Rebecca Grossman was jogging when the boys were killed at the intersection, the attorney said

Rebecca Grossman and her ex-boyfriend were driving drunk when he struck and killed two young brothers in 2020, an attorney for the boys' parents told a judge Friday during opening statements in a wrongful-death lawsuit.

Grossman, 62, is serving a 15-year-to-life sentence after being convicted of murdering Mark and Jacob Iskander, ages 11 and 8, respectively. During her high-profile criminal trial in 2024, Grossman's attorneys sought to identify her then-boyfriend, the former Dodgers pitcher, as Scott Erickson and Scott Erickson. he started beating the boys.

But on Friday, Brian Panish, the attorney for Nancy and Karim Iskander, filed charges against both Erickson and Grossman, founder of the Grossman Burn Foundation.

“They were running, you're going to hear,” Panish told jurors, showing video clips from multiple people who witnessed the fatal crash on Sept. 29, 2020. “At least six people saw it.”

Panish said Grossman was under the influence of a combination of benzodiazepines and alcohol, and that Erickson was intoxicated when they went to his rental home from a restaurant where they had been drinking.

The two were driving on Triunfo Canyon Road in Westlake Village when Mark and Jacob crossed the road with their mother and younger brother on Saddle Mountain Drive. Nancy Iskander testified at the criminal trial that she started sliding down the line with her young son, Zachary, next to her on his scooter. Mark, on a skateboard, and Jacob, also in inline skates, trailed a short arm's length behind.

“Because Mr. Erickson is running, and he's on the first line, he's blocking the guys' ability to run,” Panish said. “And they were both hit at 73 mph by Ms. Grossman – 73 mph, which is the equivalent of taking a 4,800-pound car and throwing it off a 12-story building.”

After the collision, the safety system of Grossman's Mercedes SUV disabled the vehicle, which came to rest a third of a mile down the road. Tests showed his blood alcohol level was 0.08% three hours after the accident, Panish said.

“We don't know what Mr. Erickson's blood alcohol level was, as he fled the scene,” he added.

During his trial, Grossman and his legal team insisted that the evidence showed that Erickson had hit the boys first. Esther Holm, his attorney, told jurors Friday that the evidence will show that her client “never saw the children at the intersection.”

A federal appeals court rejected Grossman's appeal in his criminal case last month, but his attorney says he will now seek review by the California Supreme Court.

Holm said there were “multiple vehicles involved” and that investigators entered Grossman without checking for other vehicles. Holm told jurors she would present evidence that “there was a rush to judgment to find that this entire accident was Rebecca Grossman's fault” — ignoring Erickson.

He detailed how the city of Westlake Village documented problems at the intersection where the accident occurred, and rejected efforts by the public safety committee to install lights there to warn drivers, and the curve of the road made it difficult to cross the intersection.

Holm said the evidence will show Grossman was not intoxicated, was not running and “didn't know what happened.”

“His car stopped on the road. His emergency system called 911 … . Mr. Erickson left the scene of the accident,” she said, alleging that, “he saw the children.”

During the criminal trial, Grossman's attorneys portrayed the absent Erickson as the real culprit — saying he ran away and threatened Grossman's daughter, who testified she saw him hiding in the woods near the scene.

Panish embraces some of that narrative Friday, including Erickson's return to the scene.

“Erickson ran away and tried to escape,” he said.

Panish played a video clip of professional baseball player Royce Clayton, who said he drank margaritas with the two at a nearby cantina shortly before the crash and spoke with Erickson afterward. Clayton said Erickson told him he saw Grossman hitting the boys in his rearview mirror.

“He saw two children killed by his girlfriend and then left the scene,” said Panish.

Before the trial began, Erickson, through his attorneys, sought to blame Grossman for the entire incident, insisting that he was only going 45 mph over the speed limit.

But Panish said the data on Grossman's Mercedes showed he had traveled 70 to 80 kilometers before the fatal crash, and said it makes sense that Erickson was speeding, since his car was ahead of his.

Panish said he will present evidence that Erickson owned a Mercedes SUV and told Los Angeles County sheriff's investigators that he was driving a regular model at the time of the incident, when in fact he was driving a high-powered AMG. During Grossman's trial, a district attorney's investigator testified that Erickson “got cold feet” by using the same license plate number for both cars.

Erickson's attorney said Friday that crash experts who examined both SUVs concluded that “there was one impact, and there was Ms. Grossman's vehicle.”

“He was not running with Rebecca Grossman or anyone else,” said attorney Deborah Tropp.

He said the striker was traveling 50 to 55 kilometers when he saw the Iskander family crossing the road and he will testify, unlike in Grossman's case.

“Mr. Erickson will tell you that if he had hit the brakes, he was worried that he would have hit the children,” Tropp told jurors. “He made the decision to go a little faster – he knew he could clear a safe path and not hurt the children.”

The attorney told jurors Erickson knew nothing about the murder until his then-girlfriend called him a short time later. At the time of the accident, Grossman was separated from her famous surgeon husband, Dr. Peter Grossman.

Tropp said Rebecca Grossman told Erickson on the phone that “something bad happened.”

“He replied, 'You saw those children,' then he replied, 'Where are the children?' and the line died,” said Tropp.

He also denied that Erickson was hiding in the bushes, and said that he ran back to the scene, ran into Grossman with his crashed Mercedes, and was told by the police to back off.