Fraser Michael Bohm (middle, back) enters the Van Nuys Courthouse for a pre-trial hearing with his family and defense attorney Jacqueline Sparagna (front, center) on Sept. 9. Defense attorney Alan Jackson was present that morning but left before the hearing began. 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’
Fraser Michael Bohm appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing Sept. 9 at the Van Nuys Courthouse. The hearing discussed 402s filed by the defense regarding what evidence will be admissible during the trial.
The defense called six witnesses to the stand, all of whom were responding officers on Oct. 17, 2023, the night of the crash: Deputy Joseph Telles, Deputy Brian Nercessian, Deputy James Wright, Sergeant James Arens, Deputy Jeremy Ekizian and former Deputy Harout Jilkivorkian.
Telles was the first responding officer on the scene the night of the crash and the “handling deputy,” which Nercessian described as the officer who delegates tasks and leads the on-scene investigation.
Lead defense attorney Alan Jackson was present earlier in the morning but left before the hearing began at approximately 10:30 a.m. Associates Jacqueline Sparagna and Evan Wolk conducted the witness questioning.
Sparagna asked Telles whether he was trained to recognize symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) — used interchangeably with “concussion” — and whether he saw any signs that Bohm might have suffered from TBI the night of the crash. The defense also asked Telles, along with the other five officers, whether they read Bohm his Miranda Rights. All six said they did not.
Deputy Telles said he did not ask paramedics if Bohm had a traumatic brain injury. He then described what happened upon his arrival to the scene, and Sparagna played parts of his body camera footage.
After interviewing other witnesses, Telles said Victor Calandra, a Malibu resident of 35 years that testified to driving alongside Bohm the night of the crash, had told deputies he pulled Bohm out of his car after the crash and believed he had been driving 70-80 miles per hour. Later in the night, when deputies asked Bohm how many cars he thought he had hit, Bohm responded by saying someone had dragged him out of his BMW.
Sparagna played the footage of Telles approaching Bohm sitting on the side of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and asking what happened. Bohm replied that he was unsure of what happened and said “I’m sorry… I’m really in shock.”
Telles asked Bohm if he had been under the influence of any substances, and Bohm replied by saying all he had taken that day was Xanax, which was prescribed to him for panic attacks. Paramedics asked Bohm if he would like to be taken to the hospital, advising him that he would feel more pain once his adrenaline wore off, to which Bohm said “I would just like to go home.”
Later in the night, officers asked Bohm again if and how we would like to be transported to the hospital, to which he replied “If I don’t need to, I don’t want to go.” After being told he could go to the hospital in either an ambulance or police car, Bohm asked if he would receive an ambulance bill if he had chosen that option.
Over a dozen times throughout the night, Bohm asked deputies if he could call his mom. Officers told him he could not have his phone, as it was in the car and part of the crime scene investigation. All six officers on the witness stand said Bohm repeatedly asked them if he could call his mom.
Telles said he went to retrieve a Preliminary Alcohol Screening (PAS) breathalyzer device, which he knew would take 15 minutes, and asked other officers to stand near Bohm to ensure he didn’t try to leave, eat, drink or burp, which could interfere with the results of the screening. After screening Bohm twice, the results were a 0.00 Blood Alcohol Content (BAC).
Sparagna suggested during her questioning that Deputy Telles had made implications about Bohm being on his phone while driving, without letting Bohm admit that for himself. Telles said after asking Bohm several times what had happened, he tried to guide him in more concrete questioning that might allow him to remember the events leading up to the crash.
Telles asked Bohm if he had been on his phone and veered off, causing him to hit the cars parked on the side of PCH, and whether he had been calling or texting. Bohm responded in the body camera footage by saying yes and that he had been texting.
Sparagna also insinuated that Bohm had clearly had a head injury of some sort, and therefore should have received medical attention before questioning. Telles said he would have continued asking Bohm questions even if paramedics had confirmed to him that he had a concussion.
During the prosecution’s cross-examination, Telles confirmed that Bohm did not appear to be in debilitating pain, as he had normal pupil size and tracking, knew where he was and knew where he was coming from and going to in his car.
Next on the witness stand was Nercessian. During his questioning, Sparagna played his body camera footage, where Bohm was seen asking to call his mom and telling Nercessian he “turned 22 yesterday.”
Later in the night, Bohm said to Nercessian “This guy told me he wants to kill me,” which Sparagna followed by asking why there was no investigation on this death threat.
During Sergeant Arens’ questioning, it was revealed that Bohm had asked to speak to a supervisor on the night of Oct. 17, 2023 — on that night, Arens was the supervisor on the scene.
The last witness on the stand was Harout Jilkivorkian, a former deputy for the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department. While he never responded at the scene the night of the crash, Jilkivorkian transported Bohm from the Lost Hills station to the hospital for a blood draw alongside Deputy Flores.
Jilkivorkian recalled Bohm complaining about his tongue being bit in half and crying at times throughout the night at the hospital. Sparagna played body camera footage of Bohm saying that allowing him to call his mom was “just a simple task,” and Jilkivorkian said he remembered Bohm saying “I’m traumatized” while still in the hospital.
Later on in the footage, Bohm is seen standing up in the hospital to stretch, before asking one of the deputies why they put their hand on their gun when he got up to stretch. Jilkivorkian confirmed that Bohm was often hunched over with his head on a desk during his time at the hospital.
Bohm was arrested when he walked out of the hospital around 1:27 a.m., and it was revealed that neither deputy read him his Miranda warnings at this point.
After eight hours spent in the courtroom, Judge Thomas Rubinson decided to push arguments and other 402 discussions to the following week. Rubinson decided along with the prosecution that the next pre-trial hearing would take place Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 10:30 a.m. at the Van Nuys Courthouse. There will no longer be a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday, Sept. 16.
This story was copy edited by Lila Rendel.
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Contact Amanda Monahan via email: amanda.monahan@pepperdine.edu or via Instagram: @amandamonahanjournalism