try to make peace with those whom he robbed of a loved one.

“I would like to extend my heartfelt remorse to the victim’s family,” he said while strapped to a gurney in the prison’s death chamber. “I fully regret everything that occurred that night, for everything that was done, whether I remember it or not.”

Just before his final prayer, he added: “I accept responsibility.”