Prominent murderer Rebecca Grossman has finally been jailed after being convicted of the hit-and-run death of two young brothers in September 2020.
Grossman showed little emotion as she was sentenced Friday evening in an L.A. court for the second-degree murders of Mark Iskander, 11, and his eight-year-old brother Jacob. Her famous plastic surgeon husband Dr. Peter Grossman and their children Alexis and Nicholas all burst into tears as the verdict was read.
She was led away to the cells after a judge refused to extend her $2 million bail pending sentencing, saying “justice can no longer be denied.”
Grossman will be sentenced on April 10 and faces up to 34 years in prison – meaning she could spend the rest of her life in prison.
Rebecca Grossman arrives at a Los Angeles court on Friday, hours before she was sentenced for murdering two young brothers by mowing them down with her Mercedes
Grossman, 62, was found guilty Friday by an L.A. jury of nine men and three women of two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of involuntary manslaughter.
They had been sent only the day before to discuss their fate.
During the six-week trial, prosecutors insisted that the California socialite was speeding in her white Mercedes SUV – when she mowed down 11-year-old Mark and 8-year-old Jacob Iskander after having margaritas with her former MLB player lover Scott Erickson had shared.
And on Friday, a jury of nine men and three women in Van Nuys Court near Los Angeles agreed and convicted Grossman of murder, manslaughter and hit-and-run resulting in death.
After the verdict, the dead boys' mother, Nancy Iskander, said she and her husband Karim “have been waiting for this for three and a half years.”
“The prosecution only cared about the truth.” They were working against the most vicious defense attorneys.
“Coming to trial felt like the boys’ funerals every day.”
Lead defense attorney Tony Buzbee quickly left the courthouse, saying today's verdicts were “unexpected – but we will appeal.”
On Friday, prosecutors asked Judge Joseph Brandolino to send Grossman to prison after accusing her of leaking confidential information about her case to a television reporter and trying to influence the jury that decided her fate.
Grossman is now facing 34 years in prison for the murders of Jacob Iskander (8) and his 11-year-old brother Mark in September 2020
Rebecca Grossman, 62, was found guilty in the Sept. 29, 2020, crash that killed two young brothers
Grossman was charged with the murder of brothers Mark and Jacob Iskander, ages 11 and eight, on September 29, 2020
Grossman's white Mercedes SUV is pictured shortly after the accident
This was “a direct violation” of a protective court order from the judge to exclude certain evidence from Grossman's six-week trial, Assistant District Attorney Ryan Gould said, adding that “it was a deliberate attempt to influence the jury.”
The judge warned Grossman but decided against incarcerating him.
During the case summary, Gould's co-prosecutor Jamie Castro said, “This wasn't a tragic accident, this was murder.”
“Rebecca Grossman struck and killed these two precious children in a crosswalk after drinking alcohol and having Valium in her system.
She said Grossman accelerated her SUV to 80 mph shortly before crashing into the boys, adding: “She knew it was fatal, she knew it was reckless.” She showed a complete disregard for human life .'
At the other end of the long table in front of Judge Brandolino, lead Texan defense attorney Tony Buzbee claimed while in court that it was not Grossman who was responsible for the deaths of the Iskander boys, but rather someone who wasn't even in court: Ex- Baseball star Erickson.
“Where is Scott Erickson?” the cowboy boot-wearing Buzbee asked jurors in his closing statement Wednesday.
“If I were accused of being responsible for the deaths of two children, you would have to fight me to stop me from coming to this courthouse to clear my name.”
Erickson – who witnesses said “raced” into Grossman in his black Mercedes SUV shortly before the fatal crash – was a no-show at the hearing and asked the attorney: “Why didn't the prosecution bring Scott Erickson here even though they had done it?' All the resources, the sheriff's department, even the FBI, to do this?'
He said the prosecution's case “makes no sense” and added: “Rebecca Grossman is not guilty of anything… They are going after the wrong person.”
But in the final rebuttal to the indictment Thursday, Gould attacked Buzbee's criticism of law enforcement and the prosecution for failing to track down Erickson and call him as a witness in the trial.
“The defense says justice for all, but how about subpoenas for all,” Gould told jurors before the judge sent them out to begin deliberations at 10:10 a.m. “The defense could have subpoenaed Scott Erickson.”
“Why do you think they tried to make Scott Erickson the villain?” Gould asked. “This is not the Scott Erickson trial.” “This is the Rebecca Grossman trial.”
Grossman – who conservatively wore cardigans, sweaters and slacks or simple dresses throughout the trial – was quiet and emotionless, except for an outburst of tears directed at prosecutors when they repeatedly objected to Buzbee's lines of questioning, and another when she sobbed into a handkerchief to make the point. Photos of the Iskander boys' fatal injuries were shown in court
But during breaks or at the end of the court day, she often shared a kiss with her husband, renowned plastic surgeon Peter Grossman, and hugged her daughter Alexis, 19, both of whom were present throughout the trial, along with a large contingent of other supporters.
Across the courtroom, the young victims' parents, Nancy and Karim Iskander, were present most days during the trial. Nancy often couldn't hold back her tears and was comforted by a group of friends and relatives.
Grossman blamed her former lover, former baseball star Scott Erickson, saying his car struck and killed the boys after they drank margaritas at lunch. They are pictured together at a fundraiser in 2020
Grossman insisted she was unimpaired when the Iskander boys were killed at that crosswalk in Westlake Village
Nancy Iskander was crossing the street with the brothers and their youngest son, Zachary, 5, when they were hit. Nancy and her husband Karim leave court on February 6th
The Iskanders' lives were “completely ruined” by the rubble left behind by Grossman, Castro said on the evening of the tragedy, September 29, 2020.
Grossman had a margarita with friends that day, then another at the now-closed Westlake Village restaurant Julio's with Erickson – whom she was dating when she was estranged from her husband.
Mark and Jacob Iskander died in the horrific accident on September 29, 2020
The two left Julio's house around 7 p.m. – she in her white Mercedes SUV and he ahead in his black Mercedes SUV – to go to her nearby home to watch a presidential debate.
Witnesses reported seeing the two cars “flying by” on Triunfo Canyon Road, or following the 45 mph speed limit. One of those witnesses saw a woman behind the wheel of the white Mercedes and said: “It seems happy, as if some kind of race was going on.”
The black box on Grossman's car – which was directly behind Erickson's car – recorded her speed of 81 mph when she slammed on the brakes and “slammed into the boys in the crosswalk at 73 mph,” Castro said.
“That was the last moment of the boys’ lives.”
“If she had obeyed the speed limit, the accident could have been avoided,” she added.
“After the collision, she did not stop – she continued driving… about half a mile further down the road when Mercedes' emergency collision system automatically intervened, shutting off the fuel pump and bringing the vehicle to a stop…”
Castro said that while other people passing by stopped at the scene to try to help the fatally injured boys, Grossman “did not return to the horror she had caused.” She didn't call 911. She did not get out of her car and returned to the scene of the accident.
Grossman later told a hospital employee, “If Mercedes hadn't parked my car, I would be in my garage right now,” Castro added
Nancy Iskander took the stand to give her own harrowing and tearful account of seeing the two vehicles, her youngest son Zachary, 5, and Mark and Jacob, coming toward her in the crosswalk. She grabbed Zachary, who was closest to her, and jumped for her life onto the bike path.
“I would have been killed by that black SUV, but I acted quickly and was able to save myself and Zach,” said Nancy, who still has nightmares about the black bumper of Erickson's car slamming into her.
“I saw the white car drive by right where Mark and Jacob were.”
Castro told the court Wednesday that Grossman had been warned several years earlier by a traffic cop that “speed kills” after he pulled her over, which earned her a ticket for driving 95 mph on the 101 Freeway .
“And that's exactly what happened – she killed two little boys,” she said. “And then she threatened him (the police officer) and said, 'I hope you never need treatment at the Grossman Burns Center,'” referring to the hospital her husband founded.
Grossman was not charged with drunken driving because her blood alcohol level was 0.08 percent, the legal limit. But Castro suspected there was a “drink missing,” meaning she may have had more than the two margaritas she admitted to drinking.
Prosecutors also insisted that some of the roadside sobriety tests she conducted showed she was “impaired” at the time of the crash by alcohol and Valium, which also showed up in her blood.
Despite her affair with Erickson, Grossman's husband, Dr. Peter Grossman was at her side every day during the trial. Her daughter Alexis, also a bailiff, claimed she saw Erickson hiding behind a tree after the boys were killed
The public prosecutor's office accuses Grossman of competing against her lover, baseball player Scott Erickson, 56, before the accident. Erickson won a World Series with the Minnesota Twins in 1991 and went on to play for five other MLB teams
The Grossmans' teenage son, Nicholas, also appeared in court on several days to support his mother
Grossman pleaded not guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the hit-and-run deaths of eight-year-olds Jacob and Mark Iskander
After the crash, she told an emergency responder that her airbag suddenly deployed in her face and that she didn't know if she hit anything, Castro said
“Either she’s lying or she’s impaired,” she continued. “She knew what happened and is trying to distance herself. “She's in full self-preservation mode.”
Grossman and Erickson had been drinking margaritas at the now-closed Julio's Restaurant
Castro questioned the defense's scenario that Erickson's black SUV hit both boys, throwing Mark into the air and he landing on the hood of Grossman's Mercedes, which was following closely behind him.
The damage to the hood was caused by the front of the vehicle being pushed down five inches by the force of the impact on Mark, which is equivalent to the force with which a vehicle hits the ground after falling twelve stories .
“Erickson almost hit the two boys, but the evidence shows he didn’t,” Castro said. “He was absolutely reckless, but his recklessness does not absolve Mrs. Grossman of responsibility for the boys' deaths.”
“There is not a shred of evidence that Scott Erickson hit the boys.”
Castro scorned last Friday's shocking testimony from Grossman's teenage daughter Alexis, in which she said she saw Erickson “hiding behind a tree” after the accident, her mother talking to police, and that he later smelled alcohol on her home and threatened to ruin her and her family if she revealed that she had seen him that night.
“No other person saw anyone suspiciously hiding behind a tree,” she said. “People would have noticed. Why wasn't such a suspicious person called to the police? Because it didn't happen.
“Alexis Grossman is clearly a victim of her mother’s manipulation.”
Rebecca Grossman's lead attorney Buzbee criticized the investigation into the Iskander boys' deaths as “horrible” and “amateur hour” and that the police officers sent to investigate the scene were “the C-Team, not the A-Team” who only released “eight blurry pictures of.” evidence on site.
Mark (left) and Jacob (right) Iskander, aged 11 and 8 respectively, died in the horrific accident on September 29, 2020
The Iskanders' lives were “completely destroyed” by the rubble left behind by Grossman, Castro said on the evening of the tragedy, September 29, 2020
Karim and Nancy Iskander, the boys' parents, are shown at a court hearing in April 2022
He pointed out that police “didn't figure out” that Erickson had two black Mercedes, one from 2007 and one from 2016, both of which had the same license plate – and that he lied to police about which Mercedes he was driving Night.
“Why was Scott Erickson hiding? Why did he lie? Why did he make threats?' Buzbee said
“The prosecution decided to bring a double murder case, and three years later they can't say what happened.” They failed miserably. None of this (the prosecution's case) works because Erickson hit the children first.
“With good evidence, it is difficult to prove a person’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” You can’t do anything with that evidence. “This is an accident, not a crime.”
Buzbee said that black box evidence presented by law enforcement experts was “unreliable” and that surveillance video taken immediately after the crash showed Grossman was driving just 52 miles per hour.
According to the defense, former MLB shortstop Royce Clayton told police that Erickson was involved in the accident
He also said the video showed Erickson sitting in his black 2016 Mercedes SUV, not the 2007 one he turned over to police for inspection a week later.
“So the car he was driving that night was never inspected for damage and is now missing,” he said.
Buzbee pointed out that Grossman was not charged with drunken driving and was not over the legal limit, telling jurors that prosecutors “want you to be an ostrich, bury your head in the sand and ignore that they are.” “was not affected”.
“They want you to crawl into Mrs. Grossman's head and see if she intentionally tried to kill someone, which is a travesty.”
Buzbee said the sheriff's office, which investigated the accident, knew nothing of Erickson's involvement until his old baseball buddy Royce Clayton – with whom he had been drinking the day of the accident – “ratted him out” to a law enforcement relative.
“However, to this day we have not heard from Scott Erickson nor have we ever seen the front of his car.”
Buzbee accused officers at the scene of “dropping the ball” with accident evidence being destroyed or thrown in the trash.
And he said the officer who administered several roadside sobriety tests to Grossman after the collision “made 15 errors as of Sunday.”
In response to the prosecution's assertion that Grossman attempted to flee the scene and continued for half a mile after the accident, Buzbee pointed out that she could have walked to her home nearby, but she remained in her car, because the emergency services told her that.
She was “confused” about the exploding bags because she “didn't know” she had an accident, he added.
Buzbee scoffed at the prosecution's claim that Grossman may have drunk more than she admitted on the day of the accident, saying, “This is the first time we've heard that she drank a phantom drink somewhere.” They don't have any evidence of that or Supporting documents.'
And in response to Castro's skepticism about Alexis Grossman's statement that Erickson was hiding behind a tree, he said, “You even went so far as to call Mrs. Grossman's daughter a liar.”
“She was 16 years old and was threatened by a 6-foot baseball player who said, 'Shut up.' And she did.”
Erickson was charged with reckless driving and his case was settled in February 2022 when a judge ordered him to make a public service announcement to high school students about the importance of safe driving.