Fraser Michael Bohm (far right) enters the Van Nuys Courthouse with his family and defense attorney Evan Wolk on Sept. 15. Bohm’s defense attorney Alan Jackson was also present at the hearing but did not speak. 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’
Judge Thomas Rubinson denied two motions filed by Fraser Michael Bohm’s defense team at the Van Nuys Courthouse on Sept. 15.
The first 402 motion was regarding which of Bohm’s statements from the night of the crash should be admissible based on when officers read Bohm his Miranda Rights. The second motion argued that officers coerced Bohm into making certain incriminating statements the night of the crash.
Defense attorney Jacqueline Sparagna argued that the statements Bohm made pre-Miranda should be excluded from trial evidence. Sparagna cited data that states the average traffic stop takes around three minutes, to which Rubinson replied “You’re not seriously contending that this is a normal traffic stop are you?”
Sparagna continued her argument by pointing to the “enormous police presence” around Bohm the night of Oct. 17, 2023 which did not make him feel free to leave the scene. Further, the defense argued the responding deputies, mainly Deputy Telles, were aggressive, confrontational and accusatory, coercing Bohm to respond in a particular manner.
Rubinson and the prosecution argued there was never a moment where all the responding deputies were around Bohm at once; even when there were several officers in Bohm’s vicinity, there was never a moment when all six deputies interacted with Bohm at the same time.
Sparagna went on to call the Oct. 17, 2023 crash “the biggest car crash in PCH history in Malibu.”
The prosecution argued that Bohm was not so distraught that he didn’t know where he was, where was going or where he was coming from — further, in the body camera footage, Bohm knew where his house was relative to the crash scene.
New 402 Motions Filed
After taking a mid-day break, the defense discussed the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) statistics, which Rubinson granted for general statistical use, not the individual cases within the 129-page crash report.
Rubinson also granted the general statistical use of CHP Malibu Reports from 2024-25 and five years of crash reports from the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department.
Rubinson denied the introduction of evidence related to the City of Malibu’s speed cameras installed on PCH, stating he did not feel as though it bore relevance to Bohm’s actions.
The defense then requested for the stretch of PCH where the crash took place to not be referred to as “Dead Man’s Curve” in the trial, stating the name has only come up after Bohm’s incident.
Significant time was spent discussing Bohm’s friends’ fatal collision in 2020. Rubinson argued this event should have sensitized Bohm to the dangers of reckless driving, even sharing that ever since he took on this case, he thinks about it every time he gets in the car. Rubinson agreed to exclude the speed of Bohm’s friends’ crash.
The court discussed Bohm’s doctor’s appointments in relation to his mental health both before and after the Oct. 17, 2023 crash. The defense brought in information about two therapy sessions Bohm had in 2019, which he had right after getting into an accident with concern over another driver being upset with him — something Bohm had described to his therapist as a road rage incident. Rubinson said this doctor should be brought in as a witness.
Bohm also saw a doctor on Oct. 20, 2023 — three days after the PCH crash — and the doctor reported Bohm as feeling triggered and still suffering from a concussion.
Rubinson said Bohm’s doctors that will be brought in as witnesses can discuss their examinations of the defendant and his symptoms, however they cannot testify what Bohm told them after the accident.
By the end of the Sept. 15 pre-trial hearing, there were still several pages of motions to discuss. Rubinson set another pre-trial hearing date for Sept. 29 at 9:30 a.m. at the Van Nuys Courthouse.
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