A mother who was heartbroken shared her sadness about the “very unfair” punishment of a Los Angeles socialite who was given 15 years to life in prison for running over and killing her two young sons.
Nancy Iskander witnessed Rebecca Grossman, 60, receiving her sentence after being found guilty of two counts of second-degree murder in a hit-and-run incident. Iskander asked for a sentence that reflected the loss of both her children and called Grossman “a coward” in court, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Iskander is upset about what she sees as a lenient sentence, saying the judge treated both boys’ deaths as if they were one. “The 15 to life was a stab in my heart,” Iskander told ABC7. “In two different ways: The first way was that he lumped both boys as if they were one. And they were not… They’re different. They have two different personalities,” she added.
Grossman had been drinking cocktails at a bar and taking Valium with her boyfriend Scott Erickson, a former baseball star. They were allegedly racing down the street in Westlake Village, California, on September 29, 2020, when the incident occurred.
While intoxicated, Grossman’s blood alcohol content was between .075 per cent and .076 per cent – .004 per cent under the legal limit. Mark Iskander, 11, and Jacob Iskander, 8, were crossing the road with their family when they were hit by Grossman’s sports vehicle at 81mph in a 45mph zone.
Nancy Iskander was on rollerblades just ahead of her sons, along with her youngest son Zachary, five, who was riding his scooter, when she witnessed the crash.
Grossman did not stop at the scene or call 911 after the crash. Iskander believes that if Grossman had been less drunk or more attentive, one of her sons might have been saved. She said, “Jacob only needed one step, one more step exactly to survive and not be hit by her car.”
Grossman tried to apologize to Iskander in court, but Iskander felt the apology was insincere. Grossman later claimed that her boyfriend Erickson was the one who hit the boys, but prosecutors found no evidence to support this claim.