Rebecca Grossman's husband, a doctor, told jurors in her murder trial Tuesday that he “couldn't remember” her ever speeding, despite being behind the wheel with her “hundreds of times.”
The wealthy Los Angeles socialite had nine traffic tickets, including four speeding tickets, before the horrific accident in September 2020 in which she was accused of running over and killing two young brothers in her speeding Mercedes SUV. as the court heard.
But when Assistant District Attorney Jamie Castro arrested her husband, renowned plastic surgeon and burn specialist Dr. Peter Grossman, asked if she had ever “occasionally exceeded the speed limit,” he replied, “I don't remember that,” adding that he had been a passenger while she was driving “hundreds of times.”
Castro was adamant: “You don't remember her going over the speed limit in the hundreds of times you drove her?”
Dr. Grossman replied, “That’s right.”
Los Angeles plastic surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman (pictured February 1), testified on Tuesday as the defense's first witness in the murder trial of his wife Rebecca
Jurors in Grossman's murder trial heard defense arguments in the case on Tuesday
Mark (left) and Jacob (right) Iskander, aged 11 and 8 respectively, died in the horrific accident on September 29, 2020
Dr. Grossman – who married Rebecca in 2000 and has a daughter and a son with her – told the jury of nine men and three women that his wife was “trembling and crying…almost inconsolable…incredibly emotional” when he visited the Lynwood Women's Correctional Facility 30 hours after the crash.
After she was released and went home, he took photos of her – which were shown in court on Tuesday – of the bruises on the left side of her face and the bruises on her left arm and right ankle that she sustained when the Airbags were deployed during the accident.
Grossman, 60 – wearing a blue knit sweater and blue and white floral long skirt on Van Nuys Court near LA on Tuesday – is charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the hit-and-run deaths of eight-year-old Jacob Mark Iskander, 11, at a pedestrian crossing in Westlake Village.
If convicted of the murders, she faces a maximum sentence of 34 years to life in prison. She is also accused of two cases of grossly negligent road traffic manslaughter and one case of hit-and-run resulting in death. She pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Grossman has been free on $2 million bail since her arrest more than three years ago.
While the prosecution insists it was Grossman's car that hit and killed the boys, her defense team claims it was the black SUV driven by her boyfriend, former professional baseball player Scott Erickson, 56 – along with who she had previously shared margaritas with.
Erickson – who had a romantic relationship with Grossman while she was separated from her husband – was allegedly “racing” her when he drove his black SUV seconds ahead of Grossman's car through the crosswalk where the Iskanders were walking.
After prosecutors dropped their case against Grossman last Friday, her lawyers filed a motion asking Judge Joseph Brandolino to dismiss murder and hit-and-run charges.
They argued that the murder charges should be dismissed because the Los Angeles district attorney failed to prove that Grossman had acted with “implied malice” – that she drove through the crosswalk at 73 miles per hour knowing it was dangerous.
And they claimed that the hit-and-run charge should be dismissed because the prosecutor had not proven that Grossman intentionally fled the scene of the accident.
Prosecutors say she was driving with her lover at 81 mph in a 45 mph zone when their white Mercedes SUV struck and killed the boys
Grossman was said to be pursuing Scott Erickson (left) – who was driving a separate SUV – after a cocktail lunch at Julio's in Westlake Village when she struck the boys in the crosswalk
Grossman is charged with the murder of brothers (pictured) Mark and Jacob Iskander, ages 11 and eight, which occurred on September 29, 2020
But the judge denied her request, saying, “I think they (prosecutors) have met their burden and the jury should decide that.”
On Tuesday, it was Grossman's lawyers' turn to present their defense.
Your first witness was Dr. Grossman, who told the jury he was “infatuated” with Rebecca when he met her in 1998 and married her two years later.
But in 2020, the two began living in separate rooms in their Calabasas home, he said. “As time went on, the marriage didn’t always turn out the way you wanted it to.”
They agreed they were both “open to dating other people,” he said, and they bought a second home, a “fixer upper,” in Westlake Village, where both spent time apart and their teenage daughter Alexis sometimes stayed .
Dr. Grossman told the court he knew his wife had started dating Scott Erickson.
“But I never met him,” he said, adding that he saw Erickson's car, which he identified as a black Mercedes-AMG SUV, parked at the Westlake Village home.
In cross-examination, DDA Castro asked Dr. Grossman asked whether his wife continued her romance with Erickson after the fatal accident. “I knew they had spoken,” he replied.
And when she repeated, “You didn't know that they maintained their relationship after the collision?” he replied, “I'm not aware of that.”
Lead defense attorney Tony Buzbee called private investigator Don Moriarty to the stand to testify about his examination of the debris police found at the scene of the accident.
Grossman was supported in court throughout the trial by her daughter Alexis (left) and her husband Peter, a well-known plastic surgeon, and the two will testify in her defense
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
When he compared the list of items said to be in the Agoura Hills police evidence room with what he actually discovered there, namely eight pieces of car debris found at the crime scene, “five were missing – they weren't there.”' , he said.
Items included two Mercedes car emblems and a chrome fog light cover.
The defense claimed the fog light cover belonged to the black Mercedes SUV that Erickson was driving the night of the accident.
Grossman's white Mercedes SUV has no fog lights.
Earlier, prosecutors and defense attorneys clashed over prosecutor Ryan Gould's complaint that Grossman's lawyers waited late into the night to turn over evidence and explain previously undisclosed details about what defense witnesses would say in court Tuesday.
“This is an ambush trial, this is sandbagging,” he told Judge Joseph Brandolino.
Prosecutors have argued that Grossman was racing with her lover at 80 mph in a 45 mph zone when their white Mercedes SUV struck and killed the boys.
Attorney Buzbee is expected to repeat his opening statement claiming Erickson was responsible for the crash as the defense argues its case.
His defense is also expected to address comments Erickson made to Alexis Grossman, Rebecca's daughter, after the crash.
Grossman's daughter is expected to testify that she arrived at the scene and saw Erickson lurking nearby, watching investigators.
Nancy Iskander was crossing the street with the brothers and their youngest son, Zachary, 5, when they were hit. In the picture, Nancy and her husband can be seen leaving the court
The officer testified that he didn't think about Grossman again until more than seven years later, when he heard on television news about the accident in which Grossman allegedly killed 8-year-old Jacob and 11-year-old Mark Iskander on a Westlake crosswalk in September Village had killed in 2020
Alexis, along with her father, Grossman's husband Peter, supported the defendant throughout the trial.
In his opening statement, Buzbee told jurors that Erickson hid after the accident and watched as Grossman was taken into custody.
The former baseball pro was charged with reckless driving at the time and his case was settled in 2022 after a judge ordered him to make a public announcement about the importance of safe driving.
Grossman allegedly admitted to police that she hit something with her car, an LA County sheriff's deputy testified in court last month.
Deputy Rafael Mejia told jurors that car debris found at the intersection matched the car Grossman sped down Triunfo Canyon Road at Saddle Mountain Drive that night.
Prosecutors said Mark Iskander had criss-cross abrasions on his body that matched the pattern on the front grill of Grossman's car.
They also presented evidence that the black box in Rebecca Grossman's white Mercedes SUV showed her traveling at 81 miles per hour just a second and a half before the horrific accident.