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The 23-year-old man implicated in the deaths of four Pepperdine University sorority sisters due to a high-speed collision on the Pacific Coast Highway made a court appearance on Wednesday, aiming to have the charges dismissed.
Fraser Bohm, 23, has entered a plea of not guilty to four murder charges and four vehicular manslaughter charges with gross negligence related to the October 2023 fatalities of Niamh Rolston, 20, Asha Weir, 21, Peyton Stewart, 21, and Deslyn Williams, 21.
In a Van Nuys, near Los Angeles hearing, his lawyer, Jacqueline Sparagna, relayed to Judge Thomas Rubenstein that the defense submitted a motion to have the charges dismissed. She did not elaborate on the grounds of the motion during the court session.
Bohm – wearing a dark suit and tie – arrived at the court house flanked by his parents and family members.
The lanky 6’3″ defendant sat rigid and expressionless in the courtroom, occasionally whispering to his mother seated beside him and acknowledging family and friends who were there for support.
The judge has slated another hearing for November 1, during which Sparagna and lead attorney Alan Jackson will present arguments for dropping the case against their client.
Deputy District Attorney Nathan Bartos told the court prosecutors will file a response, before next month’s hearing, opposing dismissal.
All four young women who perished in the Malibu incident were seniors at Pepperdine’s Seaver College of Liberal Arts, where they were affiliated with the Alpha Phi Sorority.
Fraser Bohm appeared in a Van Nuys court Wednesday, seeking to dismiss the murder charges against him
The 23-year-old, dressed in a dark suit and striped tie, was accompanied by his parents and defense team
Bohm is accused of driving his BMW at 104mph in a 45mph zone on the PCH before losing control and slamming into three parked cars and killing four students who were walking nearby in October 2023
They were due to graduate with the class of 2024 and later were awarded their Pepperdine degrees posthumously.
They died on October 17, 2023 when Bohm – who was allegedly driving his BMW at 104mph in a 45mph zone – slammed into three parked vehicles along the PCH in Malibu.
The victims had just exited another car and were walking along the shoulder when they were struck.
‘They were killed because of the driving of the defendant,’ Bartos said at an earlier preliminary hearing where Bohm was ordered to stand trial.
Bartos pointed out that data retrieved from the ‘black box’ in Bohm’s BMW showed that the vehicle accelerated from 93mph to 104mph in just two and a half seconds before the crash.
‘He consciously decided to get that vehicle up to the speed of 104mph,’ the prosecutor added. ‘And he lost control of his vehicle….. This was not an accident.’
Bohm, who lives in Malibu, has maintained that the deadly crash was an accident that occurred when another driver in a white car allegedly swerved into his lane, clipped his side mirror, and caused him to smash into the three parked cars.
His former defense attorney, Michael Kraut, argued that at the time of the crash, Bohm was being ‘chased in a road-rage incident.’
The horrific crash killed four Pepperdine University students, including Deslyn Williams (left) and Niamh Rolston who were sorority sisters and close friends
Peyton Stewart (left) and Asha Weir were members of Alpha Phi at Pepperdine University – and were pronounced dead alongside their two friends at the scene
The four young women were struck and killed along the Pacific Coast Highway in an area known locally as ‘Dead Man’s Curve’ on October 17, 2023
But LA Sheriff’s investigators said they found ‘no evidence of an alleged road-rage incident.’
Kraut during the April hearing described Bohm as ‘a kid’, who was just 20 at the time of the tragedy and had no ‘past history of any driving violations or a parking violation.’
The horrific crash ignited outrage across Malibu, where residents have long been calling for safety improvements along the dangerous stretch of the PCH between Carbon Canyon and Las Flores Canyon.
The section has earned the grim nickname of ‘Dead Man’s Curve’ after seeing 53 deaths and 92 serious injuries between 2013 and 2023.
On the one-year anniversary of the girls’ deaths, Malibu officials met to discuss new safety measures, and created a California Highway Patrol Task Force to crack down on speeders and traffic offenders on PCH.
And recently, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new bill authorizing the installation of speed cameras on a 21-mile stretch of PCH all the way through Malibu.
The city has also been considering an even more ambitious plan that would completely redesign PCH, ‘transforming it from a high speed highway into a safer, community-focused corridor, providing safe access for all users, including pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.’
But such safety measures have come too late for the grieving parents of the victims.
Footage obtained by KTLA from the night of the crash show the mangled remains of his red BMW which he received as an 18th birthday present as part of his wealthy parents’ divorce settlement
Bohm previously attended Oaks Christian School, a $31,250-a-year college prep school near Los Angeles, where he played varsity baseball. He is the youngest of three siblings and is pictured right with sister Haiden
They have all brought wrongful death lawsuits against Bohm and are also suing the State of California, LA County, the City of Malibu, and the California Coastal Commission, alleging dangerous road design on PCH and lack of safety standards.
Bohm, whose father Chris is an executive at a medical equipment manufacturer, had appeared in court for his arraignment hearing in July – his first court date since he was ordered to stand trial after a three-day preliminary trial in late April.
The former high school athlete, however, did not enter an official plea after his lawyer requested more time and the hearing was pushed to August.
Daily Mail previously revealed that Bohm had received the luxury vehicle in his parents’ divorce settlement on his 18th birthday.
The red 2016 BMW was purchased by Bohm’s mother Brooke using a down payment of $25,000 in 2017 – with the remaining installments paid by his dad Chris.
The divorce settlement also revealed details of his family’s lavish lifestyle – including the secluded $8.7 million Malibu gated estate Bohm’s mother ended up with in the divorce.
