Testimony is expected to continue Tuesday in the trial of Rebecca Grossman, who is accused of killing two brothers walking in a crosswalk in Westlake Village in 2020.
Grossman’s teenage daughter took the stand Friday in her mother’s murder trial, telling the jury that former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson — Grossman’s then-boyfriend — confronted the girl shortly after the collision that killed the two brothers and threatened to “ruin you and your family” if she spoke of seeing him that night.
Alexis Grossman, 19, testified that she spotted Erickson near the scene of the accident, hiding behind a tree. Soon after, the athlete burst into her house, angrily shouting, “Why did your mom stop? Why did your mom stop?… Why didn’t she just drive home?”
Rebecca Grossman is charged with two counts each of murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one felony count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death in connection with the crash that left 11-year-old Mark Iskander and his 8-year-old brother, Jacob, dead. The boys were allegedly hit by Grossman’s speeding white Mercedes-Benz SUV as they crossed a Westlake Village street with their family in September 2020.
Rebecca Grossman was being questioned by investigators after her car stopped near the accident scene when Alexis Grossman, who was parked nearby, saw Erickson hiding behind a tree, “poking his head out and looking to see what was going on,” the girl testified.
Shortly afterward, Erickson came to the house where Alexis was living with her mother, the teenager said from the witness stand in Van Nuys Superior Court.
“His face was red (and) I could smell alcohol on him,” Alexis Grossman said. “He was freaking out. I was scared that he might do something to hurt me or my family.”
The college sophomore said Erickson warned her not to tell anyone that she had seen him near the accident scene. She told jurors that the ball player had added that, “If you do, I’ll ruin you and your family.”
The prosecution alleges that Grossman was speeding at the time she hit the boys, with Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould telling jurors that Grossman was “flooring it” to get herself up to 81 mph on a 45-mph street and driving just over 70 mph at the time of impact. The older boy died at the scene and his sibling died at a hospital.
Grossman’s attorneys insisted she was not the driver responsible for the deadly crash, which they contend occurred outside a crosswalk. Lead defense attorney Tony Buzbee — who contends that Grossman was driving 52 mph “at best” — pointed the blame at Erickson, whom he alleges was driving a black Mercedes SUV just ahead of Grossman’s vehicle.
Erickson was described by the prosecutor as Grossman’s boyfriend at the time.
The trial is expected to continue Tuesday, as Monday was a court holiday. The jury could begin deliberations at the end of next week, Judge Joseph Brandolino said after testimony ended Friday.
Earlier, Dr. Justin Schorr, a collision reconstruction engineer, was called to the stand by defense attorneys. Schorr told the panel that the “lack of physical evidence (in the case) leaves a lot of room for ambiguity.”
Schorr testified that there was “no way” to be certain if two vehicles struck the two boys or one vehicle struck them.
The prosecutor told jurors during his opening statement that blood testing done on Grossman after the crash determined she had alcohol and Valium in her system, but that she is not charged with driving under the influence.
Jurors don’t need to find her guilty of that in order to convict her of the charges, Gould said.
In testimony last month during the prosecution’s portion of the case, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Rafael Mejia told jurors that he smelled alcohol coming from Grossman, and contacted a unit to perform a DUI investigation.
Mejia said he found Grossman about three-tenths of a mile away standing outside her SUV, which had front-end damage.
“She told me that her vehicle was disabled by Mercedes-Benz,” Mejia told jurors, saying that the airbags had gone off, and that Grossman told him that she had hit something, but she didn’t know what she struck.
Of his interaction with Grossman, the deputy said, “She kept telling me to call her husband. … Her husband could help those kids.”
Under questioning, the sheriff’s deputy said he didn’t find any debris consistent with a black SUV or any kind of black vehicle.
“We didn’t see any indicators there was another vehicle,” Mejia said, indicating that the debris at the scene indicated a white vehicle had been involved.
The deputy said he had considered the possibility that more than one vehicle was involved in the collision with the boys but ruled it out, saying that all the debris was “consistent with a white vehicle.” He said he believed the crash was caused by the vehicle “traveling at an unsafe speed,” and added that he stands by that conclusion.
Grossman’s husband, Dr. Peter Grossman, was called Tuesday as the defense’s first witness.
He said he learned from their daughter about the deadly crash, telling jurors that his wife was “almost inconsolable, crying, trembling, incredibly emotional” when he picked her up at a jail in Lynwood about 30 hours after the crash.
The doctor described his wife — whom he married in 2000 — as “the engine” that makes the Grossman Burn Foundation work, but said the two had begun dating others after deciding to separate.
Grossman is free on $2 million bond. She could face up to 34 years to life in state prison if convicted as charged.