A Southern California socialite will remain in prison after a state appeals court rejected a bid to overturn her 2024 murder conviction for “malicious” speeding in her Mercedes SUV that took the lives of two elementary-school-age brothers in a suburban crosswalk.
Rebecca Grossman, who is from the Los Angeles suburb of Hidden Hills and is co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation, will remain behind bars with a 15-years-to-life sentence. a jury finding the fatalities were the result of her speeding, while her boyfriend, former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson, 58, drove in a car ahead of her.
Erickson was not charged in the case, which went viral, particularly after it was revealed the two lovers at first coordinated their stories and exchanged romantic messages after she was charged, the California Post reported.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman praised the ruling from the California’s Second Appellate District panel and issued a statement:
Rebecca Grossman was rightfully convicted by a jury of her peers for the callous murder of two children when she chose to drive up to 81 mph on a residential street after drinking at a bar, knowing full well that this could have deadly results.
The legal standard is clear: Driving at excessive speeds through a pedestrian crosswalk after consuming alcohol absolutely demonstrates the requisite state of mind for second-degree murder. The outcome of this case shows that the law applies to everyone, and money or connections offer no immunity from accountability
At the time of the crash in 2020, Grossman was reportedly estranged from her husband, West Hill cosmetic surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman. She was known for her philanthropic work and her role in the burn foundation tied to a network of medical centers founded by her husband.
Despite her romance with the former major league pitcher, her spouse apparently stuck by her side. She reportedly texted Erickson in 2021 that she needed to end their relationship and turn her attention to her husband, who was spending “an enormous amount of money on my legal defense.”
After examining data generated by the Mercedes, investigators said evidence showed she continued driving for roughly half a mile after the impact before her vehicle shut down after the West Lake Village collision with the children, who were eight and eleven years old.
During the trial, Grossman’s lead trial attorney blamed Erickson for the 2020 accident in Westlake Village arguing the “pitcher’s SUV first struck both of the boys and tossed them into Grossman’s path,” according to the the Daily Mail.
Nancy Iskander, mother of the two victims, testified during the trial that she heard engines roaring as two vehicles sped toward them. She snatched her youngest child and leapt out of harm’s way, but her two other children were walking ahead of her.
When investigators determined Grossman was driving her SUV well above the 45-mile-an-hour speed limit, prosecutors were able to argue her reckless driving showed “implied malice,” turning potential manslaughter into second-degree murder charges.
Grossman’s lawyers argued to the appellate court that jurors were misled by the legal definition of implied malice, but the judges did not agree.
Drivers in California must stop for all marked crosswalks, typically designated by stripes on the roadway with a small nearby sign. Those are often the only warning placed in many busy four-lane streets, with no traffic light to alert pedestrians or approaching traffic.
Drivers often blame the antiquated crosswalk system for near misses, and they have also played a part in some of the more than 1,000 pedestrian deaths each year in California, the highest rate in the nation.
Prosecutors argued that disregard of crosswalk hazards made Grossman’s speeding all the more egregious.
Veteran crime writer Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
