Fraser Michael Bohm (farthest back), Attorney Jacqueline Sparagna and Deputy District Attorney Nathan Bartos (right) sit in the Van Nuys Courthouse at the April 9 pre-trial hearing. Superior Court Judge Thomas Rubinson did not set a trial date at the hearing. Photo by Amanda Monahan
Editor’s Note: This reporting is part of the Graphic’s ongoing coverage of the Oct. 2023 PCH crash that killed four Pepperdine seniors: Asha Weir, Deslyn Williams, Niamh Rolston and Peyton Stewart. For more information on the crash and the events that followed and a better understanding of ‘Our Girls,’ please see the following:
From 2023: Couch Time and Sunshine: Reminiscing on Moments of Friendship and Sisterhood
From 2024: A Year Later: How Best Friends Honor and Remember their Sisters
From 2025: Two Years Later: Malibu Honors ‘Our Four Girls’
Superior Court Judge Thomas Rubinson did not set a trial date for Fraser Michael Bohm at the April 9 pre-trial hearing at the Van Nuys Courthouse.
Bohm is charged with four counts of murder and four counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in connection with the Oct. 17, 2023 crash that killed four Pepperdine seniors: Asha Weir, Deslyn Williams, Niamh Rolston and Peyton Stewart. At the previous pre-trial Feb. 10 it was mentioned a trial date could possibly be set at the April 9 hearing.
Alumna Bridget Thompson (‘24), best friend and roommate of the four girls who has become a PCH advocate, has attended every pre-trial hearing. Thompson said she was disappointed a trial date has not been set.
“Even the days leading up to a hearing, I’m anxious,” Thompson said. “I woke up this morning super anxious, filled with anxiety, and to just come and have it be five minutes is hard. It feels like a waste of time.”
While a trial date was not set, both the prosecution and the defense said they are hoping for a mid-summer start. Rubinson said he might take the first two weeks of August off, which will affect the trial dates.
“We’ve been ready for quite a long time,” Deputy District Attorney Nathan Bartos said. “The only thing right now that we need to do is get all of our witnesses ready to go when we know what the actual start of the trial is.”
Bohm’s attorney, Alan Jackson, was not present at the hearing. At the Feb. 10 pre-trial hearing, the defense requested access to Bohm’s phone in order to extract data from it. The phone has been handed over and the data has been extracted.
Additionally, the defense requested Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) reporters from October 2013 to October 2023 for the 0.8 mile stretch from Carbon Canyon Road to Las Flores Canyon Road. They also requested speeding ticket data along the smallest area, including that 0.8 mile stretch from Carbon Canyon Road to Las Flores Canyon Road only from October 2021 to October 2023.
Bartos said he is still working on sending the defense all of the SWITRS reports, but has already sent some of them. For the speeding ticket data, he said there were not any citations in that period.
“It’s been two and a half years and we’re still here doing the same thing and just awaiting a trial date,” Thompson said. “I think this should have been taken care of a long time ago, but I mean, I do understand that this is the process.”
The next pre-trial hearing will take place May 19 at the Van Nuys Courthouse. Thompson said as she continues to wait for the trial to start, she thinks about Asha, Deslyn, Niamh and Peyton every day.
“It’s just every day that goes by is a day that I miss my friends more — so it’s heartbreaking,” Thompson said.
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Contact Tony Gleason via email: anthony.gleason@pepperdine.edu or Instagram: @tonygleasonjournalist
Contact Amanda Monahan via email: amanda.monahan@pepperdine.edu or Instagram: @amandamonahanjournalism
