Jury selection began Tuesday in the trial for Rebecca Grossman, the Los Angeles socialite who is staring down a pair of second-degree murder charges for allegedly ramming her Mercedes SUV into two young boys as they used a marked crosswalk in 2020.
Prosecutors alleged previously that Grossman, 60, was speeding alongside former MLB pitcher Scott Erickson as they “raced” to a home in Los Angeles County after drinking cocktails at lunch, but the nature of their relationship was kept under wraps for years.
That changed last month, however, when a judge ruled that the pair’s relationship was relevant to the case. The Los Angeles Times reported that evidence will be permitted to be shown in court that proves Grossman, who is married to the renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Peter Grossman, had a romantic relationship with Erickson.
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Grossman is accused of driving between 71 and 81 mph when she allegedly crashed into 8-year-old Jacob Iskander and his brother, 11-year-old Mark Iskander. The boys’ mom, Nancy, and younger brother were also in the crosswalk but were able to dive to safety.
Nancy Iskander testified in a preliminary hearing last year that Grossman’s white SUV and a black SUV were “zigzagging with each other as if they were playing or racing” before the fatal crash. After the impact, investigators said Mark was thrown 254 feet.
“They didn’t stop before the intersection. They didn’t stop at the intersection. They didn’t stop when an 11-year-old was on the hood of the car… Nobody stopped,” Iskander testified, saying Grossman didn’t stop for another half mile after allegedly plowing into her children.
Grossman pleaded not guilty to the murder charges last year and, through her lawyer, has offered a number of excuses for why she should not be held liable for the boys’ deaths. Those include a claim that the “poorly marked, unguarded, and unlit” crosswalk is to blame.
Another claim made by Grossman is that she wasn’t the first person to strike the children and that instead it was the speeding black SUV in front of her—a vehicle prosecutors say was driven by Erickson but which Grossman says was driven by a stranger.
That last claim is what prompted Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph Brandolino to open up Grossman and Erickson’s relationship as fair game for discussion in the trial, as prosecutors will now have to prove that Erickson was driving the speeding vehicle that was in front of Grossman.
Photos released by police show Grossman’s SUV had significant damage to its front from the crash, but there’s been no evidence released to suggest Erickson’s SUV was damaged.
Rebecca Grossman’s SUV with damage to its front.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s DepartmentIn addition to the murder charges, Grossman faces two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and a single count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death. If she is convicted on all five charges, she will face as many as 34 years in prison.
Grossman has been out on a $2 million bond since shortly after the incident, which occurred on Sept. 29, 2020. Erickson, 55, who retired from Major League Baseball in 2007, was charged with a misdemeanor for his part in the alleged racing, with a judge ordering him in February 2022 to issue a PSA geared toward high school students about the importance of safe driving.
Grossman’s trial is expected to last at least six weeks—a length that allowed many of the 50-plus potential jurors who were dismissed on Tuesday to avoid the trial on claims that more than a month in the courthouse would cause them hardship, ABC 7 reported.
The L.A. Times reported that the selected jurors are expected to begin hearing testimony “in a week or two.”
