Rebecca Grossman, center, is flanked by her daughter Alexis Grossman, left, and husband Peter Grossman, right, as she walks near the Los Angeles courthouse where she was tried for murder (YouTube screengrab/KTLA). Inset: Police at the scene of the deadly crash where Rebecca Grossman fatally struck brothers Jacob Iskander, 8, and Mark Iskander, 11, with her car on Sept. 29, 2020 (YouTube screengrab/KNBC).
A judge Monday sentenced a well-to-do Los Angeles woman to 15 years to life in prison for the hit-and-run deaths of two young brothers.
Rebecca Grossman, 60, was convicted in February in the deaths of Jacob Iskander, 8, and Mark Iskander, 11, whom she struck with her car as they crossed the street at a marked crosswalk in their Westlake Village neighborhood on Sept. 29, 2020. Westlake Village is a Los Angeles-area city in the San Fernando Valley, about 35 miles northwest of downtown LA.
After two days of deliberations and a six-week trial, jurors convicted Grossman of two counts each of second-degree murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of hit-and-run resulting in death in the killings of the young boys. Prosecutors had asked for 34 years in prison, saying she had a lack of remorse and blamed the victims.
The judge also ordered her to pay $47,000 in restitution to the Iskander family. The boys’ mother Nancy Iskander spoke during Monday’s sentencing hearing.
“She is a coward,” Iskander said of Grossman, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Grossman reportedly wrote a letter to the judge that said, in part: “I am not a murderer, and I ask you to recognize that true fact. My pain, my recognition of the pain the Iskanders suffer, and the pain I watch my family endure, are punishments that I already suffer and will for the rest of my life. Please consider this suffering when you consider what more punishment to impose on me in this case.
“As God is my witness, I did not see anyone or anything in the road. I swear to you, I would have driven my car into a tree to avoid hitting two little boys.”
Grossman reiterated those sentiments as she addressed the court. She also reportedly spoke directly to the boys’ mother.
“My pain is a fraction of your pain,” she said, according to the Times.
As Law&Crime previously reported, at the time of the crash, Grossman was allegedly engaging in a “high-speed game of chicken” with former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson when she reached speeds of over 80 mph — nearly twice the legal speed limit of 45 mph. She allegedly kept driving after striking the children, only coming to a stop a quarter-mile away because her engine cut off, authorities said. It was initially reported that she carried one of the boys on the hood of her car for more than 100 feet and then, after hitting the brakes, ran over him as she left the scene.
In court, as the verdicts were being read, Grossman’s daughter, Alexis, repeatedly said, “Oh my God,” as her teenage brother shook after the verdict, Courthouse News reported. Sheriff’s deputies stopped them as they tried to move toward their mother after she was handcuffed.
“I love you,” the daughter repeated, the outlet reported.
Grossman’s high-profile attorney lead attorney was Tony Buzbee, who had also defended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his impeachment trial for alleged corruption. According to the Los Angeles Times, Buzbee presented defense experts who testified that Grossman was traveling at 52 mph and argued that Erickson, who drove his black SUV through the crosswalk before Grossman, was the first to strike at least one of the boys.
Prosecutors argued that Grossman had cocktails with Erickson before racing him along the road where the fatal crash ultimately occurred. Deputy District Attorney Jamie Castro said that Grossman knew her actions could be deadly.
“She had a history of speeding. She’d texted about it,” Castro said, according to the LA Times. “She acted with disregard for human life.”
At a preliminary hearing, a sheriff’s deputy testified that Mark was thrown 254 feet. Evidence at that hearing also revealed that Grossman had reached 81 mph about a second and a half before hitting the boys.
Grossman is the wife of Peter Grossman, a plastic surgeon, and a co-founder of the nonprofit Grossman Burn Foundation, which, according to its website, aims to “promote effective, sustainable partnership solutions for the comprehensive treatment, care, and support of burn survivors and their families in the United States and around the world.”
Law&Crime’s Marisa Sarnoff and Jason Kandel contributed to this report.
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