Rebecca Grossman's legal team on Wednesday attacked the district attorney's murder case against her, scuttling the police investigation and challenging a key prosecution expert.
Defense witness Donald Egdorf — a veteran investigator who served on the Houston, Texas, police force for 23 years — told jurors at Grossman's trial that the field sobriety tests Officer Michael Kelley gave her after the fatal crash ” were an example of what not to do.”
Under cross-examination by District Attorney Ryan Gould, DUI expert Egdorf insisted that several of the sobriety tests administered to Grossman were “invalid” because Kelley did not administer them correctly or he did not give her proper instructions.
But Gould presented him with a hypothetical scenario: a 130-pound woman driving 80 mph with a 28 mph speed limit hitting two children in a crosswalk at 75 mph; and when the police speak to her, she has a faint odor of alcohol on her breath and fails half a dozen roadside sobriety tests.
And when Gould asked him whether this hypothetical woman might be “impaired,” Egdorf replied, “I would have to say possibly impaired if the (road) tests were done correctly.”
Rebecca Grossman's legal team on Wednesday attacked the district attorney's murder case against her, scuttling the police investigation and challenging a key prosecution expert
Defense witness Donald Egdorf — a veteran investigator who served on the Houston, Texas, police force for 23 years — told jurors at Grossman's trial that the field sobriety tests Officer Michael Kelley gave her after the fatal crash ” were an example of what not to do.”
After the crash, Grossman's blood alcohol level was 0.08 percent, the legal limit for driving, when tested at a Los Angeles lab, the court heard
Grossman, 60, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder for the tragic deaths of Jacob, 8, and Mark Iskander, 11, on a marked crosswalk in September 2020
Egdorf also acknowledged that Grossman was “probably not 100 percent honest” and told police officers after the fatal accident that she had only had a margarita – even though she had actually had another drink that day.
After the crash, Grossman's blood alcohol level was 0.08 percent, the legal limit for driving, when tested at a Los Angeles lab, the court heard.
When Gould asked Egdorf that a reading of 0.08 meant a driver was not impaired, he replied, “No.”
The issue of the LA blood test was also brought up by the next defense witness, toxicologist Amanda Culbertson, who told the court that the LA laboratory only has a single test system for analyzing blood alcohol levels, while most other laboratories in the US have one more have a more modern two-test system.
When Grossman's blood was sent for another test at one of those “more reliable” labs in Orange County, she said, it was checked twice and the results were 0.074 and 0.073.
“It was 100 percent below the legal limit,” Culbertson added.
When asked about the Valium, which was also found in Grossman's blood after the accident, she said it was such a small amount – 6.64 nanograms – that “it could not be considered impairing” and four or could have been taken five days earlier.
On Wednesday, Egdorf said he watched videos of Grossman's roadside sobriety tests and criticized Officer Kelley, saying he did not administer the tests properly.
“I don’t think he did a good investigation,” he told the court.
Grossman, who admitted to drinking alcohol before the crash, will not be charged with drunken driving, although two breathalyzer tests showed 0.075 and 0.076 and a later blood test showed 0.080 percent alcohol, the legal limit for driving.
Grossman, who wore a dark red jacket over a black turtleneck and black pants in Van Nuys Court on Wednesday, pleaded not guilty to all charges
Her husband, plastic surgeon and burn specialist Dr. Peter Grossman, left, made his usual court appearance Wednesday with his wife, who has been free on $2 million bail since her arrest more than three years ago
Pictured: Rebecca Grossman, second from left, with her husband Dr. Peter Grossman (left) and her daughter on the way to the Van Nuys Courthouse West Van Nuys
Regarding Officer Kelley's report that there was a “faint odor of alcohol” in the patrol car in which Grossman was sitting, Egdorf said, “That's unusual.” It's more common for people arrested for drunk driving have a strong smell of alcohol.
He added that Grossman spoke normally to police after the accident and there was nothing to indicate she was impaired. Your coordination was good. She was cooperative, polite and coherent.'
And human factors expert Stephen Casner – who worked for NASA for 31 years – said testimony last week by the prosecution's human factors expert Jeffrey Muttart was “probably irrelevant.”
Grossman, 60, is charged with two counts of second-degree murder for the tragic deaths of Jacob, 8, and Mark Iskander, 11, on a marked crosswalk in September 2020.
If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 34 years to life in prison. Grossman also faces two additional charges of grossly negligent vehicular manslaughter and one count of hit-and-run resulting in death.
Grossman, who wore a dark red jacket over a black turtleneck and black pants in Van Nuys Court on Wednesday, pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Her husband, plastic surgeon and burn specialist Dr. Peter Grossman, made his usual court appearance Wednesday with his wife, who has been free on $2 million bail since her arrest more than three years ago.
While the prosecution accuses Grossman of running over and killing the Iskander boys, her defense team claims it was the black Mercedes SUV driven by her boyfriend, former professional baseball player Scott Erickson, 56 – who she had been drinking with earlier in the day of the crash – that was to blame.
Erickson was charged with reckless driving and his case was settled in February 2022 when a judge ordered him to make a public service announcement to high school students about the importance of safe driving.
Last week, law enforcement expert Muttart presented a complicated chart, telling the court that studies show that 85 percent of drivers would react and brake within 1.2 seconds if confronted by pedestrians in a crosswalk.
But on Wednesday, defense expert Casner told the court that Muttart's conclusions were based on studies in which “a group of college students” take the tests in a controlled environment or simulation.
“You take away the safety of this controlled study from a person and put them in a real life-or-death situation.” Would that person react the same way? “I don’t think so,” he said.
Citing another study of 3,400 cars, 300 of which were involved in real-world accidents, Casner said: “I think it takes most people a lot longer than 1.2 seconds to hit the brakes in real life. “
“The average time was 2.5 seconds, but some people took three, four or five seconds…”
Mark (left) and Jacob (right) Iskander, aged 11 and 8 respectively, died in the horrific accident on September 29, 2020
Grossman has claimed the accident was caused by a poorly lit and poorly signaled crosswalk (pictured above).
Erickson played with the Los Angeles Dodgers for one year starting in 2005 and then ended his career with the New York Yankees in 2006
Casner disputed Muttart's claim that Grossman could have seen the crosswalk from 230 feet away, saying that “Muttart was not responsible for the fact” that Erickson's black SUV was directly in front of her car, blocking her view.
Asked by lead defense attorney Tony Buzbee whether Muttart's statement “really has no relevance to this case,” Casner replied, “Probably not.”
Casner also contradicted the testimony of another prosecution expert about the black box of Grossman's white Mercedes, which showed that it had a speed of 131 km / h a second and a half before the collision and a speed of 120 km / h at the moment of impact.
Buzbee informed him that he had done his own calculations based on the black box data and concluded that the average speed of Grossman's car was an improbable “568 miles per hour.”
That finding meant there was what another witness called an “anomaly” with the black box, and if that was the case, Casner added, “there is something very wrong with the black box data.”
“Would you use this data?” Buzbee asked. “No,” he said.
Buzbee lined up court chairs to symbolize Erickson's black SUV in front of Grossman “as the black car sped toward the mother and child (Nancy Iskander and her youngest son Zachary, 5, who were able to jump to safety). 'leaving Mark and Jacob at the zebra crossing)'.
“Is there any way that the black car doesn't hit the kids?” he asked the former NASA scientist. “It’s hard to imagine,” he replied.
Earlier Wednesday, defense audio and video expert David Notowitz told the court that videos from two surveillance cameras showed Grossman's car following Erickson's a few seconds after the crash and both vehicles were “in the right lane.”
This contradicts prosecutors' testimony last week that both cars were in the left lane at the time of the accident.