A judge on Monday flatly rejected a defense motion for a new trial for the 60-year-old millionaire convicted of running down two young brothers while they were walking with their family nearly four years ago.
Rebecca Grossman, the 60-year-old co-founder with her plastic surgeon husband of a Losa Angeles burn center, was convicted in February of two counts each of second degree murder and vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of Mark and Jack Iskander, 11 and 8, as CrimeOnline reported. The jury deliberated for about nine hours before rejecting the defense notion that it was the married socialite’s then-boyfriend, former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson who actually hit the boys and killed them.
Her bond was revoked after the conviction, and since that time, her attorneys have tried over and over to get her out of jail.
According to KNBC, Grossman’s defense team told Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino she deserved a new trial for “at least five reasons,” KNBC reported. They argued that the evidence was insufficient for a conviction and that the prosecution did not prove Grossman had knowledge that speeding on a city street could result in a fatal accident.
They also argued that the judge should not have allowed the jury to hear testimony about a prior speeding ticket Grossman received, when she told the California Highway Patrol officer writing the ticket she hoped he never needed the services of her husband’s burn clinic.
Prosecutors responded that the judge “clearly instructed the jury with all applicable and appropriate law” and that “the overwhelming direct and circumstantial evidence clearly demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty.”
The prosecutors noted that evidence presented during the trial indicated that Grossman “accelerated from 73 mph to speeds of 81 mph in a 45 mph zone just two seconds before the collision” and that she “drove with her accelerator pedal `floored,’ at essentially 100%, immediately preceding the collision” and struck the boys while traveling at 73 mph — the equivalent force of dropping her SUV on the boys from the height of a 12-story building.
Grossman kept driving after hitting the boys until her SUV’s automatic systems shut down and she couldn’t drive any further.
“The People proved beyond reasonable doubt the subjective element of implied malice in this case. The defendant was aware of the risk. The People have met their burden,” said Brandolino, according to KCLU.
Sentencing is set for June 10, and Grossman faces 34 years to life.
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[Featured image: Mark and Jacob Iskander/Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church of Ventura County; Inset: Rebecca Grossman/Grossman Burn Foundation]
