Driver charged in Pepperdine students' deaths to stand trial for murder and vehicular manslaughter
The man who was allegedly speeding when he crashed on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and killed four Pepperdine University students a year and a half ago, has been ordered to stand trial on murder and vehicular manslaughter charges.
Fraser Michael Bohm, 23, appeared in a Van Nuys courtroom on Wednesday where a judge ordered him back in court on July 1 to be arraigned on four counts each of murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence for the Oct. 17, 2023 crash that killed the sorority sisters.
A defense attorney for the Malibu resident has argued that his client was a victim of road rage at the time of the deadly nighttime crash.
Sheriff's officials said earlier that Bohm swerved onto the north shoulder of westbound PCH and slammed into at least three vehicles parked alongside the roadway. Those parked vehicles struck four Pepperdine students who were standing or walking nearby.
Niamh Rolston, 20, Peyton Stewart, 21, Asha Weir, 21, and Deslyn Williams, 21, all seniors at Pepperdine's Seaver College of Liberal Arts, were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the sheriff's department.
Former Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said previously that murder charges were filed against Bohm because of "the speed, the reckless disregard for the safety of others." Gascón said Bohm was "allegedly speeding at speeds of 104 miles an hour in a 45-mile-per-hour zone when he lost control of his BMW."
Defense attorneys contend that there is no evidence to support Gascón's claim that Bohm was driving at 104 mph.
"My client was picking up tacos for a friend. There was no drugs, no alcohol, nothing that he had consumed, no smoking of marijuana," attorney Michael Kraut said earlier. "He picked up the tacos and was headed north."
Kraut claims another driver came alongside Bohm and made contact with his car. The defense said they acquired video that corroborates Bohm's version of what happened the night of the crash.
Bohm has been free on $4 million bail, posted in the days after he was arrested for the 2023 fatal accident.
