A Los Angeles County jury has reached a verdict in the case of socialite Rebecca Grossman who is facing murder charges after striking two young boys in a Westlake Village crosswalk with her car and killing them in 2020.
Court is scheduled to reconvene at 4 p.m.
The nine-man, three-woman panel deliberated for nearly two days to hand down the verdict to the defendant.
Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould argued the boys, 11-year-old Mark Iskander and his 8-year-old brother, Jacob, were hit by Grossman’s speeding white Mercedes-Benz SUV as the Hidden Hills woman was “driving too fast” and was “impaired.”
The prosecutor also said during the trial that Grossman hit the children as they were in a marked crosswalk and had a “duty to stop,” but “never returned” to the scene.
But defense attorneys for Grossman argued that it wasn’t Grossman’s vehicle that fatally struck the two young boys.
Tony Buzbee, the lead defense attorney, instead alleged that authorities rushed to judgment without properly investigating the crash, adding Scott Erickson, a former Dodger pitcher and Grossman’s alleged love interest at the time, was rather responsible for the fatal collision.
The prosecution claimed that Grossman was speeding at 81 mph in a 45-mph zone just seconds before impact, and that data from the vehicle’s so-called black box showing that she was driving 73 mph at the time of the crash was reliable.
In contrast, Buzbee contended that Grossman was driving 52 mph “at best,” pointing the blame at Erickson, whom he alleges was driving a black Mercedes SUV just ahead of Grossman’s vehicle.
Grossman was free on $2 million bond. She could face up to 34 years to life in state prison if convicted as charged.