Grossman, who co-founded the Grossman Burn Foundation, killed Mark Iskander, 11, and brother Jacob, 8, in a speeding car in 2020.

A wealthy California woman who co-founded a burn center foundation in the Los Angeles area was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison Monday for the hit-and-run killings of two children while they were in a crosswalk more than three years ago.

Rebecca Grossman was speeding when she struck and killed Mark Iskander, 11, and his brother Jacob, 8, while they were in a crosswalk in the Los Angeles-area city of Westlake Village on Sept. 29, 2020.

“The loss of these two innocent lives has devastated their family and our community. Ms. Grossman’s blatant disregard for human life is a stark reminder of the grave consequences of irresponsible behavior behind the wheel,” Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.

A jury convicted Grossman in February on two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death.

  • AbidanYre@lemmy.worldEnglish
    135·
    12 days ago

    Showing up in the news and being described as a socialite just about guarantees that the person in question is a piece of garbage.

  • Clbull@lemmy.world
    81·
    12 days ago

    I have a lot of questions about this that the article doesn’t explain. How fast was she going? Why was she speeding? What was the speed limit on the road? Was alcohol involved? And why isn’t my country anywhere near as harsh when it comes to vehicular homicide?

    EDIT: an earlier article also linked does explain most of this.

    • 81mph, presumably in an area with a 30mph speed limit
    • Apparently consumed two margaritas according to witnesses even though she was not criminally charged for a DUI. Likely that it was seriously strong tequila and triple sec consumed.
    • Showed zero remorse for the fact she ended lives.
      • FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
        2·
        11 days ago

        Old Hag thought she was speed racer. The USA has a serious cocaine problem, and I’m not talking about the hood.

    • skeezix@lemmy.world
      11·
      11 days ago

      The more advanced a country is, the more they realize that long incarceration does’t really do much in terms of addressing the root problem, and it doesn’t really deter crime. Its only benefit is keeping a certain subset of actively dangerous people from further endangering society. Other than that it merely assuages the anger of society and victims in a tit for tat way. Rehabilitation, if possible, is a more useful approach.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        4·
        11 days ago

        That said anyone who thinks it’s okay to drink and do 80 through a crosswalk is a dangerous person.

  • Etterra@lemmy.world
    713·
    12 days ago

    I’m impressed that they managed to lock up a rich person for a crime. I’m not going to bother reading the article because I just don’t care, but calling her is socialite implies to me that she’s old money. I’m not sure whether old money or new money is worse, but both are rich and #eatherich

    • Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca
      16·
      12 days ago

      I’m just going to start referring to myself as a socialite. Yeah, I’m pretty much a shut-in who only hangs out with his wife and kid, and yeah, I manage a produce section at a grocery store for a living and only pull about 49k gross, but it sure sounds distinguished, eh?

        • Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca
          4·
          11 days ago

          Wash your produce to the best of your ability. Old ladies (and occasional men) believe it’s their inherent right to lick their fingers every time they go to open a bag, and then pick through all the produce for the one they like most. Also, Cosmic Crisp is the best apple available.

          • TotalFat@lemmy.world
            3·
            11 days ago

            It really is a great apple! I’ve recently tried one for the first time. I can definitely recommend!

            Also the licky fingers thing doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the people who dig their long, dirty fingernails into produce, and sometimes I don’t notice until I’ve already brought it home… Blehhh!

            • Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca
              3·
              11 days ago

              The worst for us is stonefruit season. Every last person believes they have to squeeze all of the peaches and nectarines for ripeness, and within a few hours the entire display is full of deep bruises and fingerprints. They’ll do it even if they’re buying a massive bag, as if none of it can be expected to ripen over the coming days. We wind up throwing so much out due to excessive squeezing that it’s kind of disgusting.

              I’m pleased that they found one with acceptable give, but they’ve destroyed three others in the process.

    • Crashumbc@lemmy.worldEnglish
      161·
      12 days ago

      Every once in a while they sacrifice one to show us things are “fair”. She probably wasn’t super rich either.

  • kandoh@reddthat.com
    54·
    12 days ago

    Testimony disputing the defense’s claim that another vehicle driven by Grossman’s ex-boyfriend Scott Erickson struck the boys first, with witnesses stating Erickson’s black SUV did not hit them.

    So she tried to throw her ex under the bus in her defense, but let’s also consider that two people traveling to the same location and back took two separate SUVs instead of coordinating together

  • Hux@lemmy.ml
    541·
    12 days ago

    Grossman, now 60, was speeding behind a car driven by her then-lover, former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson, when she fatally hit the boys, prosecutors have said.

    Who the fuck is this person?

    As another commenter noted, she’s just listed as a “socialite”—translating to “unemployed idle person of/from wealthy family”. And on top of being a socialite noted for founding a burn victim charity under her husband’s name, she killed a couple of kids while speeding behind her former MLB playing “lover”?

    And the defense she offered was,* “If I had seen them, I would have avoided them”.*

    No shit, lady. That doesn’t make you a good person. Her response makes it clear she has never experienced accountability for her shitty actions before.

    “Listen, Judge—and you too, jury—if I was looking at all the things I was about to drive over, I would have totally not committed manslaughter. I really think I did a terrific job for how fast I was driving behind my lover. I really am the sort of wonderful person who would continue to drive fast and recklessly in a selfish fashion, and would even consider driving my vehicle into a tree rather than run over little boys (if I could see them) or change my behavior in any discernible way (I’ve never needed to before), or suggest that I am accountable for my actions (LOL). You see, when something bad happens (for me), it really needs to be someone else’s fault, or at least people should agree that whatever happened wasn’t that bad and I must have already suffered enough. Don’t you think I’ve suffered enough? I’ve probably suffered the most throughout this whole ordeal, out of anyone. I’m self-convinced everyone agrees with me and I can assure you that I lack the empathy to understand any other viewpoint. I think we are done here. Have the valet bring my car around, the Diamond Backs are in town and I’m feeling in a southwest sort of mood.”

    • athairmor@lemmy.world
      15·
      12 days ago

      I’ve met people who think similarly. For them, “I didn’t mean to” is exculpatory. Now, the ones I’ve known were under 12 years old but I can imagine if people let them get away with that enough that thinking might carry over into adulthood.

    • cybersandwich@lemmy.world
      5·
      12 days ago

      Yea probably. But she also ran because she was most likely drunk and she was speeding. So those parts might have also done her in too even if she stopped.

      • 555@lemmy.world
        3·
        11 days ago

        It’s hard to get out of running over two kids. But there is an extra level of bad when you try to get away with it. The same for saying you’re “not guilty” and then being found guilty. Owning up to a horrible crime in the moment, especially when it’s not premeditated, counts for a lot. Obviously she would still have jail time, but it wouldn’t have been the maximum, and maybe she could still have a life. Now? Throw the book at her.

  • CMDR_Horn@lemmy.world
    3311·
    12 days ago

    Ruling will be overturned in an appeal, she will walk, and it won’t make the news cycle.

  • 242@lemmy.cafeEnglish
    18·
    12 days ago

    Sometimes the Universe is just.

    All you had to do is let you someone drive you home after you got drunk on mimosa’s at 10am. Oh well.

  • Cossty@lemmy.world
    161·
    12 days ago

    So she got 15 years to life, for hit and run. What would happen if she acually stopped, called 112, and tried to save those kids?

    • TheRealKuni@lemmy.worldEnglish
      19·
      12 days ago

      What would happen if she acually stopped, called 112, and tried to save those kids?

      She would’ve probably also gotten a DUI, is my guess. Seems like it’s a somewhat common tactic for drunks to flee the scene and sober up so they don’t get the DUI tacked on.

    • dogslayeggs@lemmy.world
      17·
      12 days ago

      I guarantee the prosecutor would have plead down the charges to something like only the vehicular manslaughter and not the 2nd degree murder or hit-and-run.

      EDIT: Maybe not. She was driving 81mph in a 30mph zone. They definitely wouldn’t have charged her with hit-and-run, but I don’t know if they could plead down the other charges with such gross neglect like that.

    • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      11·
      11 days ago

      Nothing, because we use 9-1-1 for that here

      Jokes aside though she’d go to jail for DUI and speeding that badly almost certainly, the kids are dead either way. Probably get something like 10-25 and not 15-life, though

    • dexa_scantron@lemmy.world
      5·
      12 days ago

      I’m not sure; usually this language is used when someone is convicted, that the sentence they receive from the judge has to fall in that range. I don’t know what “sentenced to 15 years to life” means except that the judge intends that she spend at least 15 years in prison.

    • CoggyMcFee@lemmy.world
      61·
      12 days ago

      It means they are in prison for at least 15 years and possibly the rest of their life, depending on how things go.