Fraser Bohm to Face Trial After Judge Rejects Motion to Drop Murder Charges in Malibu Crash
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Thomas Rubinson on Monday denied a bid to throw out murder charges against Fraser Michael Bohm, keeping intact the case stemming from a 2023 crash on Pacific Coast Highway that left four Pepperdine University seniors dead.
Defense attorneys had urged the court to find insufficient evidence to support the murder counts, seeking to undo an April ruling by another judge that sent the case toward trial. Judge Rubinson rejected the motion, leaving all charges in place.
Bohm, 22 at the time of the collision and now 24, faces four counts of murder and four counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in the Oct. 17, 2023 crash near a stretch of PCH known as “Dead Man’s Curve.” Prosecutors say he lost control in a 45 mph zone, struck parked cars on the shoulder and fatally hit Niamh Rolston, 20; Peyton Stewart, 21; Asha Weir, 21; and Deslyn Williams, 21.
The defense, led by Alan Jackson, Kelly Quinn and Jacqueline Sparagna, characterizes the incident as a tragic accident, arguing Bohm was fleeing an aggressive driver. Prosecutors dispute the road-rage narrative.
Judge Rubinson granted a separate defense request to extract GPS and other data from the phone of Victor Calandra, a motorist prosecutors intend to call as a key witness regarding Bohm’s driving. Calandra, through counsel, has said he tried to warn Bohm at a stoplight before the crash; the defense portrays him as the aggressive driver Bohm was attempting to avoid.
Calandra’s attorney Robert Helfend, said, “He rolled his window down said you are going to kill somebody, slow down.” He explained his client’s anger when he stopped at the site of the crash and stated, “The defendant, all he could say was I gotta call my mom, OMG I ruined my life. Not once did he say how are the victims? So that’s why he got mad at the guy.” as quoted by Fox 11 News.
Bohm was arrested shortly after the collision, released, then rearrested when charges were filed eight days later. He remains free on bail.
The case is scheduled to return to court in January, when the judge is expected to set a trial date. Pepperdine later awarded posthumous degrees to the four victims, all members of the Alpha Phi sorority and part of the Class of 2024.
