A diamond-shaped sample on the again and proper thigh of an 11-year-old boy killed in a Westlake crosswalk matched the design of the entrance grille of a Mercedes SUV pushed by Rebecca Grossman, in keeping with testimony on the Hidden Hills lady’s homicide trial.
A health worker took the stand Tuesday and outlined harrowing particulars within the Sept. 29, 2020, deaths of Mark Iskander and his 8-year-old brother, Jacob, drawing the extraordinary focus of jurors as pictures of the boys’ accidents appeared on a big courtroom monitor.
“The sample of the accidents is basically a match to the sample of the grille,” mentioned Dr. Matthew Miller, a pathologist with the San Bernardino health worker. On the time of the boys’ deaths, Miller was a deputy L.A. County health worker.
“It’s a form of form drive abrasion,” he mentioned. “A tire isn’t going to go away a mark like this.”
Underneath cross-examination, Miller conceded that one other Mercedes with the same grille may have inflicted such accidents.
Rebecca Grossman’s Mercedes SUV is proven after the 2020 crash within the Westlake crosswalk.
(Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division)
It’s a black Mercedes SUV, pushed by former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson — Grossman’s then-lover — that protection attorneys preserve hit Mark, sending him excessive into the air and into the trail of Grossman’s SUV as she drove behind Erickson into the crosswalk.
Grossman, 60, is charged with two counts of second-degree homicide, two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one depend of hit-and-run driving leading to loss of life. Prosecutors say that, after having cocktails with Erickson, Grossman sped by means of the crosswalk, crashing into the boys as they crossed Triunfo Canyon Street behind their mom and youthful brother. Prosecutors have advised jurors she drove as quick as 81 mph earlier than hitting the boys.
In the course of the proceedings, because the images of the abrasions on the youngsters’s our bodies have been proven on the courtroom monitor, Grossman averted her eyes from the display screen. She gazed downward as Miller described the blunt drive trauma suffered by the brothers. Shortly after jurors left for a break, she walked towards her husband, Peter Grossman, they usually embraced as she quietly sobbed.
Nancy Iskander, the boys’ mom, was not in courtroom because the witness spoke. She left beforehand, with the decide’s encouragement, as a result of nature of the health worker’s testimony. Iskander’s tearful outbursts and cries of anguish have punctuated the homicide trial.
Nancy Iskander, left, is consoled by a pal exterior Van Nuys Courthouse West.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Instances)
Grossman’s attorneys had mentioned they may search a mistrial if Iskander had one other emotional outburst in courtroom. Legal professional John Hobson mentioned such shows in entrance of the jury “have an effect on the defendant’s basic proper to a good trial.”
The prosecution and protection every sought to make use of Miller to bolster their case.
In reply to prosecutors’ query, Miller testified that each boys’ accidents have been in line with being hit by a single automotive. He disagreed with the protection state of affairs of Erickson’s black Mercedes sending Mark vertically into the air. He mentioned the automobile’s entrance finish is simply too excessive, and that the boy extra doubtless can be propelled ahead.
Questioned by Grossman’s lead lawyer, Tony Buzbee, nevertheless, Miller acknowledged the “risk” that the boys have been killed by two automobiles.
“You can not definitively inform this jury one automotive killed Mark Iskander?” Buzbee requested.
“No,” Miller replied.
“You can not definitively inform this jury one automotive killed Jacob Iskander?” Buzbee requested.
“No,” Miller mentioned.
