A heartbroken mom has shared her dismay about the “extremely unfair” sentencing of the Los Angeles socialite who received 15 years to life for running over and killing her two little boys.
Nancy Iskander watched on as Rebecca Grossman, 60, learned her fate following a six-week trial after being convicted of two counts of second-degree murder following a hit-and-run.
After judge Joseph Brandolino of Los Angeles County Superior Court sentenced Grossman, the mother asked for a sentence that reflected the death of both her children before exclaiming that Grossman “is a coward” in court, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Now, Iskander has shared her fury at what she perceives as too-lenient sentencing, arguing that the judge “lumped” both boys’ deaths togther as if they were one.
“The 15 to life was a stab in my heart,” Iskander told ABC7.
“In two different ways: The first way was that he lumped both boys as if they were one. And they were not… They’re different. They have two different personalities,” she added.
After drinking cocktails at a nearby bar and taking valium, Grossman and her former baseball star boyfriend Scott Erickson were engaged in a “high-speed game of chicken” as the pair allegedly raced down the sreet in Westlake Village, California on September 29, 2020.
While still intoxicated, her blood alcohol content was between .075 per cent and .076 per cent – .004 per cent under the legal limit.
Mark Iskander and Jacob Iskander – aged 11 and eight – were crossing the road with their family when they were fatally hit by Grossman’s sports vehicle at 81mph in a 45mph zone.
Nancy was on rollerblades just ahead of Mark and Jacob along with her youngest son Zachary, five, who was riding his scooter, as she watched her children “die before [her] eyes,” she told the court earlier this year.
Grossman neither stopped at the scene nor called 911 following the crash.
“Had (Grossman) been maybe a little less drunk or maybe paying attention a little bit, she could’ve avoided one of them,” the distraught mom said.
“Jacob only needed one step, one more step exactly to survive and not be hit by her car,” she added.
Grossman attempted to reconcile with Iskander as she spoke out in court on Monday, which resulted in the mom heading for the courtroom door.
“I’ve waited for four years to say I’m sorry to you. I wanted to tell you all the pain I have for you. I’m so sorry I didn’t reach out to you. Prosecutors warned me not to,” Grossman said in court as Iskander began leaving her seat.
Grossman begged the mother to stay; giving her a chance, she did. However, Iskander said she perceived an underlying insincerity in Grossman’s apology.
“As soon as she started talking it was exactly what I expected. It was not real. It was not, ‘I’m sorry I killed them.’ It was ‘I’m sorry for your loss,’” she explained.
Grossman later claimed that her lover, Erickson, was actually the one who collided with the boys. There was “not a shred of evidence to prove this to be true,” prosecutors wrote.
