Rebecca Grossman receives 15 years in prison for murder of boys killed on a crosswalk

A judge sentenced Rebecca Grossman to 15 years in prison on Monday for the murder of two brothers she struck four years ago while speeding through a crosswalk in Westlake Village, saying her actions were “reckless and undoubtedly negligent.”

After Nancy Iskander, the mother of 11-year-old Mark Iskander and 8-year-old Jacob Iskander, filed her angry request that the sentence reflect the deaths of her two sons, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino sentenced the wealthy philanthropist to two concurrent prison terms of 15 years to life each, plus three years for fleeing the scene of the accident, which would be served concurrently with the other two sentences.

“She is a coward,” Iskander said of Grossman.

Grossman appeared in court with her hair in a ponytail and wearing a brown shirt over a white T-shirt and pants. She agreed to pay the Iskander family $47,161.89 in restitution. Her defense attorneys say the Grossman Burn Foundation co-founder has already donated $25,000 toward funeral expenses.

The verdict ended a nearly four-year criminal saga in which she refused to accept responsibility for the boys’ deaths and, even after her conviction, attempted to manipulate the case from prison.

“I never saw anybody. I never saw anybody,” Grossman said during her sentencing. “I would have driven into a wall… I don’t know why God didn’t take my life.”

She said she went into a state of denial and shut herself off after the collision.

She looked at Nancy Iskander and said tearfully, “My pain is only a fraction of your pain.”

After a six-week trial filled with dramatic testimony, Grossman was found guilty in February of two counts of murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter and hit-and-run resulting in death in connection with the killing of the two children in September 2020.

The boys’ mother testified during the trial that her older children were walking in front of her and her youngest son in the marked crosswalk on Triunfo Canyon Road when she heard engines revving and two SUVs speeding toward them.

Iskander raised her right hand in a desperate attempt to stop the speeding vehicles, grabbing her five-year-old son to get to safety. Her next memory, she said, was of Jacob and Mark slumped on the road.

Grossman was driving behind Scott Erickson, a former Dodgers player who had been drinking cocktails with her earlier in the day at a nearby restaurant. She drove at up to 81 miles per hour and continued driving for another half mile after hitting the children, according to evidence presented at trial.

Prosecutors Habib Balian, Ryan Gould and Jamie Castro told the judge that Grossman had shown no remorse: “The defendant’s actions from September 29, 2020 to the present demonstrate a complete lack of remorse and a narcissistic sense of superiority that leads to only one conclusion: she deserves no leniency.”

Prosecutors sought the maximum sentence, arguing that Grossman “continued to deny responsibility for her criminal conduct and refused to accept responsibility for the murders of Mark and Jacob Iskander. She lived a life of privilege and evidently believed that her wealth and fame would buy her freedom.”

On Monday, more than a dozen friends and family members of the Iskanders appeared before the judge to describe the void left by the boys’ deaths and to call for a long prison sentence for Grossman.

Pastor Chamie Delkeskamp of Ascension Lutheran Church in Thousand Oaks said the fatal accident has scarred the entire community, noting that many children are now afraid to walk into a crosswalk. A suspended sentence for Grossman “would be a slap in the face of justice,” Delekeskamp said.

Mark Iskander, 11, left, and his brother Jacob were killed when Rebecca Grossman struck them in a marked crosswalk in Westlake Village in 2020.

(Family photo)

Former babysitter Natalie Nashed noted that the “senseless crime… claimed two innocent souls.”

Sherif Iskander, the boys’ uncle, said Grossman – whom he described as self-centered and arrogant – was “trying to get away with murder.”

“To this day, she has never apologized to our family,” he said.

Joyce Ghobrial, the boys’ grandmother, told the court: “I live the rest of my life to die in grief.” When her voice failed, Nancy Iskander stood up and touched her mother’s back to comfort her.

Grossman began to cry when her father, Brandon Wolfe, said she was trying to manipulate the system and avoid responsibility. “No parent should ever have to bury their child – let alone two,” he said.

As Bodie Wallace, Jacob’s best friend, spoke, Grossman doubled over in her seat, sobbing. The 13-year-old said the song “10,000 Reasons” makes him sad now because he thinks about the “10,000 reasons why Ms. Grossman didn’t say ‘sorry’ right away.”

Many in the courtroom were visibly upset by the boy’s message, including a radio reporter who had tears streaming down her cheeks. The judge called a short recess, saying he was doing so for the benefit of the court reporter, who was also crying.

Grossman’s defense team, led by James Spertus, had argued that the mother of two, who had no prior criminal record, should be spared a prison sentence. They had asked the judge to consider a suspended sentence with probation or a shorter prison term.

Her lawyers painted a very different picture of Grossman: They portrayed her as a “philanthropist” who was committed to rescuing female burn victims and victims of domestic violence.

While Spertus called the Iskanders’ loss “immeasurable,” he wrote in a sentencing memo last week that the Grossmans had experienced a very different loss: the loss of a mother and her two children. Grossman herself had lost her purpose in life and was “filled with overwhelming grief, despair and regret for her role in the tragedy.”

He included several letters from Grossman’s family and friends, including one from Grossman’s son Nick, who said: “Nothing compares to what the Iskanders are going through, but since the accident I feel like the whole world hates my mother and everyone is against our family.”

On Monday he told the court: “My mother is not the bad person she is portrayed as in the media.”

Grossman’s legal team played a 30-minute video that began with the words of her husband, Dr. Peter Grossman: “We don’t compare our pain to theirs.” In the video, daughter Alexis also recounted how her mother was abandoned by her father and abused by her own mother’s boyfriend, and “suffered every kind of abuse as early as 13 years old.” Son Nick described his mother as a “very spiritual person.”

Grossman dropped out of college because she couldn’t afford it, her husband said, and became a flight attendant before starting her own medical equipment company. He also told the story of a girl from Afghanistan who suffered severe burns and was 10 years old when they took her into their home.

“I give Rebecca my heart and my love,” said Zubaida, who is now an adult and has suffered burn injuries, in the video. “She is my mother.”

But Nancy Iskander rejected Grossman’s sympathy. She said that when she was in the hospital and a doctor outside the emergency room asked her if she should take Jacob off life support, she saw Grossman there.

“She looked me in the eyes,” said the grieving mother with tears in her eyes and an iron tone. “That was the moment to say something.”