A state appeals court panel Tuesday upheld the conviction of Grossman Burn Foundation co-founder Rebecca Grossman — who was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for running down two young boys crossing a Westlake Village street with their family in 2020.
Grossman was found guilty Feb. 23, 2024, of two counts each of second-degree murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of hit-and-run driving in connection with the Sept. 29, 2020 deaths of Mark and Jacob Iskander, aged 11 and 8.
Grossman, now 62, is serving a 15-years-to-life state prison sentence. She is behind bars at California Institution for Women in Corona, according to records from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
In a 143-page ruling, the three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that Grossman’s convictions for murder and hit-and-run driving should be reversed because of insufficient evidence, as well as numerous other claims that there were errors during her trial.
Writing on behalf of the panel, Acting Presiding Justice Carl Moor said the panel concluded that “substantial evidence supports the jury’s verdicts.”
The panel noted that Grossman was in her own neighborhood, less than a mile from her home.
“From that fact, the jury could readily infer that Grossman knew the area would be populated and knew that she was approaching a crosswalk where pedestrians could be present. Despite this, she depressed the gas pedal to the floor and accelerated to speeds of up to 81 miles per hour,” according to the panel’s ruling, which noted that she was traveling at 73 mph with her foot off the brakes when she struck the boys.
The appellate court panel noted that “Grossman pulled over only after Mercedes rendered her car inoperable” and had driven well beyond the scene of the collision and approximately half the distance to her house.
“There was overwhelming circumstantial evidence from which the jury could conclude that Grossman knew she struck a person,” according to the ruling, which noted that there was “extensive” damage to her vehicle.
Prosecutors argued during the trial that Grossman and her then-boyfriend — former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson — had been out for drinks earlier that evening and were heading toward her nearby home in separate vehicles when Grossman’s white Mercedes-Benz SUV struck the boys while they were crossing Triunfo Canyon Road with their parents in a marked crosswalk.
Sheriff’s officials said six family members were crossing the three-way intersection — which does not have a stoplight — in the crosswalk when the mother heard a car speeding toward them and both parents reached out to protect two of their children, but the two boys were too far out in the intersection and were struck.
The older boy died at the scene and his 8-year-old sibling died at a hospital.
Prosecutors said Grossman continued driving after striking the boys, eventually stopping about a quarter-mile away from the scene when her car engine stopped running.
The prosecution alleged that Grossman was speeding at 81 mph in a 45-mph zone just seconds before impact, and that data from the vehicle’s so-called black box showing that she was driving 73 mph at the time of the crash was reliable.
Grossman’s attorneys insisted during the case that it was Erickson who struck the boys first with his black SUV. Erickson was never called to testify in the case.
At Grossman’s sentencing in June 2024, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino called the deaths of Mark and Jacob an “unimaginable loss,” but he noted Grossman’s history of philanthropic work and her lack of any prior criminal record. While conceding that the defendant engaged in “incredibly selfish behavior” after the crash, the judge added, “She’s not a monster as the prosecution attempts to portray her.”
Prosecutors had sought a 34-years-to-life sentence, with Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould telling the judge that “the defendant deserves every day of the maximum sentence.”
In the defense’s sentencing brief, attorneys Samuel Josephs and James Spertus wrote that Grossman has been “widely recognized for her work at home and abroad,” saying she is a “survivor of childhood trauma and abuse” who had an “inner resilience that enabled her to see beyond her circumstances and find a greater purpose in service to others,” including helping a young burn victim from Afghanistan to whom she and her husband became legal guardians and leading the Grossman Burn Foundation to help medically indigent and low-income families “connect to life-changing burn resources that would otherwise be out of reach.”
Grossman said during the sentencing hearing that she wanted the boys’ family to know “how sorry I am.”
She insisted she never saw the boys in the street the night of the crash.
“God knows that I never saw anybody,” she said. “I never saw anyone. I believe he knows the truth.”
She added that she would have “driven into a brick wall” rather than strike two children.
“I will carry this with me (until) my dying breath,” Grossman said, adding that her pain is “nothing” compared to the pain experienced by the victims’ family.
Tried to throw boyfriend under the bus? Glad she was held accountable for her crime of murder.