A Los Angeles socialite, convicted of killing two young boys with her car during a chase with her lover, pleaded to the judge that she has already suffered a lot as she broke down after being sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
Rebecca Grossman, 60, who killed brothers Jacob, 8, and Mark Iskander, 11, in a hit-and-run incident in 2020, pleaded with Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino for leniency. Her lawyers argued for her to be given probation instead of prison time. Prosecutors, however, pushed for the maximum sentence of 34 years to life in state prison. Grossman was convicted of second-degree murder and other charges in February.
No Mercy for Her Crime
Brandolino sentenced her to 15 years to life and ordered her to pay $47,000 in restitution, saying that she was "not a monster as the prosecutors portrayed her to be." The judge noted Grossman's history as a philanthropist in giving her a more lenient sentence.
"I am not a murderer, and I ask you to recognize that true fact," Grossman wrote in a letter to the judge — despite being convicted of second-degree murder in February.
"My pain, my recognition of the pain the Iskanders suffer, and the pain I watch my family endure, are punishments that I already suffer and will for the rest of my life," she added.
"Please consider this suffering when you consider what more punishment to impose on me in this case."
Her husband, renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman, along with her daughter Alexis and son Nick, submitted letters to the court, supported by about three dozen of Grossman's supporters, requesting a probationary sentence.
All three attended the sentencing on Monday, where Grossman faced the victims' loved ones.
"My pain is a fraction of your pain," Grossman tearfully told the young victims' mother, Nancy Iskander, according to the Los Angeles Times.
"I never saw anyone. I never saw anyone," Grossman reportedly said in court, claiming she went into a state of denial following the crash.
"I would have driven into a brick wall .... I don't know why God did not take my life."
Speaking to the Victims' Mothers
The boys' mother, Nancy stood up and was about to leave the court when Grossman begged her to stay, saying she had been wanting to speak to her. Grossman pleaded, "Please don't leave. I've waited almost four years to reach out to you."
Nancy sat back down and put her head down as Grossman continued to speak directly to her.
"All l've ever wanted to do is to tell you how sorry I am. And I did write. I don't know if the prosecution ever gave them to you. ... They said I would be tampering with witnesses if I reached out to you. ... I'm so sorry I wasn't able to because I was threatened by the prosecutor," Grossman said.
"I just wanted to be a human being. When I couldn't be a human being and talk to you parent to parent, mother to mother... I wanted to leave this world because I didn't want to be here anymore and you have to believe me. And I believe God is in this room right now, and I believe He knows the truth.
"He knows that if I had seen anyone, I would've thrown myself to the brick wall. I wanted God to take my life. I don't know why God didn't take my life. I wish He would take my life. And if I could give my life right now and say to God, 'Could you just please bring Mark and Jacob back,' I would tell God to take my life. I am so, so sorry!"
Grossman maintains that she was neither drunk nor impaired when Jacob and Mark were killed. Prosecutors, however, claim that she had been drinking at brunch with her then-lover Erickson and then raced him through a residential street, hitting the boys and fleeing the scene.
The prosecution has criticized Grossman as a narcissist who believed her "wealth and notoriety would buy her freedom," adding that she tried to blame the fatal crash on Erickson.
"From the very beginning, the facts have been distorted and misrepresented, turning the tragic accident into murder and me into a cold-blooded killer," she added.
Grossman was convicted in February on two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter, and one count of hit and run.
Prosecutors said Mark and Jacob, along with their mother and younger brother, were crossing the street in the crosswalk when Grossman slammed into them and fled, leaving the boys for dead. The socialite struck the boys with such force that the older brother flew more than 250 feet.
