A judge on Monday sentenced a California philanthropist to 15 years to life in prison for killing two children in a hit-and-run in a crosswalk while driving a Mercedes sport utility vehicle more than 80 miles away. ‘time, prosecutors said.
The woman, Rebecca Grossman, 60, of Hidden Hills, Calif., west of Los Angeles, was convicted in February of two counts of murder, two counts of manslaughter and one count of hit-and-run resulting in death. » prosecutors said.
Evidence presented at Ms. Grossman’s trial indicated that she accelerated from 73 mph to 81 miles per hour just two seconds before hitting the two children, Mark Iskander, 11, and his brother Jacob, 8, in a 45 mph zone in Westlake Village, California, on the evening of September 29, 2020, Los Angeles County prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Testimony indicated that before the crash, Ms. Grossman “appeared to be racing” with another Mercedes SUV that was driven by her then-boyfriend, Scott Erickson, a former pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, prosecutors wrote in the memorandum. Ms. Grossman was “playing at bare minimum with him, in a deadly game of chase,” prosecutors wrote.
Ms. Grossman also drank alcohol and took Valium before driving “to the point that she was impaired,” the memorandum states.
His blood alcohol level in two preliminary tests was 0.075 percent and 0.076 percent, just below the legal limit of 0.08 percent, and in subsequent tests measured at 0.08 percent, 0.073 percent. and 0.074 percent, the memorandum states.
After Ms. Grossman hit the boys, she did not return to the scene or call 911, prosecutors wrote. She later claimed that Mr. Erickson had hit the children, even though there was “not a shred of evidence to prove that this was true,” prosecutors wrote.
At her sentencing hearing Monday, Ms. Grossman spoke about her conduct, saying, “I never saw anyone. I would have hit a brick wall,” the Los Angeles Times reported. Turning to Nancy Iskander, the boys’ mother, Ms. Grossman said, “My pain is only a fraction of yours,” the newspaper reported.
Ms. Iskander called Ms. Grossman a “coward,” the newspaper reported.
The judge, Joseph A. Brandolino of Los Angeles County Superior Court, said Ms. Grossman’s actions were “reckless and unquestionably negligent” but that she was “not a monster as prosecutors have made her out to be.” described,” reported the Los Angeles Times.
George Gascón, the Los Angeles County district attorney, said he was “deeply disappointed” by the sentence, which also required Ms. Grossman – who founded the Grossman Burn Foundation with her husband, Dr. Peter H. Grossman – to pay the Iskander family. $47,161.89 for funeral expenses and therapy.
Prosecutors had asked that Ms. Grossman be sentenced to the maximum sentence of 34 years to life in prison, saying she had “never shown even the slightest ounce of remorse for her choices on September 29, 2020.”
“She lived a life of privilege and clearly felt that her wealth and notoriety would allow her to purchase her freedom,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memorandum.
James W. Spertus, Ms. Grossman’s lawyer, also expressed disappointment with the sentence. He said he had asked the judge not to impose a sentence on the two murder counts and instead sentence Ms. Grossman to six years in prison for the vehicular manslaughter counts. a vehicle. Ms. Grossman is appealing her conviction, Mr. Spertus said.
“MS. Grossman lived his entire life in service to others,” Mr. Spertus said in an interview Tuesday, highlighting her work with burn victims and calling her “humanitarian in action, not in words.”
“People should not be judged by the worst act they have done in life,” Mr. Spertus said. In court, Mr. Spertus said, he played a 30-minute video including testimony about Ms. Grossman’s life and the charitable work of her family and others.
In the video, Ms. Grossman’s daughter said her mother suffered “all kinds of abuse from the age of 13,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
Mr. Erickson was charged with a misdemeanor count of reckless driving, but that charge was dismissed after he recorded a public service video about safe driving, his lawyer, Mark J. Werksman, said in an interview Tuesday.
“He had nothing to do with the deaths of these boys and categorically denies any race,” Mr Werksman said.
News Source : www.nytimes.com
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