A married socialite had a boozy lunch with her former LA Dodgers star lover before getting into her Mercedes SUV and fatally hitting two boys, prosecutors will claim.
Rebecca Grossman, 60, was charged with second-degree murder over the September 29, 2020 crash that killed Jacob Iskander, eight, and brother Mark, 11.
Jury selection began on Tuesday for her trial in Van Nuys, LA county. She insisted her car did not hit the boys and denied driving at 81mph.
Her alleged lover Scott Erickson was said to be driving a separate SUV after their lunch at Julio’s in Westlake Village.
Grossman – who is married to burn surgeon Dr Peter Grossman – and Erickson were heading in their two cars to a Westlake Village apartment when the tragedy struck, prosecutors have claimed.
Rebecca Grossman is seen with her husband, Dr Peter Grossman – a renowned plastic surgeon who runs a specialist burns unit. The pair are pictured together in October 2011
Mark Iskander, 11, and his younger brother Jacob, eight, were killed in the crash in 2020
Scott Erickson, Rebecca Grossman’s lover, is pictured in 2018. He was charged with a misdemeanor over the 2020 crash, and settled his case in 2022
Erickson played with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2005 for a year, then ended his career at the New York Yankees in 2006
Erickson, now 55, was charged with a misdemeanor, and his case was resolved in February 2022 with a judge ordering him to make a public service announcement geared toward high school students about the importance of safe driving.
Grossman’s murder charges are unusual as there was no charge of driving under the influence.
Her on-site breathalyzer test showed a blood alcohol content of 0.076 percent – slightly below California’s legal limit of 0.08 percent.
A blood sample taken three hours after the crash registered at the 0.08 percent mark.
Prosecutors will argue in court that Grossman was also on Valium and was impaired when she got behind the wheel.
Grossman – whose husband Dr Peter Grossman is a renowned plastic surgeon, leading the prestigious Grossman Burn Center – will argue in her defense that a vehicle was in front of her, and that vehicle hit the boys, exonerating her and Erickson.
Jaime Castro, prosecuting, will argue that Grossman and Erickson ‘raced’ their SUVs through Westlake Village before Grossman hit the boys.
Castro said they had not intended to reveal Grossman’s affair with Erickson, but it became relevant because ‘the defense intends to argue that the black car that is at issue in this particular scenario is not Erickson’s.’
He told The Los Angeles Times: ‘The people intend to put forth evidence that it was, in fact, Erickson.
‘We’re not looking to get into any salacious information.’
Mark and Jacob were out walking with their parents and siblings when they were killed. The parents were able to stop their younger siblings from being hit – but couldn’t reach the two boys in time
Grossman’s Mercedes after the incident. The black box showed she was traveling well over the 45mph limit
Grossman claims the accident was caused by a poorly lit, poorly signaled crosswalk. Above, the crosswalk
Karim and Nancy Iskander, the boys’ parents, are shown at a court hearing in April 2022
Nancy Iskander, the mother of the boys, has said she could not see which of the two vehicles hit her sons.
She said that she and Jacob were on inline skates while crossing the road at the crosswalk, while Mark was on his skateboard and her youngest son, five-year-old Zachary, was on his scooter. Her husband and daughter were jogging nearby.
‘The speed was insane,’ she said of the two SUVs. ‘They were zigzagging with each other as if they were playing or racing.
‘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. Nobody stopped.’
Jurors are expected to hear from a California Highway Patrol officer who pulled over Grossman in 2013 after she was clocked going 92 mph on the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills, and warned her she could kill someone.
The court will also likely hear from Robert Apodaca, a former L.A. County sheriff’s deputy, who specializes in traffic crashes.
Rebecca Grossman is shown with her husband, Dr. Peter Grossman, in 2017
The Grossmans’ $8 million mansion in Hidden Hills, Los Angeles
During the preliminary hearing, The LA Times reported, he testified that he calculated Grossman was driving 71.7 mph when she struck the boys and that the car computer showed 73 mph.
He said 11-year-old Mark was thrown 254 feet – the farthest he has known a human to be tossed in a crash.
Another deputy, Rafael Mejia, testified he had found Grossman a third of a mile away from the crash.
She had pulled over, and was saying she did not know why her airbag had been triggered.
Grossman has been out on $2 million bond.
Her trial is expected to last six weeks: If convicted of all charges, she could face up to 34 years in prison.