Appeals court upholds Rebecca Grossman’s murder conviction

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A California appeals court on Tuesday upheld the second-degree murder conviction of Rebecca Grossman, the wealthy wife of a plastic surgeon now serving 15 years in prison for hitting and killing two young boys with her car.

Grossman’s attorney, Lara Gressley, had tried to convince the three-judge panel that Grossman should have been convicted of manslaughter, rather than second-degree murder, which requires the defendant to have acted with “implied malice” — which is to say she knew that driving at excessive speeds and weaving between lanes was “dangerous to human life.” The jury, Gressley argued last month, “was not told where that line was.”

But the justices appeared skeptical.

“Driving through a residential neighborhood, through a pedestrian crosswalk at 73 miles per hour,” said Associate Justice Carl Moor, “having consumed at least one and a half drinks while engaged in racing behavior … Are you saying that that’s a ‘close call’ whether or not that’s dangerous to human life?”

In a 143-opinion, Moor made clear the three-judge panel didn’t buy any of Grossman’s many arguments.

“The evidence that Grossman drove in a highly dangerous manner while impaired was more than sufficient to sustain the jury’s finding that it was highly probable Grossman’s conduct would result in death,” Moor wrote. “Whether Grossman was subjectively aware of the risk is best answered by the question: how could she not be? It takes no leap of logic for the jury to conclude that because anyone would be aware of the risk, Grossman was aware of the risk.”

Following the release of the opinion, Gressley, an attorney specializing in DUI defense, said in an email that Grossman would “seek review in the California Supreme Court as the case presents important unresolved questions of law.”

“In our view, the opinion does not fully address critical legal questions — particularly regarding the jury instructions on the murder charges — that go to the heart of a fair trial,” Gressley said in the email.

Nancy Iskander, the mother of the two boys, said in a social media post: “Justice has taken another important step forward. While nothing can ever bring our boys back, knowing this chapter is now behind us allows our family to keep moving ahead with a little more peace in our hearts.”

In September 2020, Rebecca Grossman was separated from her husband, Peter Grossman, founder of the renowned Grossman Burn Center, and was having margaritas with her boyfriend, a former professional baseball pitcher named Scott Erickson. They left the bar and began driving to her house, in separate Mercedes SUVs. According to multiple accounts, they were playfully racing each other, careening down the winding, four-lane street at speeds of up to 81 miles per hour, weaving between lanes.

Iskander, meanwhile, was crossing the street with her three sons, 11-year-old Mark, 8-year-old Jacob and 5-year-old Zachary. She saw the two SUVs hurtling down the street, pushed her youngest son out of the way and dived away. When she looked up, her two other sons had disappeared. They had both been hit and killed.

Grossman’s airbags went off, but she continued to drive for about a third of a mile, until her vehicle automatically shut off. A roadside assistance operator called her, and she appeared not to know what she had hit. When she was told she had hit two children, she sounded devastated — although she later told an emergency room technician that if her car hadn’t disabled itself, she would have been at home.

“The clear implication of her statement was that she was not concerned about the consequences of her life-endangering actions, even when she knew that she had killed at least one human being,” Moor wrote.

During the four-week criminal trial, held in 2024, Grossman’s attorney Tony Buzbee argued that it was Erickson who had first struck both of the children, though he could offer little in the way of physical evidence to support the claim. Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould called the unlikely theory “physically, mathematically impossible.”

The Iskanders are suing the Grossmans and Erickson, claiming wrongful death, and a civil jury trial is scheduled to begin next month. There is every indication that the Grossmans will continue to try to blame Erickson for the crash. In January, Peter Grossman appeared on Dr. Phil’s podcast to talk about the case and said, “There’s no way in my mind that Erickson could have avoided those children.”

Text messages sent between Rebecca Grossman and Erickson, obtained by the plaintiffs during discovery, made public recent court filings and first reported by the Agoura Hills Acorn, indicated that the two remained amorous even after the fatal collision.

“You make me feel like a sex craved kid,” the now 62-year-old Grossman told Erickson, four years her junior, in 2021. But as the criminal trial drew near, they began arguing.

“Yes or no, do you seriously think my car was within 100 yards of you?” Erickson texted her in December 2023.

When Erickson learned that he would be accused by her attorneys, he texted: “Can’t believe my ears today, huge and very stupid mistake to let them make those accusations. I’m shocked. Just lost your best eyewitness.”

Erickson was charged with reckless driving in the incident and agreed to participate in a public service announcement about safe driving in lieu of jail time. He was not called as a witness during Grossman’s criminal trial.

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