The mother of two children who were gunned down by Los Angeles socialite Rebecca Grossman has lashed out at her killer before her sentencing.
Rebecca Grossman, 60, faces up to 34 years in prison for the murders of Mark, 11, and Jacob Iskander, 8.
The plastic surgeon’s wife was running home with her boyfriend from a restaurant under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs when she crashed into them in September 2020.
Their mother, Nancy Iskander, managed to get out of the way and get her five-year-old brother to safety, but was forced to watch her two older children die.
He has now accused Grossman of intensifying the family’s agony with his complete lack of remorse and his decision to play “games” in court to seek a new trial.
Nancy Iskander (left), mother of two children who were gunned down by Los Angeles socialite Rebecca Grossman (right), lashed out at her killer before her sentencing.
Mark Iskander (pictured left), 11, and his younger brother Jacob (pictured right), eight, died in the crash in 2020.
“It feels so unfair to not only lose the kids but also find yourself in the middle of a fight and with a person who wants to hurt you as much as possible in the middle of it,” Iskander said. Fox.
‘She has expressed no remorse but, more importantly, she has not even shown mercy. She had many opportunities to show mercy, plead guilty, or find a way to shorten the process so she wouldn’t have to take me back to that courtroom over and over again, but she didn’t. In fact, she only showed hatred.
Grossman has repeatedly denied responsibility for the murders and employed a series of dirty tactics during his trial to try to get his way.
This included attempting to pin the accident on her ex-boyfriend Scott Erickson, a former Major League Baseball player, as well as allegedly attempting to interfere with witnesses.
“It was heartbreaking for us,” Iskander said. “We felt like we were punished or that we were victims of another of his games.”
The killer is due back in court today in connection with his request for a new trial.
But his decision to hire defense attorney James Spertus is also a cause for concern for the Iskanders, who say it is another attempt to influence the process.
Spertus is reportedly a friend of the judge and also represents Deputy District Attorney Diana Terán, who was recently charged with 11 felonies in connection with her access to confidential sheriff’s records.
Nancy Iskander was crossing the street with the brothers and their youngest son, Zachary, 5, when they were hit. Nancy and her husband Karim leave court on February 6.
Grossman’s white Mercedes SUV appears in the photo moments after the accident.
Castro said that while other people stopped at the crash site to try to help the fatally injured children, Grossman ‘did not return to the horror he had caused’
Terán oversaw Grossman’s case, and prosecutors Jamie Castro, Ryan Gould and his supervisor Garrett Dameron reported to him daily.
Castro, Gould and Dameron have already been removed to avoid a conflict of interest in a move that devastated the Iskanders.
‘Ryan worked on this very diligently from day one and only cared about the truth. The idea that now, all of a sudden, we have to work with someone we’ve never met before seems very unfair,” said Nancy Iskander.
But the prosecutor’s office still views Spertus’ involvement as a potential conflict of interest and has asked the court to address the matter.
He argued that Spertus may have to end up arguing against decisions made by his client Terán in an attempt to secure Grossman a new trial.
If you don’t take the opportunity to explore potential claims, Grossman could accuse you of being an “ineffective attorney.” Spertus denies any conflict.
“There was never any conflict between Ms. Terán’s case and Ms. Grossman’s case,” he said. Los Angeles Times.
“I agreed to represent Ms. Grossman long before I agreed to represent Ms. Terán in her current matter, and those two matters have nothing to do with each other.”
Nancy Iskander accused Grossman of playing “games” in court and showing no remorse for the murders.
Grossman, who faces 34 years to life in prison, will be sentenced June 10.
Rebecca is believed to have told her husband and teenage daughter to influence jurors, witnesses, the judge and her ex-lover.
The decision to remove the prosecutors came after Castro and Gould filed a motion that addressed jailhouse calls Grossman made with her daughter Alexis, 19, and her husband Peter, suggesting she may have asked them to They will look for witnesses and jurors and try to influence the judge. Joseph Brandolino to give him a new trial.
Additionally, he is alleged to have told his teenage daughter to release body camera video used by an officer that had been sealed by Judge Brandolino and even wrote a letter to the victims’ mother after she was found guilty. .
Nancy and Karim Iskander, the parents of the two children, said they received Grossman’s letter on March 13.
The county is asking the judge to prohibit Grossman from contacting them.
“I want you to unblock the videos,” he told Alexis in a call detailed in the Feb. 23 file.
Prosecutors sealed the video after informing the judge that there was a website backed by Grossman’s legal team where it was on display.
However, Grossman still pushed for the video to be made public and was heard on a separate call the next day demanding that her husband ask a local television reporter to air it.
Although Brandolino also sealed jurors’ contact information, at least two jurors reported that Paul Stuckey, a “family” private investigator, contacted three other jurors, according to Gould and Castro.
The boy’s mother, Nancy Iskander (left), said she and her husband, Karim (right), were told about the prosecutor’s firing on Friday and that it set her back “a few steps in my healing process.”
Following the release of the phone calls, prosecutors attempted to revoke her prisoner privileges, but Judge Brandolino denied their motion, saying her actions were the result of “naivety.”
Brandolino told defense attorneys to destroy jurors’ names and other trial information and to make no further contact.
At the time of the fatal hit-and-run, Grossman was speeding on a residential street in Westlake Village in Los Angeles when he failed to stop after hitting the two children with his white Mercedes SUV.
The Iskanders’ lives were “completely dismantled” by the “remnants left behind” by Grossman, Castro said.
Grossman had a margarita with friends that day, then another at the now-closed Westlake Village restaurant Julio’s with Erickson, whom she was dating while separated from her husband.
The two left Julio’s house around 7 p.m. (she in her white Mercedes SUV and he in front in his black Mercedes SUV) to go to his nearby house to watch a presidential debate.
Witnesses reported seeing the two cars “flying” or doing the 45 mph speed limit on Triunfo Canyon Road. One of those witnesses saw a woman behind the wheel of the white Mercedes and said: “She seemed jovial, like some kind of race was taking place.”
The black box of Grossman’s car, which was right behind Erickson’s, was clocked at 81 mph when he hit the brakes and “hit the kids in the crosswalk at 73 mph,” Castro said.
Judge Joseph Brandolino (pictured) said Grossman’s attempts to try to subvert the result were the result of “naïveté.”
‘That was the last moment of the children’s lives. “If I had respected the speed limit, the accident could have been avoided,” he added.
‘After the collision, she did not stop, she continued driving’…approximately a third of a mile down the road, with the Mercedes emergency accident system automatically activating to turn off the fuel pump and stop the vehicle… ‘
Castro said that while other people stopped at the scene of the accident to try to help the mortally wounded children, Grossman “did not return to the horror that he had caused.” He did not call 911. He did not get out of his car or return to the scene of the accident.
A Los Angeles jury of nine men and three women found her guilty of two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of vehicular manslaughter. Grossman will be sentenced on June 10.
