On the identical evening two younger boys had been killed in a Westlake crosswalk, Rebecca Grossman had a cocktail.
Court docket paperwork present that the L.A. socialite additionally had Valium in her system. That drug had an “additive” impact on the alcohol, impairing her judgment, and he or she later barreled into the 2 kids, an skilled witness and prosecutors maintained Monday at her homicide trial.
Individuals who “have one beer plus Valium, that will really feel like 5 beers,” the Los Angeles district lawyer’s drug recognition skilled, Det. Michael Takacs, instructed jurors Monday.
Protection lawyer Tony Buzbee instantly objected, noting that the quantity of Valium was “unknown.” He says the quantity was minuscule.
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 after having cocktails together with her then-lover, former Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson, Grossman went on to hurry dangerously and crashed into the boys as they crossed Triunfo Canyon Street behind their mom. Prosecutors have instructed jurors she drove as quick as 81 mph earlier than hitting Mark and Jacob Iskander, 11 and eight, on Sept. 29, 2020.
A breathalyzer on the scene of the incident confirmed Grossman to have a blood alcohol degree of about 0.075%; a blood check three hours later got here again at 0.08%. California’s authorized restrict is 0.08%.
Takacs testified {that a} blood alcohol degree like Grossman’s would lead to indicators of impairment. He mentioned she additionally examined constructive for diazepam or Valium, a psychoactive that acts on the central nervous system and is a depressant like alcohol.
Prosecutor Ryan Gould requested Takacs to clarify how Valium can work together with alcohol. “It creates what you name an additive impact,” Takacs mentioned.
Vanessa Meneses, supervising senior forensic scientist on the Orange County Crime Laboratory, testified that criminalists within the lab reexamined Grossman’s blood pattern and located caffeine; norfluoxetine fluoxetine, generally bought underneath the title Prozac; and nordiazepam, a metabolite of Valium. The blood alcohol degree, which is examined twice, was 0.074% and 0.073%. It isn’t uncommon, she mentioned, when a blood pattern is opened a number of occasions for it to lose ethanol content material, very like a soda bottle opened a number of occasions loses its fizz. Requested by Deputy Dist. Atty. Jamie Castro what impact Valium would have when added to alcohol, Meneses echoed Takacs, referring to its additive impact.
Though Grossman will not be charged with driving underneath the affect, prosecutors are alleging her reckless conduct quantities to implied malice, a requirement for them to show second diploma homicide.
Underneath cross-examination from Buzbee, the investigator acknowledged that Valium was not present in Grossman’s purse or within the white Mercedes SUV she was driving that evening, and that the drug may present up in her system even when she had taken it days earlier.
A criminalist with the L.A. County Crime Lab testified that Grossman examined constructive for benzodiazepines — of which Valium is a kind — however the criminalist couldn’t say how a lot.
Whereas questioning Takacs, Buzbee repeatedly referred to the quantity of Valium in Grossman’s blood as minuscule. “I don’t know if it’s a hint quantity,” the investigator countered.
Takacs instructed prosecutors that he noticed indicators of impairment in video of Grossman’s discipline sobriety check administered after the lethal crash — though he mentioned the check was replete with errors. Final week, L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Michael Kelley admitted underneath cross-examination by the protection that errors had been made in administering the check.
Takacs mentioned indicators of impairment through the check included Grossman taking 9 steps as an alternative of eight and swaying through the one-leg-stand check. He mentioned she additionally stored her eyes open on the finger-to-nose check.
However the investigator mentioned he was basing his evaluation on “the complete image,” together with her conduct after her car stopped after the incident, disabled by its security system. A deputy beforehand testified that Grossman mentioned “she didn’t know what was happening. She mentioned she hit one thing, however she didn’t know what she hit.”
In response to courtroom testimony, Grossman and former Dodgers participant Erickson, 55, had been ingesting cocktails at a restaurant earlier than the crash. They had been with retired baseball participant Royce Clayton, who testified beforehand that Erickson drank two margaritas and Grossman one. He mentioned Grossman didn’t appear to be impaired when she left the eatery.
Buzbee, Grossman’s lead lawyer, has argued all through the trial that it was a black 2016 Mercedes AMG SUV pushed by Erickson — not his shopper’s white Mercedes SUV — that first struck the kids. He additionally alleged to jurors that Erickson hid in some close by bushes after the crash and watched the aftermath of the incident unfold.
