Jury selection began Tuesday in the trial of a Los Angeles socialite accused of ramming into two children as she “raced” through an intersection against her retired baseball player lover three years ago.
Rebecca Grossman, 60, is accused of killing Jacob and Mark Iskander, 8 and 11, on September 29, 2020, as CrimeOnline reported. Prosecuors say she was traveling as fast as 81 mph in the residential Westlake Village neighborhood and that she drove a half mile before stopping.
The boys were with their family in a marked crosswalk at the time of the crash
She is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, and one count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death. She has pleaded not guilty, and her attorneys have said that the evidence will show she wasn’t speeding and that her white Mercedes SUV, which ended up with significant damage to the front end, did not strike the boys, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Grossman, wife of plastic surgeon Peter Grossman, had been having drinks with former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson just prior to the crash. Prosecutors have since revealed that she and Erickson were in a romantic relationship at the time, a piece of information jurors will hear after the judge in the case ruled it admissable.
Prosecutors say the pair left Julio’s restaurant and were headed to a house party, in separate vehicles, in Westlake. The pair were traveling close together, prosecutors say, and “raced” through the intersection, with Erickson in the lead.
Prosecutor Jamie Castro said they had not intended to reveal the relationship between Grossman and Erickson until Grossman’s attorneys began to argue that the black Mercedes that ran through the intersection ahead of Grossman’s SUV was not Erickson and. ould have hit the boys first.
“The people intend to put forth evidence that it was, in fact, Erickson,” Castro said. “We’re not looking to get into any salacious information.”
Erickson was charged with a misdemeanor and resolved his case in February 2022. The judge ordered him to make a public service announcement about the importance of safe driving for high school students.
Grossman is out of jail on a $2 million bond. If convicted, she could face up to 34 years in prison.
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[Featured image: Mark and Jacob Iskander/Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church of Ventura County; Inset: Rebecca Grossman/Grossman Burn Foundation]
