The Socialist wife of a plastic surgeon has tried to blame her alleged secret lover for the murder of two young brothers whom she accused of hitting with her car after a drunken lover’s lunch.
Lawyers for 62-year-old Rebecca Grossman made the astonishing claim Wednesday in a Los Angeles courthouse, suggesting that former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson beat eight-year-old Jacob Iskander and his 11-year-old brother Mark in September 2020.
Grossman’s attorney Tony Buzzbee told the court that sheriff’s deputies failed to check Erickson’s black Mercedes, which Grossman allegedly chased in her white Mercedes at the time of the impact.
Images from the scene show the front of Grossman’s luxury car badly damaged in a crash. According to prosecutors, this was caused by the young people she mowed down while driving 130 km/h in a 70 km/h zone.
Erickson’s black Mercedes drove through the crosswalk where the brothers were hit while walking with their parents, before Grossman’s car did. Grossman was joined at Monday’s hearing by her husband, surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman, who appears to be supporting her despite the scandal and criminal case.
Socialite Rebecca Grossman was seen hugging the arm of her plastic surgeon husband Dr. Peter Grossman of LA held as they left court today for the start of her murder trial
Scott Erickson, Rebecca Grossman’s alleged lover, is pictured in 2018. He was charged with a felony over the 2020 crash and settled his case in 2022.
Mark and Jacob were walking with their parents and siblings when they were killed. The parents were able to prevent their younger siblings from being hit, but were unable to reach the two boys in time
According to the LA timesBuzbee claimed that a sheriff’s investigator never checked Erickson’s vehicle after the incident and took his word for it that he was driving his own 2007 SUV at the time.
Buzbee told LA County Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino that Erickson produced that vehicle after the crash for investigation in civil lawsuits.
The lawyer claims that Erickson had actually been in a 2016 Mercedes-AMG on the day of the crash.
Buzbee said he would present witnesses at trial to lay the groundwork for the photo exhibit, saying one witness told an investigator she saw two vehicles smash into the children that day.
The outlet reported that Buzbee added, “Why wouldn’t the police look at this vehicle he was driving that night?
“Why wouldn’t they, especially if you had a witness, the first witness to testify, say there were two collisions three to five seconds apart? Why wouldn’t they look at his vehicle?’
Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould said prosecutors had no evidence to support the exhibit and did not know who took the photo Buzbee wanted to present.
On Wednesday, Grossman was seen holding the arm of her LA plastic surgeon husband as they left the court after the second day of her murder trial.
Jury selection continued Wednesday for her trial in Van Nuys, California. Grossman was modestly dressed in a gray vest, white shirt and black pants
Grossman’s Mercedes after the incident. The black box showed that she was driving well above the 70 km/h limit
Mark Iskander, 11, and his younger brother Jacob, eight, died in the 2020 crash
Dr. Peter Grossman – dressed in a smart blue suit – stands next to her, despite accusations that his wife left Erickson a drunken lunch.
Robert Apodaca, a former LA County sheriff’s deputy who specializes in traffic accidents, testified during a preliminary deposition that he calculated that Grossman was going 70 miles per hour when she struck the boys and that the car’s computer was reading 75 miles per hour. indicated. Witnesses suspect that the car was traveling at a speed of 130 km/h.
Apodaca said the impact threw Mark 80 meters – the furthest he has ever seen a human being thrown in a crash.
Erickson, now 55, was charged with a felony, and his case was resolved in February 2022, with a judge ordering him to make a public service announcement aimed at high school students about the importance of safe driving.
Erickson, who is divorced, played a year with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2005 before ending his career with the New York Yankees in 2006.
Grossman’s murder charge is unusual, as no DUI charges have been filed.
Her breath test at the scene 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 accident registered a score of 0.08 percent.
Prosecutors will argue in court that Grossman was also on Valium and impaired when she got behind the wheel.
Grossman – whose husband directs the prestigious Grossman Burn Center – will argue in her defense that a vehicle drove in front of her and that vehicle struck the boys, exonerating her and Erickson.
Karim and Nancy Iskander, the boys’ parents, are shown at a court hearing in April 2022
Grossman claims the accident was caused by a poorly lit, poorly signaled crosswalk. Above is the zebra crossing
Jaime Castro, the prosecutor, will argue that Grossman and Erickson “raced” their SUVs through Westlake Village before Grossman hit the boys.
Castro said the intention was not to make Grossman’s affair with Erickson public, but that it became relevant because “the defense plans to argue that the black car at issue in this particular scenario is not Erickson’s .’
Nancy Iskander, the boys’ mother, has said she could not see which of the two vehicles hit her sons.
She said she and Jacob were on inline skates as they crossed 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 crazy,” she said of the two SUVs. ‘They zigzagged 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 sitting on the hood of the car. Nobody stopped.”
Erickson played for a year with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2005, after which he ended his career with the New York Yankees in 2006
The Grossmans’ $8 million mansion in Hidden Hills, Los Angeles
Jurors are expected to hear from a California Highway Patrol officer who stopped Grossman in 2013 after she was driving 90 miles per hour on the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills and warned her she could kill someone.
Deputy Rafael Mejia testified that he found Grossman half a mile away from the crash.
She was pulled over and said she didn’t know why her airbag deployed.
Grossman has been released 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.