Appeals court panel upholds Rebecca Grossman conviction in deadly crash

A state appeals court panel has upheld the conviction of Grossman Burn Foundation co-founder Rebecca Grossman, who was sentenced to prison for a 2020 crash that killed two young brothers in Westlake Village.

Grossman was convicted Feb. 23, 2024, of two counts each of second-degree murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of hit-and-run driving in the Sept. 29, 2020 deaths of Mark and Jacob Iskander, ages 11 and 8. She was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

During the trial, prosecutors argued Grossman and her then-boyfriend — former Dodger Scott Erickson — had been out for drinks earlier that evening and were heading toward her nearby home in separate vehicles when Grossman’s white Mercedes-Benz SUV struck the boys while they were crossing Triunfo Canyon Road with their parents in a marked crosswalk.

Six family members were crossing the three-way intersection — which does not have a stoplight — in the crosswalk when the two young boys were struck. The older boy died at the scene and his 8-year-old sibling died at a hospital.

Prosecutors alleged Grossman was driving at 81 mph in a 45-mph zone seconds before the crash.

Grossman continued driving, eventually stopping about a quarter-mile away from the scene when her car engine stopped running, prosecutors said.

Grossman’s attorneys said during the trial that it was Erickson who struck the boys first with his black SUV. Erickson was never called to testify in the case.

At her sentencing hearing, Grossman said she wanted the boys’ family to know “how sorry I am” and said she did not see the boys in the street.

“God knows that I never saw anybody,” she said. “I never saw anyone. I believe he knows the truth.

“I will carry this with me (until) my dying breath.”