A California appeals court has upheld Rebecca Grossman's second-degree murder convictions and 15‑years‑to‑life prison sentence for driving at high speed through a Westlake Village crosswalk and killing two young brothers.
A three-judge panel of the California 2nd District Court of Appeals on Tuesday affirmed the 2024 jury verdict, rejecting arguments that Grossman should have been convicted only of manslaughter. The court found there was sufficient evidence that she acted with implied malice when she accelerated through a residential area and a marked crosswalk.
Grossman, co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and wife of plastic surgeon Peter Grossman, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, and one count of hit‑and‑run driving. She is now 62 and remains in state prison serving an indeterminate term of 15 years to life, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Jurors found that on Sept. 29, 2020, Grossman was driving her white Mercedes SUV at more than 70 mph on Triunfo Canyon Road when she hit 11‑year‑old Mark Iskander and 8‑year‑old Jacob Iskander as they crossed in a marked crosswalk with their family. Investigators said the intersection had no stoplight and that data showed she reached speeds up to 81 mph shortly before impact.
According to trial testimony, the boys' mother heard engines revving, grabbed her youngest child, and dove for safety, but Mark and Jacob were farther into the road and were struck. One child died at the scene, and the other died later at a hospital, Fox LA reported.
On appeal, Grossman's attorney argued that prosecutors had not proved implied malice and claimed the trial judge failed to properly instruct jurors on that legal standard. The appellate panel disagreed, concluding that driving at extreme speed through a pedestrian crosswalk in a residential neighborhood after drinking met the mental state required for second-degree murder.
Los Angeles County prosecutors welcomed the ruling, saying it confirms that the law applies equally to wealthy and well‑connected defendants. Grossman may still seek review from the California Supreme Court, but that court is not required to take the case, as per Court House News.
