Rebecca Grossman trial: Transcripts of jailhouse calls released
LOS ANGELES - Court documents show a motion has been filed asking a judge to take away Rebecca Grossman's phone call privileges while in jail, alleging the 60-year-old woman is encouraging "illegal conduct and her team attempted to tamper with jurors" from the double-murder trial.
Grossman, who has remained jailed without bail since being taken into custody last month, was convicted of two counts of second-degree murder in a 2020 hit-and-run crash in Westlake Village that killed two brothers, Jacob and Mark Iskander – aged 8 and 11. At the time of the Feb. 2024 verdict, Grossman was also found guilty of two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and hit-and-run resulting in death.
Rebecca Grossman: Phone privilege allegations
Prosecutors filed court papers Monday asking a judge to revoke Rebecca Grossman's privilege to make telephone calls while in jail, contending that she has used the calls to "engage in wholly improper conduct or potentially illegal conduct" after being convicted of second-degree murder and other charges involving a crash that killed two young boys in Westlake Village.
The 16-page filing by Deputy District Attorneys Ryan Gould and Jamie Castro details Grossman's recorded phone calls, which include "admissions to violating the court protective order regarding the disclosure of evidence on the internet and to the press" and also "document numerous potential criminal conspiracies such as requests to disclose more protected discovery, discussion of various attempts to interfere with witnesses and their testimony and attempts to influence (the judge) in regards to sentencing and motions for a new trial."
The district attorney's office declined to comment on camera when this story aired on FOX 11 on March 19.
The prosecutors cited a series of phone calls in which Grossman spoke to her husband, Peter, and her daughter, Alexis, between Feb. 23 and Feb. 25.
Those included a Feb. 23 call in which she told her daughter that she wanted her to "unblock the videos" and "put everything out."
FEB. 23: ‘PUT EVERYTHING OUT’
Rebecca Grossman: Yeah, Alexis, I want you to unblock the videos. Don't be afraid. Nobody in fear anymore.
Alexis Grossman: I will. I will.
Peter Grossman: Everything you want us to put out, honey, let us know. We're going to put it all out.
Rebecca Grossman: I want you to put everything out. I want you to put everything out… are we going to appeal?
Peter Grossman: Yeah, 100%. Absolutely. Honey, just remember everything on this call is being recorded.
Rebecca Grossman: I don't care. It's all the truth.
FEB. 24: ‘REPORTER FROM FOX’
Rebecca Grossman: Get in touch with that woman at Fox that I sent the card.
Alexis and Peter Grossman: Okay.
Rebeca Grossman: Because the picture of her card is on my phone. Talk to her about is she going to play that…
Peter Grossman: Rebecca, you know, we wrote this. I don't want you to say anything on the phone right now.
Rebecca Grossman: Why? It's the truth.
Peter Grossman: Rebecca, just…
Rebecca Grossman: Okay.
Peter Grossman: We need to move forward, okay?
FEB. 24: ‘SHERRI THOMAS’
Rebecca Grossman: Maybe as Sherri, if she can bring them.
Peter Grossman: Okay… I'll say I don't know if they'll let me, yeah. I absolutely will. Umm, what did I… again, she's having trouble. She needs to have to get to the right people, too. So I'm not 100% sure if you're going to be able to get in, but she is going be trying today too. She's actually in Santa Ana.
Rebecca Grossman: Yea and she always talks a lot. I dunno if I can ever f----ng ever come through on anything. She was supposed to talk to Susan Manners too, her patient. Right.
Peter Grossman: But we're going to get through this baby.
The following day, Grossman asked her husband if a person she identified as "Tom" could call the judge and "ask him to please let us have a new trial," according to the prosecution's filing.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE:
- Breaking down the evidence that led to Rebecca Grossman's conviction
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FEB. 24: ‘HAVE TOM TALK TO BRANDOLINO’
Rebecca Grossman: Hello?
Peter Grossman: Hi honey.
Rebecca Grossman: Hi. So, I talked to Laura and she's really going to need all the trial attorneys to be available to give her everything that she needs as soon as possible because we have to work fast if we're going to try to ask for a new trial But, I'm just worried that Brandolino is not going to say, it's up to him, you know.
Peter Grossman: Yeah, I know. We're going to give it. I will get on. I will get on.
Rebecca Grossman: Is there anyway Tom could call him and ask him to please let us have a new trial.
Peter Grossman: Well, I will. I'll ask Tom to push as hard as he can. I will get on Tom. I will get on uhh John to get all the information to her.
Rebecca Grossman: It's not just John. It's going to have to come from the trial attorneys. They're going to need Colby and Ryan and tell me you're going to have to.
Peter Grossman: Yeah. I will. I will. I will get on all of them honey. And I will get on Laura and I'll get all of them connected.
Rebecca Grossman: What are you all doing now?
Peter Grossman: I'm going through your medication and sending them out to uh, um um to um, uh, to Sheri so she has all your medications, which were in the drawer right now.
Rebecca Grossman: Did she say she would be here now?
Peter Grossman: I haven't spoken to her. I'm texting her this right now.
Rebecca Grossman: She's coming here now? She's coming here…
Peter Grossman: I don't know. Yeah. That's what she said. I don't know what time. Umm. But right now I'm going to head down. As soon as I send this text with all your meds, I'm going to head down and just try to get money in for you so you can get stuff.
Rebecca Grossman: Maybe, like, give somebody some money to see if you can visit me.
Peter Grossman: Umm. I. Yeah I will But Shhh. Yes, I will do whatever I can. I will do whatever I can.
Rebecca Grossman: I want to see you.
Peter Grossman: I want to see you too baby. I…
In a call the day after the verdict, Grossman told her daughter, "These were the worst jurors. I knew they were bad jurors ... Every single one of them, I could just tell. They weren't on my side from the beginning. I just knew it," according to the court papers.
FEB. 24: ‘HUDSON FORRESTER’
Rebecca Grossman: You are going to be ok. I know that. I love you so much.
Alexis Grossman: I love you too. And you have books there and stuff and everything?
Rebecca Grossman: Honey, you have to figure out someone, you know with Hudson Forrester.
Alexis Grossman: Ya.
Rebecca Grossman: I just know that would have been really key. They just hid so much. If we can get witnesses to come forward and say that they were told to say things, this can help with getting a new trial.
Alexis Grossman: Yeah.
Rebecca Grossman: And that's what we need to apply for right now is a new trial.
Alexis Grossman: Yeah.
Rebecca Grossman: He had pressure put on him to say something. Like maybe he had some record or something, and they were gonna like use it to negotiate with him. You better take this or this or that. We just want the truth. That's all. We just want the truth.
Alexis Grossman: Yeah I know. We're going to do everything. We're going to do everything that we can.
Rebecca Grossman: Because that's the only way to get in a trial. But this judge is the one that allows us a new trial, and I don't know if he's going to allow us a new trial. You've got to get in touch.
Alexis Grossman: Yeah.
Rebecca Grossman: You got to get in touch with the media people, like call Dana. She sent it to somebody at NBC really big. You know, the one in Georgia, Dana.
Alexis Grossman: Yeah, we will.
Rebecca Grossman: We have to get a real story out there about everything behind us and everything that wasn't done and all the things that wer hidden from the jury and how the media influenced the entire trial and how they were releasing all this stuff to the media, just to make me look like a monster and that we know that the jurors were influenced by it.
Alexis Grossman: Yeah.
Rebecca Grossman: Okay?
Alexis Grossman: Yeah I'll go. I'm going to do everything for you, mom. Everything. So is Dad.
Rebecca Grossman: I don't want you to have anxiety. I know you were crying a lot last night. I could feel your heart, I know, baby.
Alexis Grossman: I couldn't even cry. I couldn't even cry yesterday, honestly. I was I'm in shock. I was just so in shock until today.
Rebecca Grossman: I know, I couldn't even… My head was like, nothing here is real, nothing is happening. I was so in shock to have all 12 jurors. There were the worst jurors. I knew they were bad jurors. That whole jury selection thing didn't work for us at all.
Alexis Grossman: Yeah, I know.
Rebecca Grossman: I knew they weren't good jurors. I knew it. I could tell. Every single one of them I could just tell. They weren't on my side from the beginning. I just knew it.
Alexis Grossman: I just don't understand how they…
Rebecca Grossman: How there's no reasonable doubt. All the stuff, five missing parts of a car.
Peter Grossman: There's no way… there's no way…
Rebecca Grossman: How could there be missing parts. Five missing parts of a car? All of the… every single witness has a different story. How could there not been reasonable doubt?
Alexis Grossman: I have no idea. I have no idea. I have no idea how they.. I have no idea how that happened at all. I don't know. I literally have no idea.
Rebecca Grossman: I know. It's crazy.
Alexis Grossman: I can't even wrap my head around it.
Peter Grossman: I swear I think that the prosecutor had somebody on the inside that was [unintelligible] the jury.
Alexis Grossman: Yeah, maybe. Maybe.
Rebecca Grossman: It wouldn't surprise me at all. I felt that way about that, Jamie Castro, from the beginning, there was something going on.
Alexis Grossman: Maybe.
Rebecca Grossman: There was this something that I felt she knew that we didn't know. She was just too confident about it. It's like they didn't even care about the truth. They didn't care all the evidence that we had. They were laughing, and they just knew.
Alexis Grossman: Yeah I have no idea. I have absolutely no idea how that happened.
Rebecca Grossman: Anyway, we're going to get it all out there, no matter what. We're going to get it out there.
FEB. 24: ‘HUDSON FORRESTER PART 2’
Rebecca Grossman: Ok. One thing at a time. Um, I love you guys much and just one day at a time. We're going to get there.
Alexis Grossman: Yeah.
Rebecca Grossman: One day at a time.
Alexis Grossman: We're going, we're going to get through this mom. We are all going to be ok.
Rebecca Grossman: Yeah.
Alexis Grossman: We're all going to be ok. You're going to be ok.
Rebecca Grossman: I know. Find someone to get in touch with Hudson Forrester.
Alexis Grossman: Yeah, I'll get on that.
Rebecca Grossman: Ok.
FEB. 25: ‘SCOTT ERICKSON’
Rebecca Grossman: You should call Scott Erickson and tell him to get on a video and that he needs to confess.
Peter Grossman: Right, [Unintelligible]
Rebecca Grossman: He needs to confess because he knows he.
Peter Grossman: I know he needs to confess, but right now I can't even talk about the case, but that guy needs to, you're in jail for him, and it drives me crazy that… I know he does… But I'm…
Rebecca Grossman: Tell him to sit a video and confess. I have a family.
Peter Grossman: I know, I know. I'm going to baby, I am going somehow this guy has got you to be a prison for him. It's just the most cowardly thing in the f----ng world. And that damn prosecutors, no, just because we don't want to lose a case. And they can screw that up, they put you as a sacrificial lamb. But again, we have to stop talking about the case on the record line. But we will do that.
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The prosecution is requesting the judge grant a proposed court order that Grossman be housed in a portion of the jail where she has no access to a telephone and is not eligible for calls or visits other than with her attorneys, and that all of her incoming and outgoing mail be screened prior to distribution. The prosecutors contend that the same types of conversations can be conducted through those methods.
"While in custody the defendant immediately began using her phone privileges to engage in wholly improper conduct or potentially illegal conduct," Gould and Castro wrote.
"In-custody phone privileges are just that, a privilege, and the defendant is using this privilege to make phone calls in an attempt to commit crimes and unduly influence witnesses and this court. Therefore, this court should revoke this privilege."
The deputy district attorneys contend that the court should immediately require Grossman's defense team to turn over all personal identifying information of jurors, noting that their names, addresses and telephone numbers were "sealed by operation of law upon recording the jury's verdict in a criminal case."
Prosecutors argued during the trial that Grossman and her then- boyfriend, former Dodger pitcher Scott Erickson, had been out for drinks earlier that evening and were speeding toward her nearby home in separate vehicles when Grossman's white Mercedes-Benz SUV struck the boys while they were crossing Triunfo Canyon Road with their parents in a marked crosswalk.
Prosecutors said Grossman continued driving after striking the boys, eventually stopping about a quarter-mile away from the scene when her car engine stopped running.
Grossman's lead attorney, Tony Buzbee, contended that it was Erickson who struck the boys first with his black Mercedes-Benz SUV.
Neither the district attorney nor Grossman's family attorney were willing to speak on-camera with FOX 11 on Tuesday, March 19 when this story was published.
Erickson was never called to testify in the case.
A hearing is set Friday in a Van Nuys courtroom involving the prosecution's request involving Grossman.
Grossman could face up to 34 years to life in state prison. Sentencing is set April 10.
City News Service contributed to this report.