Trial of Rebecca Grossman, wealthy woman accused of killing two boys with her car, gets underway

LOS ANGELES (CN) — The trial of Rebecca Grossman, a wealthy woman living in the West San Fernando Valley accused of hitting and killing two young boys with her car, began Friday with opening arguments.

Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould told the jury Grossman was driving recklessly down a four-lane thoroughfare at around dusk while under the influence of alcohol and valium. He said she was driving at 81 miles per hour shortly before the crash, hitting the brakes only a second and a half before hitting 11-year-old Mark and 8-year-old Jacob Iskander.

They were crossing the street with their mother Nancy and younger brother, 5-year-old Zachary. She and Jacob were on rollerblades. Mark was carrying a skateboard. When Grossman’s white SUV came hurtling down the road, Nancy Iskander pushed Zachary out of the way. By the time she looked up, her other two sons had already been hit. 

Grossman, now 60, the wife of renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run, since she fled the scene — although she didn’t make it very far since her car automatically cut off the fuel supply after detecting a collision, about a quarter of a mile from the crash site. In order to prove second degree murder, prosecutors must show that Grossman acted with implied malice — that she knew what she was doing. 

“Ms. Grossman knew what she was doing was incredibly dangerous,” said Gould, noting the vehicle’s speed. “Ever heard of the term flooring?” he asked. “That’s flooring it.” The kids, he said, “didn’t even have a chance.”

Grossman’s attorney Tony Buzbee unveiled an audacious strategy while making his own case to the jury. His client, he said, was “not guilty because she didn’t do anything. And someone else did.”

Before the crash, Grossman had been at a bar called Julio's with a man named Scott Erickson, a former professional baseball player with whom she had been in a romantic relationship (she was separated from her husband at the time). Grossman and Erickson left Julio’s, driving separately to Grossman’s house, she in her white Mercedes SUV, he in his black Mercedes SUV. Both cars were apparently speeding down the road. According to some media accounts, the two were racing. 

Buzbee, a prominent trial attorney from Texas who recently ran for mayor of Houston, will seek to pin the blame for the deadly crash on Erickson.

“The police are prosecuting the wrong person,” Buzbee told the jury. “Mr. Erickson stopped his vehicle, he hid in the bushes, watching what the police were doing. He went to Mr. Grossman’s house and said some very inflammatory things, and then went home.”

The defense attorney said that Erickson, who in security videos appears to be going faster than Grossman, hit both boys with his car, and that Grossman, seconds behind, hit the children as well.

"Two cars, or perhaps three, hit those little boys," said Buzbee.

A photograph released by the LA County Sheriff's Derpatment showed extensive damage to the front of Grossman's white Mercedes, suggesting anyone she struck was upright. As for Erickson's black Mercedes, it was apparently never looked at by law enforcement. When questioned, Erickson lied and told investigators he was driving a different, older black Mercedes SUV that he still owns.

Erickson was charged with reckless driving in the incident and agreed to participate in a public service announcement about safe driving in lieu of jail time.

Buzbee, in his opening argument, also sought to place part of the blame for the crash on bad road design, as well as a botched investigation.

“The investigation in this case was absolutely terrible,” Buzbee told the jury.

The prosecution and defense attorneys are at odds over nearly every piece of evidence in the case. Just how bright is it at 7 p.m. in late September? How impaired is a person who drank one and a half margaritas? Where exactly in the street were the children crossing — in the intersection or a few feet away? How fast was Grossman going at the time of the collision — 71 mph or 51 mph? And so on. Buzbee plans to use a battery of expert witnesses to poke holes in sobriety field tests and modern cars' so-called "black boxes," which capture data prior to a crash.

One day into what is expected to be a six-week trial, relations between the two sets of attorneys have already grown acrimonious. Prosecutors interrupted Buzbee's opening statement a number of times to object to the defense attorney's PowerPoint presentation, which they said showed numerous pieces of evidence that had already been excluded by the judge. After opening statements, the jury was excused so that the two sides could hash things out.

The defense, said an irate Deputy District Attorney Jamie Castro, had "made an absolute mockery of the justice system. I don’t know if it’s possible for the people to have a fair trial." She added: "If the court does not do something, this will not stop."

In response, an indignant Buzbee said: "I’m not gonna sit around and listen to these foolish allegations from the people. For the people to throw out with a room full of press that I’m unethical… I don’t appreciate that at all."

The soft-spoken, almost meek Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino replied, "This shouldn’t be happening. As we go forward, we can’t have the defense violating pretrial rulings and expose the jury to evidence that contradicts those rulings."

He agreed to tell the jury Monday to disregard the excluded evidence. But he declined to issue sanctions against Buzbee, as the prosecutors wanted, but said if the behavior continued "after today, I will consider financially sanctioning counsel, and reporting to the state bar."

Follow @hillelaron

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit