A district attorney investigator dropped a bombshell on Rebecca Grossman’s murder trial Thursday by revealing that two black Mercedes SUVs owned by her boyfriend Scott Erickson have the same license plate.
Grossman’s legal team has long claimed that the former professional baseball player, with whom he was allegedly racing when the Iskander children were hit and killed, lied to police about which of those vehicles he was driving on the night of the fatal crash.
And on Thursday, Los Angeles District Attorney investigator Sergio Lopez told jurors that one of the trucks, a 2007 Mercedes, had a legal Nevada license plate with the number LT35756.
The other, a 2016 Mercedes AMG, had an illegal fake license plate, often called a cold plate, with the same status and number, which is a felony, he said.
A district attorney investigator dropped a bombshell on the murder trial of Rebecca Grossman (pictured Wednesday) on Thursday by revealing that two black Mercedes SUVs owned by her boyfriend Scott Erickson have the same license plate.
Grossman’s legal team has long claimed that the former professional baseball player (pictured in 2018), who he was allegedly racing with when the Iskander children were run over and killed, lied to police about which of those vehicles he was driving. night of the fatal crash
Mark (left) and Jacob (right) Iskander, ages 11 and 8 respectively, died in the horrific accident on September 29, 2020.
Lopez is a lead investigator for the district attorney’s auto insurance fraud task force. However, it was the defense, not the prosecution, who called him to testify on Thursday.
He told the court that Deputy District Attorney Ryan Gould asked him to investigate whether Erickson had filed an insurance claim after Iskander’s accident. None were introduced, he said.
But when asked by lead defense attorney Tony Buzbee which of the two vehicles Erickson was driving on Sept. 29, 2020, the night of the crash, Lopez said he didn’t know.
‘Did they ask you to find out what vehicle he was driving?’ the lawyer asked. “No,” Lopez responded, adding that they only asked him “if there was any insurance claim.”
With photographs of the rear license plates of the 2007 and 2016 black SUVs displayed in the courtroom, Lopez said that upon verifying the ownership of Erickson’s car, he discovered that “he was using the same license plate for two different vehicles.”
The wealthy socialite faces a maximum sentence of 34 years to life in prison if convicted of the murders and is also charged with two counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of hit-and-run resulting in death.
Los Angeles District Attorney investigator Sergio Lopez told the jury that one of the SUVs, a 2007 Mercedes, had a legal Nevada license plate number LT35756; the other, a 2016 Mercedes AMG, had an illegal fake license plate, often called a cold plate, with the same state and number, which is a felony, he said.
In court Thursday, Grossman’s defense team tried to persuade Judge Joseph Brandolino to allow them to recreate in court the deployment of the two airbags as they had done in Grossman’s Mercedes SUV (pictured above after the accident) at the time the children were hit.
Erickson, who was romantically involved with Grossman during a separation from her husband, was allegedly “racing” with her as she drove his black SUV through the crosswalk (pictured) where the Iskanders were walking, seconds before Grossman’s car. .
He found that the 2007 car had legal registration in Nevada, but he couldn’t find any registration for the 2016 vehicle, meaning it had what he called a cold plate, which “some people use to avoid paying registration fees.”
Buzbee, who maintains that Erickson was driving his 2016 Mercedes the night of the fatal crash, not the 2007 one he told police he was in, asked Lopez: “Where is Scott Erickson?” “I don’t know,” he replied.
‘Have you tried to find his 2016 car?’ -Buzbee questioned. “No,” Lopez said.
Deputy Prosecutor Jamie Castro responded by saying “this was happening (Erickson was driving with the fake license plate on his 2016 Mercedes) prior to the collision.” Lopez agreed.
And when he added: ‘So this has nothing to do with this collision?’ “Correct,” she replied.