Rebecca Grossman murdered two young brothers when she sped through a Westlake Village crosswalk, a jury found two years ago. Now, a state appeals court has upheld that verdict.<\/p>\n
Grossman, the co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation, is serving 15 years to life in state prison for the second-degree murders of 11-year-old Mark Iskander<\/a> and 8-year-old Jacob Iskander. <\/a> <\/p>\n On Tuesday, the California 2nd District Court of Appeal upheld the Feb. 23, 2024, conviction of the wife of renowned surgeon<\/a> Peter Grossman. <\/p>\n Rebecca Grossman\u2019s six-week trial was filled with dramatic testimony and evidence that she struck the boys while driving over 70 mph on a suburban street. Grossman was convicted<\/a> of two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, and one count of hit and run with fatality in the September 2020 killings of the two children.<\/p>\n During a recent appeals argument, Grossman\u2019s attorney, Lara Gressley, told the panel that the law allowed for a conviction for manslaughter, not second-degree murder, which requires the defendant to have acted with \u201cimplied malice.\u201d She argued that prosecutors failed to prove such malice and that the judge never clearly defined that term.<\/p>\n Nancy Iskander, the boys\u2019 mother, testified during the trial that her older children had been walking ahead of her and her youngest son in the marked crosswalk on Triunfo Canyon Road when she heard engines roaring. Two sport utility vehicles were barreling toward them.<\/p>\n Iskander dived for safety, grabbing her 5-year-old son. Her next memory, she said, was of Jacob and Mark crumpled on the roadway.<\/p>\n Grossman was driving behind Scott Erickson, a former Dodgers player<\/a>, who earlier in the day had been drinking cocktails with her at a nearby restaurant. She was driving as fast as 81 mph<\/a> and traveled another half a mile after slamming into the children; her SUV\u2019s airbag went off and the vehicle stopped when her power was cut off, according to evidence presented at trial.<\/p>\n