Rebecca Grossman and her ex-boyfriend were racing their cars while intoxicated when she struck and killed two young brothers in 2020, an attorney for the boys’ parents told a jury Friday during opening statements of a civil wrongful death trial.
Grossman, 62, is already serving a sentence of 15 years to life in prison after being convicted of second-degree murder in the deaths of Mark and Jacob Iskander, ages 11 and 8. During her high-profile 2024 criminal trial, Grossman’s lawyers sought to portray her then-boyfriend, former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson, as the person responsible, and claimed it was his SUV, not hers, that first struck the boys.
But on Friday, Brian Panish, an attorney for Nancy and Karim Iskander, put the blame on both Erickson and Grossman, the co-founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation.
“They were racing, you are going to hear,” Panish told jurors, showing snippets of video depositions from numerous people who witnessed the deadly crash on Sept. 29, 2020. “At least six people saw it.”
Panish said Grossman was intoxicated by a combination of benzodiazepines and alcohol, and that Erickson was also inebriated as they drove to her rental home from a restaurant where they had been drinking.
The two were driving down Triunfo Canyon Road in Westlake Village when Mark and Jacob crossed the street with their mother and younger brother at Saddle Mountain Drive. Nancy Iskander at the criminal trial testified she began to cross on inline skates with her youngest son, Zachary, next to her on his scooter. Mark, on a skateboard, and Jacob, also wearing inline skates, followed a little over an arm’s length behind.
“Because Mr. Erickson is racing, and he’s in the first lane, he blocks off the boys ability to escape,” Panish said. “And they are both hit at 73 mph by Ms. Grossman — 73 mph, which is the equivalent of taking a 4,800-pound car and dropping it from a 12-story building.”
After the collision, the safety system on Grossman’s Mercedes SUV disabled the vehicle, which came to a stop one-third of a mile down the road. Testing showed her blood-alcohol content was 0.08% three hours after the crash, Panish said.
“We don’t know what Mr. Erickson’s blood-alcohol level was, as he fled the scene,” he added.
During her criminal trial, Grossman and her legal team insisted that the evidence showed Erickson had hit the boys first. Esther Holm, her attorney, told jurors Friday that the evidence will show her client “never saw the children in the crosswalk.”
A state appeals court denied Grossman’s appeal in her criminal case last month, but her lawyer says she will now seek review by the California Supreme Court.
Holm said “that several cars were involved” and that investigators zeroed in on Grossman without checking out any other vehicles. Holm told jurors she will present evidence that there was “a rush to judgment to determine that the entire accident was the fault of Rebecca Grossman” — ignoring Erickson.
She detailed how the city of Westlake Village had documented issues with the crosswalk where the crash occurred, and had rejected efforts by its public safety committee to install lights there to alert drivers, and the curve of the road made the crossing hard to see.
Holm said evidence will show Grossman was not intoxicated, not racing and did not “know what happened.”
“Her car stopped down the road. Her emergency system called 911 … . Mr. Erickson left the scene of the accident,” she said, alleging that, “He saw the children.”
During the criminal trial, Grossman’s lawyers portrayed the absent Erickson as the real culprit — saying he fled and later threatened Grossman’s daughter, who testified that she saw him hiding in the bushes near the scene.
Panish adopted some of that narrative Friday, including Erickson’s return to the scene.
“Erickson fled and escaped and she tried to escape,” he said.
Panish played a snippet of a video deposition of former professional baseball player Royce Clayton, who said he drank margaritas with the pair at a nearby cantina shortly before the crash and spoke with Erickson afterward. Clayton said that Erickson told him he saw Grossman hit the boys in his rearview mirror.
“He sees two children killed by his girlfriend and leaves the scene,” Panish said.
Before the civil trial began, Erickson, through his lawyers, sought to blame Grossman for the entire incident, insisting he was going just over the 45 mph speed limit.
But Panish said data from Grossman’s Mercedes showed she drove 70 to 80 mph before the deadly collision, and said it was logical that Erickson was driving faster, as his vehicle was ahead of hers.
Panish said he would present evidence that Erickson had a pair of Mercedes SUVs and told Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators that he was driving a regular model during the incident, when he was actually driving a more powerful AMG. During Grossman’s criminal trial, a district attorney’s investigator testified that Erickson “cold plated” by using the same license plate for both vehicles.
Erickson’s attorney on Friday said crash technicians who examined both SUVs concluded “there was one impact, and it was with Ms. Grossman’s vehicle.”
“He wasn’t racing with Rebecca Grossman or anyone else,” said attorney Deborah Tropp.
She said the former pitcher was going 50 to 55 mph when he spotted the Iskander family crossing the street and that he will testify, unlike in Grossman’s criminal trial.
“Mr. Erickson will tell you that if he had slammed on his brakes, he was concerned he would have hit the kids,” Tropp told jurors. “He made the decision to speed up a bit more — he knew he could clear the intersection safely and not harm the children.”
The lawyer told jurors Erickson knew nothing of the deadly incident until his then-girlfriend called him shortly after. At the time of the crash, Grossman was separated from her famous plastic surgeon husband, Dr. Peter Grossman.
Tropp said Rebecca Grossman told Erickson in a phone call that “something bad happened.”
“He replied, ‘Did you see those kids? And then she replied, ‘What kids?’ and the line went dead,” Tropp said.
She also denied that Erickson hid in the bushes, and said he ran back to the scene, came upon Grossman and her smashed Mercedes and was told to step back by a police officer.
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