Grossman Trial: Defense Alleges Dodgers Pitcher Could Be Real Killer

VAN NUYS, CA — The murder trial of Rebecca Grossman, who is charged with fatally striking two boys with her car in Westlake Village and fleeing the scene in 2020, began on Friday as both sides made opening statements, with Grossman's attorney arguing that another car — one driven by an ex-Dodgers player — hit the boys first.

Grossman is charged with two felony counts each of murder and gross vehicular manslaughter (with an added allegation of leaving the scene) and one felony count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death. Prosecutors say Grossman hit Mark, 11, and Jacob, 8, Iskander, who were crossing the street in a marked crosswalk on Triunfo Canyon Road at dusk on Sept. 29, 2020.

The boys' mother, Nancy Iskander, was walking with them at the time of the crash along with her third son.

Prosecutors say that Grossman was driving back to her home from Julio's Agave Grill, where she had a margarita with former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson, whom she was romantically involved with, and Erickson's friend. Just before the crash Grossman was driving as fast as 81 mph in her white Mercedes SUV, with Erickson driving fast in a black Mercedes SUV in front of her.

During his opening statements in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Van Nuys Friday, Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould narrated to jurors the boy's horrific final moments from their mother's perspective.

"She hears the deafening sound of cars barreling down on her. She puts her hands up, realizing that they are not slowing down, and sees Mr. Erickson's black SUV barreling down on her, toward her — she has to make a split-second decision," Gould said.

"She grabs her youngest son, Zachary, and dives out of the way of the black SUV. She's able to save Zachary and when she looks back and sees the white SUV going through the intersection, her children are no longer there," Gould continued.

Jacob's body was found 50 to 70 feet away from the crosswalk, while Mark's body landed 254 feet down the road, Gould said.

Jacob was internally decapitated: The force of the collision severed his spinal cord. Mark died of traumatic blunt-force injuries, according to Gould.

Grossman's attorney, high-profile Texan Tony Buzbee, claims Erickson hit the boys first — and that a combination of "amateur-hour" police work and Erickson's efforts to cover up his involvement led to authorities wrongly focusing on Grossman.

He also says the boys weren't in the crosswalk: He claims they had exited the crosswalk and were walking diagonally across the street towards the sidewalk.

"Scott Erickson's car hit those children outside the crosswalk, causing one to vault and one to fall to the side and ... seconds later they were hit by Mrs. Grossman's car," Buzbee said.

Erickson, who has denied any wrongdoing, has not been implicated by prosecutors in the boys' death. He was charged with misdemeanor reckless driving in connection with the incident in a case that was resolved in 2022. A judge ordered him to make a public service announcement geared toward high school students about the importance of safe driving, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Both the prosecution and Grossman's attorneys agree that Erickson drove through the crosswalk just before Grossman. And that Grossman drank half a margarita before arriving at Julio's, where she drank a whole one, and that Erickson drank two margaritas at the restaurant.

But their arguments diverge sharply from there.

Grossman's blood alcohol level was 0.075 according to a roadside breathalyzer test after the crash. Blood analysis conducted at an LA County crime lab tested positive for diazepam (Valium) and nordiazepam, with a blood alcohol level of 0.08, according to Gould.

Another analysis at an Orange County crime lab found her blood tested positive for nordiazepam with a blood alcohol level of 0.074/0.075, a lower level Gould says is reflective of degradation due to air exposure.

Grossman's attorneys say their expert witnesses will testify that the Valium in her blood was only in trace amounts and that she was not impaired at the time of the crash.

Erickson was not questioned by police the night of the crash and was contacted by authorities for the first time a week later, Buzbee claimed.

Following the crash, "Mr. Erickson stopped his vehicle ... hid in the bushes, is watching what the police were doing," Buzbee said. He said he has a witness that will testify to seeing Erickson doing so, with a damaged black SUV nearby.

Buzbee claims that Erickson lied to police about the car he was driving at the time of the crash. Erickson told authorities he was driving his 2007 black Mercedes SUV, which was later inspected by police, when in fact he was driving a 2016 black Mercedes SUV he owned, Buzbee said.

Buzbee's implication is that Erickson's claim he was driving the older SUV meant police did not have a chance gather potential evidence of the crash from the actual car Erickson was driving.

Prosecutors say that the black-box device in Grossman's car shows she was "flooring it" seconds before the crash, traveling at 81 mph in a 45 mph zone. She took her foot off the gas 1.5 seconds before the crash and hit Mark and Jacob at 73 mph, Gould said.

Buzbee says one of his expert witnesses will testify to the unreliability of the speeds registered by the black box. Additionally, he said calculations performed by looking at surveillance video from streets near the crash show that Grossman was traveling below 52 mph and Erickson was driving at speeds exceeding 70 mph.

As part of what Buzbee claims was an "absolutely terrible" investigation, those videos were captured by police who used their phones to record monitors that were playing surveillance video, rather than obtaining the files themselves, he said.

Prosecutors say that Grossman's car stopped itself over a third of a mile away from the crash site, a safety feature that kicked in when the airbags deployed. The car also called an emergency service itself — prosecutors played audio from that call where she insists she does not know what she hit, despite the fact that an operator told her that children had been struck nearby.

Grossman never returned to the scene of the crash. Prosecutors say that a hospital employee will testify that Grossman told her that night that if wasn't for her car stopping itself and calling for help, she would have been at home.

Grossman, 60, co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation and wife of prominent plastic surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman, faces a sentence of 34 years to life in prison if she's convicted on all counts.

Nancy Iskander was scheduled to testify Friday afternoon but is now set to take the stand Monday morning. The change came as the afternoon court session devolved into a battle between defense and prosecution, who argued that Buzbee had made a "mockery of the justice system" with an unethical approach to his opening statements.

The disagreements centered around evidence Buzbee referenced in his opening statement — things that Judge Joseph Brandolino had previously ruled inadmissible. Among the evidence was a dismissed lawsuit filed by the Iskanders against the city of Westlake Village in connection to the boys' death.

• Related: Iskander Family Launches The Mark and Jacob Foster Care Ministry

Friday's opening statements come after jury selection took nearly two weeks: Nine men and three women were empaneled, along with six alternates chosen from a pool of hundreds of potential jurors.

The trial is expected to last six weeks.

Grossman's trial was set to begin last summer, but was delayed following a back-and-forth over evidence.