Rebecca Grossman faces sentence in crash that killed 2 boys – NBC Los Angeles

Grossman Burn Foundation co-founder Rebecca Grossman faces up to 34 years to life in prison when she is sentenced Monday for her second-degree murder conviction and other charges stemming from a crash that killed two youths boys in Westlake Village.

Prosecutors asked Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino to sentence Grossman, who turns 61 Friday, to 34 years to life in prison for the September 2020 deaths of Mark and Jacob Iskander, ages 11 and 8. crosswalk with their family in the northwest Los Angeles community when they were struck by Grossman's white Mercedes-Benz SUV.

Defense attorneys are seeking either a probation sentence or a prison term of just over 12 years for the less serious manslaughter charges.

Grossman was convicted Feb. 23 of two counts each of second-degree murder and gross negligent vehicular manslaughter, as well as one count of misdemeanor driving leak. The judge ordered her taken into custody minutes after the jury's verdict, rejecting the request of one of her lawyers arguing to allow her to remain free on $2 million bail while awaiting sentencing.

In a typed letter to the judge, Grossman wrote: “I am not a murderer and I ask you to acknowledge this true fact. My pain, my recognition of the pain that the Iskanders suffer and the pain that I watch my family endure, are punishments that I already suffer and will suffer for the rest of my life. Please consider this suffering when considering what additional punishment to impose on me in this case.

“As God is my witness, I didn't see anyone or anything on the road. I swear to you, I would have hit a tree with my car to avoid hitting two little boys.”

She wrote that tragedies happen every day.

The parents of Mark and Jacob Iskander, who were fatally struck by a car driven by Rebecca Grossman, said they were surprised that two prosecutors in the case had been dismissed. Eric Leonard of the I-Team reports.

“I can only imagine the pain that (the boys’ parents) Nancy and Karim Iskander are feeling minute by minute,” she wrote. “I will carry my pain for the rest of my life.”

Grossman wrote that she left roses at the scene of the accident.

She maintained that she was not driving under the influence of alcohol, impaired or while racing.

“From the beginning, the facts were twisted and distorted, turning the tragic accident into a murder and me into a cold-blooded killer,” she wrote in the letter to the judge. “The voices calling for vengeance and retribution are responding to the tragic loss of Mark and Jacob, but they do not accurately portray me or who I am. I am not a murderer.”

Assistant prosecutors Ryan Gould, Jamie Castro and Habib Balian wrote in their sentencing memorandum that Grossman's actions since the night of the accident show a lack of remorse and “narcissistic superiority that leads to only one conclusion, that she deserves no indulgence.”

“She blamed the victims, arguing that they were out of the crosswalk, had flown in front of her car and that their mother had been negligent in crossing the street with her children as it was getting dark outside “, prosecutors said. in the memo.

A memorial has been held to honor the lives of two young brothers killed by Rebecca Grossman in a hit-and-run accident. Bailey Miller reports for NBC4 News on February 25, 2024.

They also said she blamed her ex-boyfriend, former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson, prosecutors said. She claimed he hit the children first, but prosecutors said there was no evidence to support that claim.

Prosecutors said Grossman was driving at high speeds, was impaired and had both alcohol and valium in his system. Evidence presented at trial suggests she was driving between 73 and 81 mph in 45 mph seconds before the crash, prosecutors said.

Grossman did not return to the scene of the crash, which triggered the SUV's airbag, nor offer medical help to the boy, prosecutors said. They said the SUV's engine stopped about a quarter-mile from the intersection.

In their sentencing brief, his new defense attorneys, James Spertus and Samuel Josephs, countered that the crash was a terrible accident.

“Ms. Grossman is responsible for the accident, but criminal behavior does not warrant a life sentence or the type of lengthy prison sentence reserved for the most callous and heinous crimes,” they wrote in the memory.

Defense attorneys wrote in their motion that the judge could impose probation with a suspended prison sentence. THE

At a hearing Monday, the judge denied a motion for a new trial filed by her current attorneys, who replaced the team of attorneys that represented her at trial.

Jurors deliberated for about nine hours before rejecting the contention of his lead attorney, Tony Buzbee, that Erickson, who was driving a black Mercedes-Benz SUV directly in front of Grossman's vehicle, hit the boys first.

The victims' mother, Nancy Iskander, was in tears after the first guilty verdict was announced in February. Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse shortly after the verdict, she said she had no hatred for Grossman and said it was heartbreaking to see the defendant led away in handcuffs.

She said she felt like she was attending her sons' funerals every day she showed up to court for the trial.

“It (the trial) has not been easy, but it will allow me to turn the page,” she said.