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Rebecca Grossman case: Prosecutors dismissed
Prosecutors who got Rebecca Grossman convicted for the murders of Mark and Jacob Iskander have been reassigned. The Iskander family says they're frustrated by the situation.
LOS ANGELES - The team of prosecutors who won the conviction of Rebecca Grossman -- co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation -- on murder and other counts for a crash that killed two young boys in Westlake Village has been removed from the case, it was reported Monday.
The Los Angeles Times reported that prosecutors Jamie Castro, Ryan Gould and supervisor Garrett Dameron were largely removed from the case, with the District Attorney's Office citing a potential conflict of interest.
During Grossman's trial, the trio of prosecutors reported to Assistant District Attorney Diana Teran, who was recently charged with nearly a dozen felonies for allegedly illegally accessing law enforcement personnel files while she was working as an adviser with the sheriff's department.
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According to The Times, Teran's defense attorney, James Spertus, is now representing Grossman in her bid for a new trial. The original prosecutors, therefore, were being removed to ensure anyone connected with Teran would be walled off from the case, The Times reported.
But the paper reported that Dameron emailed his superiors claiming the move was made after the team suggested that Spertus might question Teran's decisions in the case.
District Attorney Chief Deputy Joseph Iniguez told The Times the prosecution of Grossman, who is set to be sentenced June 10, will now be led by Habib Balian, assistant head deputy of the Major Crimes Division. Gould and Castro are still expected to assist on the case, Iniguez told the paper.
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Grossman was convicted Feb. 23 of second-degree murder and other counts stemming from the September 2020 deaths of Mark and Jacob Iskander, aged 11 and 8, who were struck while walking in a crosswalk. Grossman is facing up to 34 years to life in state prison.
Nancy Iskander, the boys' mother, told The Times the removal of the prosecutors in the case is "truly shocking and disappointing."
"I am being punished for something I had nothing to do with. They choose to punish the victim," she told the paper. "They have a motion for a new trial. We have things that only Ryan -- who knows the case so well and knows the defendant so well -- can deal with.
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"We were looking forward to closing the case. Sentencing was soon," she continued. "For me, all of a sudden to have to meet another prosecutor and work with them -- they don't know my family or the boys."
According to The Times, Dameron wrote an email to Iniguez criticizing the decision to remove that prosecution team, calling the move "shocking and unprecedented."
"At the very least, this extraordinary decision jeopardizes the successful completion of the case and the impartial administration of justice," Dameron wrote.
He claimed the removal of the prosecutors came after proposing a motion to have Spertus removed from the case, saying the conflict in the case lies solely with Spertus for "representing both of these defendants."