A married Los Angeles socialite accused of killing two brothers in a crash was “racing” with his MLB player girlfriend after drinking during a lunch break, prosecutors say during the trial's jury selection process. claims to have started on Tuesday.
Rebecca Grossman is accused of plowing into and killing 8-year-old Jacob Iskander and his brother Mark Iskander, 11, as they were crossing the street in Westlake Village on September 29, 2020. , has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
Grossman, the wife of renowned burn surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman, was driving behind former New York Mets and Yankees pitcher Scott Erickson shortly before the accident. According to the LA Times, As a police investigator.
A recent ruling by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino means courts will now be allowed to prove to jurors that Grossman, 60, was in a romantic relationship with Erickson at the time of the accident. become.
Nearly three years after the fatal crash, prosecutors are opening up an investigation into Grossman's relationship with Erickson, believing that “the defense intends to argue that the black car at issue in this particular scenario did not belong to Erickson.” Shared the results.
“The public is going to present evidence that it was in fact Mr. Erickson,” Los Angeles Prosecutor Jamie Castro told the outlet. “We're not trying to get into any salacious information.”
The newspaper added that the two had allegedly gone out for cocktails in Westlake Village before getting into an SUV with Erickson in the lead.
“The speed was insane,” the boy's mother, Nancy Iskander, told the magazine. “They were zigzagging around each other as if they were playing or competing.”
The mother said she was crossing the street with her three sons when she noticed an SUV speeding toward them.
Iskander signaled the speeding car to slow down, then jumped to safety with his 5-year-old son in his arms.
Mark Iskander died at the scene, and his brother died a few hours later at the hospital.
“They didn't stop before the intersection. They didn't stop at the intersection. They didn't stop when an 11-year-old was on the hood of the car. No one stopped,” he said, heartbroken. the mother told the magazine.
According to reports, the socialite's blood alcohol concentration was 0.076% after the accident. LA Times.
A blood sample taken three hours after the accident showed a concentration of 0.08%, which was above the limit for illegal driving in California.
Erickson, now 55, was charged with a misdemeanor, but the case was resolved in February 2022 when he was ordered to write a PSA for high school students about the importance of safe driving.
Erickson's lawyers have adamantly maintained that his client was not racing or driving recklessly and was not involved in the hit-and-run that killed the boys.
“He wasn't racing. He's charged with reckless driving. He wasn't driving recklessly. He had nothing to do with this accident, actually. is unrelated and any suggestion that he was involved is simply false,” attorney Mark Werksman said. Los Angeles Daily News In February 2021.
“He did not witness the accident, nor was he involved in causing it,” Werksman said.
As her case heads to trial, Grossman maintains that her car did not hit the boys and denies driving at 131 mph.
Prosecutors also plan to present evidence that Grossman had Valium in her system at the time of the accident, which further impaired her ability to drive, according to the 2020 court filing. police report.
To secure a second-degree murder conviction, prosecutors would need to prove that Grossman knew the speed he was driving in a residential area was dangerous to human life.
Robert Apodaca, a former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy and traffic accident expert, said in court that Grossman was driving 111.7 mph when he hit the boys and that the car's computer was clocking at 113 mph. He plans to testify that he was showing that.
While being cross-examined during a preliminary hearing in the case, 11-year-old Mark Iskander was hit so hard that he was thrown 84 meters (84 meters), Apodaca newspaper reported.
Apodaca said he was the furthest he had ever known of anyone violently thrown in the crash, the paper said.
She also faces two counts of gross negligent vehicular manslaughter and one count of hit-and-run driving causing death.
Grossman is free on $2 million bail and could be sentenced to up to 34 years to life in prison if convicted.
