Grossman wants state Supreme Court to decide on charges




With her murder trial possibly starting in three months, Rebecca Grossman is asking the California Supreme Court to review a Court of Appeal ruling that upheld two second-degree murder charges filed against her in Los Angeles County Superior Court over the deaths of Mark Iskander, 11, and his 8-year-old brother Jacob in the fatal 2020 Westlake Village crosswalk incident that prosecutors are calling a hit-and-run.

Meanwhile, Grossman has added to her defense team the media savvy and social-media-adept lawyer and former Marine, Tony Buzbee.

The Houston lawyer has recent clients that include the approximate dozen women who accused Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual misconduct.

Buzbee was admitted to the State Bar of California on Nov. 18 specifically to help Grossman, whose trial could start in February.

In addition to the murder counts—one for each boy— the 59-year-old co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation is charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of hit and run.

Buzbee, who had to pay a $50 filing fee to practice in California, was not present when Judge Joseph Brandlino accepted his application. The defendant was not required to attend the hearing, which lasted only a few minutes.

L.A. County Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould and lead defense counsel John Hobson agreed to return to court Jan. 10 for a pretrial hearing to bring the judge up to speed on where the two sides stand after giving Buzbee time to familiarize himself with the case.

The trial could commence a month or so after that.

The Acorn has learned that Grossman, after the 2nd District Court of Appeal denied her request earlier this month to review the murder charges, is now before the state’s high court with a similar request, filed Nov. 14 on Grossman’s behalf by attorney Jonathan Schneller, a partner at O’Melveny in Los Angeles.

Once a petition for review is filed, the court usually decides whether to take it up within 60 days, although it can take up to 90.

At issue in the Grossman case is whether murder is an appropriate charge for events that the defense argues amounts to a tragic accident.

So far, lower courts and the Court of Appeal have said the charge is appropriate.