By The opinion
Feb 23, 2024, 20:44 PM EST
Rebecca Grossman, co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation, was found guilty of second-degree murder and other crimes on Friday in a 2020 car crash in Westlake Village that left two children who were brothers dead.
The jury of nine men and three women reached their verdict on the second day of deliberations, reflecting on the evidence for a total of approximately nine hours.
The jury rejected the defense argument that Grossman’s then-boyfriend, former Dodger player Scott Erickson, was the one who caused the death of Mark Iskander, 11, and his brother Jacob, 8, on September 29, 2020, by running them over as they crossed a pedestrian crossing and run away.
Grossman, 60, was found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of hit-and-run resulting in death.
On September 29, 2020, the two children were crossing the street at a marked crosswalk along with their parents and siblings at the intersection of Triunfo Canyon Road and Saddle Mountain Drive in Westlake Village, around 7:10 p.m., when Grossman He hit them with his car, prosecutors said.
The vehicle sped into the intersection and struck the children “right in front of the parents,” according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Prosecutors said Grossman was going more than 70 mph on a street with a maximum speed of 45 mph.
Grossman allegedly continued driving after hitting the children, eventually stopping about a quarter-mile from the scene when his car’s engine stopped running, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The two victims in last night’s fatal traffic collision have been identified as Mark and Jacob Iskander. The older boy said to be a sixth-grader at Oaks Christian School. Rebecca Grossman, 57, of Hidden Valley was jailed on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter. pic.twitter.com/BHEcDoVPbd
— The Acorn (@acornnewspaper) October 1, 2020
Grossman’s attorneys insisted throughout the case that it was Erickson who hit the children first with his black SUV. Erickson was never called to testify in the case.
The sentencing hearing will take place on April 10. Grossman could face up to 34 years in prison or life in state prison. She remained free throughout the trial on $2 million bail.
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