California Appeals Court Upholds Grossman's Murder Convictions

A California appeals court has upheld the murder convictions of Rebecca Grossman, a philanthropist and co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation, for the 2020 hit-and-run crash that killed two young brothers in Westlake Village.

The three-judge panel of the state's Second District Court of Appeal rejected Grossman's challenge on Tuesday, affirming her February 2024 guilty verdicts for two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of 11-year-old Mark Iskander and 8-year-old Jacob Iskander. Grossman, 62, is serving a sentence of 15 years to life at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla. The ruling ends her bid to overturn the convictions, which also included two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of hit-and-run resulting in death.

The incident occurred on September 29, 2020, along Triunfo Canyon Road, a residential street with a 45 mph speed limit. Prosecutors presented evidence that Grossman was driving her white Mercedes-Benz SUV at speeds up to 81 mph when she struck the boys, who were crossing a marked crosswalk with their family. Vehicle data recorded her traveling at 73 mph at the moment of impact, with her foot off the...