The husband of Rebecca Grossman testified Tuesday that he has ridden within the automotive together with her lots of of instances and couldn’t ever recall her rushing, regardless of testimony throughout her homicide trial that reveals she was touring 81 mph in a 45-mph zone when two kids had been struck and killed on a residential avenue.
Dr. Peter Grossman, the top of the Grossman Burn Middle, was the primary witness to take the stand for the protection, however prosecutors instantly aimed to focus his consideration on his spouse’s driving habits.
Rebecca Grossman is accused of racing her high-powered Mercedes SUV on a quiet Westlake Village avenue, driving behind her then-lover as the 2 sped dwelling after consuming cocktails at a close-by restaurant on Sept. 29, 2020. Investigators say she barely braked earlier than fatally placing Mark and Jacob Iskander, who had been in a marked crosswalk.
She 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 dying in reference to the deadly collision.
Peter Grossman defined that he and his spouse had been separated on the time of the crash. He testified that the couple had been married for 20 years and had been cohabiting “below the identical roof” however had been residing separate lives then and relationship different folks. Rebecca Grossman was romantically concerned with former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson in 2020, her husband mentioned from the witness stand.
Lead protection legal professional Tony Buzbee has repeatedly advised jurors that Erickson is chargeable for the deaths of the Iskander brothers. He has advised that the retired baseball participant’s high-powered black Mercedes sped by way of the intersection first, hitting Jacob and tossing him to the curb and slamming into Mark, whose physique was thrown excessive into the air earlier than touchdown within the path of Grossman’s white Mercedes.
However witnesses for the prosecution say that had Grossman not been rushing, she wouldn’t have struck the boys in any respect. And a California Freeway Patrol officer beforehand testified he ticketed her for driving 92 mph on the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills a decade in the past.
Deputy. Dist. Atty. Jamie Castro on Tuesday requested Peter Grossman if he ever recalled his spouse rushing whereas he was a passenger in her automotive, and the surgeon replied: “I don’t have a recollection of that.”
“Out of the lots of of instances you drove together with her, you don’t have a recollection of her driving over the pace restrict?” Castro pressed.
“That’s right,” the physician mentioned.
Castro earlier learn into the court docket file, exterior the jurors’ presence, that Rebecca Grossman was ticketed for rushing 4 instances between 2000 and 2020.
Prosecutors have additionally alleged that the “black field” — the occasion information recorder inside Rebecca Grossman’s automobile — tells a special story. The final 5 seconds of Grossman’s travels the night time of the crash had been captured. The info present she was rushing as much as 81 mph and tapped the brakes a second and a half — which dropped her pace to 73 mph — earlier than a collision triggered her airbags.
Nonetheless, David Notowitz, an audio and video knowledgeable who examined three safety movies from a house and boathouse previous the crosswalk the place the boys had been killed, mentioned information present Grossman’s Mercedes was touring at a considerably slower pace. He mentioned an examination of video that captured automobiles passing a brief distance from the crosswalk reveals Grossman driving 51.9 mph, whereas the black automotive in entrance of her — pushed by Erickson — was going 72 mph.
Notowitz mentioned he used the bushes within the backdrop to measure the pace over distance. In a second video recorded farther down the highway, previous the crosswalk, he decided Grossman was going 52.7 mph, he testified.
Nonetheless, Buzbee has repeatedly argued that Rebecca Grossman’s automobile was not the primary to strike the boys. He advised jurors throughout opening statements that Erickson lied to authorities the night time of the crash when he advised them he was driving a 2007 Mercedes SUV.
Peter Grossman testified he had by no means seen that automobile exterior the second dwelling he shared together with his spouse when she and Erickson had been relationship. The physician as a substitute testified that he noticed Erickson’s 2016 Mercedes 63GL AMG exterior the Grossmans’ dwelling in Westlake Village on many events. The Grossmans’ major dwelling was in Hidden Hills.
Buzbee has argued that sheriff’s investigators by no means checked Erickson’s automobile for injury and mentioned that after the crash, he hid within the bushes close to the place Rebecca Grossman’s disabled automobile stopped and watched as investigators took her into custody.
Peter Grossman testified that after the collision, his spouse was overcome with grief and badly bruised. The protection confirmed photos of the socialite’s closely bruised arm, the left facet of her face and her foot, which she advised a pal in a textual content message was fractured.
“My spouse was nearly inconsolable — crying, trembling, extremely emotional” after her launch from a Lynwood jail 30 hours after the deadly crash, Grossman mentioned.
