Hubby defends 'speeding' socialite who 'killed 2 boys after boozy lunch with ex'

15 February 2024 , 20:20

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The husband of accused murderer and socialite Rebecca Grossman rushed to her defence on Tuesday in court (Image: Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The husband of the California socialite accused of negligently slaughtering two boys as they crossed the street and she zoomed by in her car rushed to her defence in court this week, vehemently denying the speeding claims.

Rebecca Grossman stands accused of murder in the second degree among other charges for the deaths of two brothers, eight-year-old Jacob and 11-year-old Mark Iskander, who were walking behind their mother in a crosswalk in Westlake Village on Sept. 29, 2020, when Grossman sped by at approximately 81 mph (130kmh) in a 45-mph zone, according to prosecutors, striking both and instantly killing them.

On Tuesday, however, Dr. Peter Grossman, who heads the Grossman Burn Center, took the stand and testified that during the hundreds of times he had ridden in a car with his wife, he can't recall a single time he noticed her speeding, The Los Angeles Times reported.

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Mark and Jacob Iskander, 11 and 8, respectively, were killed as they crossed the street (FOX 11 Los Angeles/Youtube)

His testimony directly conflicted with testimony from experts that revealed she was travelling at approximately 81 mph, which also stated that she barely braked before she hit the children. Rebecca's driving habits became the focus of much of the prosecution's questions on Tuesday as they hoped to paint the full picture of what had happened.

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After striking the two children, Rebecca fled the scene, driving farther up the road even as one of them was on the hood of her vehicle and the other went airborne, flying approximately 254 feet.

As more details emerged about the tragic incident during the course of the trial, it was revealed that Rebecca had Valium in her system, which is a drug that, when paired with alcohol, can increase drastically the levels of intoxication a person experiences. Her blood alcohol content (BAC) was measured at .076%, which is just below California's limit of .08%, but then a later blood test revealed a BAC of exactly .08% — which, when paired with the Valium, would have made her appear very intoxicated.

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Rebecca Grossman reportedly had Valium in her system at the time of the deaths (Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

It then stands to reason, the prosecution has argued, that Rebecca could have very easily lost control of her high-powered white Mercedes SUV. She had allegedly been out for drinks with her then-lover former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Scott Erickson. She and Peter had been separated but not divorced at the time and had agreed to see other people, he said from the witness stand on Tuesday.

Rebecca's defence attorney Tony Buzbee has argued that Erickson is the one responsible for the deaths of the boys, not Rebecca, as Erickson had also allegedly been speeding through the area in his own black Mercedes and had reached the intersection before Rebecca had. But witnesses say it was Rebecca's white vehicle that struck the children, as Erickson's black one had attempted to swerve out of the way and did.

Regardless, the prosecution argues that had Rebecca not been speeding in the first place, she wouldn't have hit the children at all, meaning poor Jacob and Mark would both still be alive today.

Peter Grossman, Rebecca's husband, testified that he had never witnessed Rebecca speeding in the 'hundreds of times' he's ridden with her (Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The prosecution also highlighted four previous speeding tickets Rebecca had received between 2000 and 2020, one of which saw her going 92 mph in Agoura Hills on the 101 Freeway. A California Highway Patrol officer, the one who pulled her over during that incident, testified that he gave her that ticket.

The little "black box" in Rebecca's vehicle, which records data from trips, allegedly showed a speed of 81 mph before she tapped on her brakes for about a second and a half, which dropped her speed down to 73 mph, at which point she hit the children, which activated the vehicle's airbags.

It was previously reported that she complained that her airbags had been activated and seemed more concerned with that than figuring out what she hit — she allegedly didn't know that she had killed anyone.

An audio and video expert, David Notowitz, testified in favour of Rebecca, however, stating that surveillance footage of the crash shows her going around 53 mph, with Erickson's vehicle going much faster ahead of her. He and Buzbee both argued that, while Rebecca did eventually hit the boys, it was Erickson who hit them first and sent them flying into Rebecca's path.

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The trial continues, and Rebecca faces about 34 years in prison, charged with two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and a count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death.

Jeremiah Hassel