A Los Angeles jury has begun deliberations in the case, but prosecutors say she violated a protective order and provided reporters with evidence that was not presented to the jury.
As a jury deliberated her fate in Rebecca Grossman’s murder trial on Friday, prosecutors asked the judge to revoke her bail, saying that she was behind the release of sealed evidence that jurors were not shown.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino admonished Grossman, who is charged with running down two young brothers in a Los Angeles crosswalk, and said he would look into the issue but was not inclined to send Grossman back to jail, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The 60-year-old socialite, married to prominent LA plastic surgeon Peter Grossman, is charged with Killing Mark and Jacob Iskander, 11 and 8, as they crossed the road with their mother on September 29, 2020, as CrimeOnline previously reported. Prosecutors say she was traveling more than 70 mph and may have been racing her lover, former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson.
Grossman’s defense contends that Erickson hit the boys before Grossman did and asked why he wasn’t called to the stand, KABC reported. But Deputy District Attorney Jamie Castro answered that question, telling jurors that Erickson was “absolutely reckless,” there is “not a shred of evidence that he hit them, not a shred.”
Erickson was charged with a misdemeanor and resolved his case in 2022.
Brandolino handed the case over to the jurors on Thursday after more than day of closing arguments, KABC said.
Without the jurors present on Friday, Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould requested that Brandolini revoke Grossman’s $2 million bond for violating a protective order that barred disclosure of any evidence under seal, the Times reported.
Gould said that Grossman asked a TV station reporter for a business card, and he later received a video that was disallowed from the trial. The reported talked about the video on air on Thursday night.
“It was a deliberate attempt to influence the jury,” Gould said.
Gould said that a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department body camera video that was covered by the protective order was found on a Facebook page connected to Grossman’s Case Facts website, which her daughter helped set up.
Grossman’s attorneys said it was the first they’d heard about the leaks.
“I do not believe it’s the attorneys who violated the protective order. It was Ms. Grossman,” Gould said.
The reporter talked about the video but the station did not play it.
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[Featured image: Mark and Jacob Iskander/Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church of Ventura County; Inset: Rebecca Grossman/Grossman Burn Foundation]
