Socialite and convicted murderer Rebecca Grossman will be sentenced Monday morning for the deaths of two young brothers.
Grossman was convicted by a Los Angeles jury in February 2024 of first-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter and one count of hit-and-run vehicle for the 2020 crash that killed people. two young brothers11-year-old Mark Iskander and 8-year-old Jacob, in Westlake Village.
The judge ordered her into custody minutes after the jury’s verdict, denying a request by one of her trial attorneys to have her released on $2 million bail pending sentencing.
Grossman reportedly sent a letter to the judge saying, “I am not a murderer and I ask you to acknowledge that true fact. My pain, my recognition of the pain the Iskanders suffer, and the pain I see my family suffer, are punishments I am already suffering and will continue to bear for the rest of my life. Please take this suffering into account when considering what other punishment you can impose on me in this case.“
Prosecutors are asking Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino to sentence Grossman to 34 years to life in state prison, writing in a sentencing memorandum that she “more than deserves” the maximum sentence for the Sept. 29, 2020, deaths of Mark and Jacob.
In their sentencing memorandum, Deputy District Attorneys Ryan Gould, Jamie Castro and Habib Balian wrote that the defendant’s actions since the night of the crash “demonstrate a complete lack of remorse and narcissistic superiority, which leads to only one conclusion: that she does not deserve any punishment. clemency.”
Last week, Grossman’s new attorneys, James Spertus and Samuel Josephs, countered that “a terrible accident occurred and that Ms. Grossman is responsible for causing the accident, but the offending conduct does not warrant a life sentence or the kind of lengthy prison sentence that is reserved. for the most heartless, heinous crimes.”
Her attorneys are pushing for probation or a lesser state prison sentence of just over 12 years on the lesser charges of vehicular manslaughter.
“She was involved in a terrible tragedy and we hope the sentencing reflects those circumstances. The court has a great deal of discretion in sentencing and we hope the court recognizes that she is a mother and a human being,” said James Spertus, Grossman’s attorney.
During a hearing last Monday, June 3, the judge rejected a request for a new trial filed by her current attorneys, who replaced the team of attorneys who represented her during the trial.
RELATED: LA County judge denies Rebecca Grossman’s request for a new murder trial
Jurors deliberated for about nine hours before rejecting her lead attorney Tony Buzbee’s claim that Erickson, Grossman’s ex-boyfriend who drove right in front of her car in a black Mercedes-Benz SUV, struck the boys first.
Prosecutors said the boys were crossing the street with their family at a marked crosswalk when they were struck by Grossman’s vehicle. Gould told jurors in his closing argument that debris from the crash matched Grossman’s vehicle and that there was “not a shred” of evidence that Erickson hit the children.
