Fraser Michael Bohm (gray suit) and attorney Alan Jackson (blue suit) leave the Van Nuys Courthouse on Nov. 10. Judge Thomas Rubinson denied Jackson’s motion to dismiss the murder charges. Photo by Tony Gleason
Judge Thomas Rubinson denied Alan Jackson, defense attorney for Fraser Michael Bohm, motion to dismiss the four murder charges at a pre-trial hearing at the Van Nuys Courthouse on Monday, Nov. 10.
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.
Jackson argued the murder charges against Bohm did not fulfill the two necessary prongs for a murder charge to stand: the objective prong, which Jackson said requires an action to have a high probability of death, and the subjective prong, which requires the defendant to be aware of the high probability of death, yet choose to ignore it.
Jackson said these requirements come from People v. Reyes, a 2023 California Supreme Court case.
“Those are the words from the [California] Supreme Court, from other cases, from other judges who have reviewed cases like this,” Jackson said at the post-hearing press conference. “It’s not enough that the incident was dangerous.”
Speeding — even “extreme” speeding — doesn’t automatically meet the “high probability of death” threshold, so Jackson said even though Bohm’s actions were dangerous, there not enough to be considered malice. Additionally, he said Bohm didn’t know his speed, and so he didn’t know how dangerous his actions were.
“What happened and the evidence that they presented and propounded at the preliminary hearing does not — listen to me clearly — it does not show a high probability of death,” Jackson said. “There was no high probability of death, which Mr. Bohm then knew about and then intentionally ignored. That’s the law in California. I didn’t write it, but my expectation is the DA’s office and the judiciary needs to embrace it.”
Attorney Alan Jackson speaks during a post-hearing press conference outside the Van Nuys Courthouse on Nov. 10. Jackson said speeding isn’t enough to warrant malice.
Despite Jackson’s arguments, Deputy District Attorney Nathan Bartos said there is enough evidence to fulfill both prongs. While speed alone doesn’t constitute malice, Bartos argued the conditions of where he was driving along with the speed fulfills the high probability of death threshold.
Bohm was allegedly driving around 100 MPH on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH), a busy road with homes, garages and other vehicles Bohm had to navigate around. Driving “extremely fast” on a road under those conditions is enough to meet a high probability of death, Bartos said.
The prosecution then argued Bohm was aware of the dangers of PCH, as Bartos said it had been previously established Bohm said he knew PCH “like the back of his hand.” Furthermore, Bohm’s traction control system in his car alerted him that Bohm was losing control of his vehicle, yet Bohm still accelerated for another four seconds. Thus, Bohm knew the dangers of his act, but chose to ignore it.
After hearing both sides, Rubinson concurred driving around 100 MPH in an environment like PCH does have a high probability of death and since Bohm knows PCH, he should be aware of Dead Man’s Curve — the stretch of road where the accident took place — thus fulfilling the subjective prong. For those reasons, the motion was denied.
Jackson, with Bohm and attorney Jacqueline Sparagna to the right, makes his argument in the Van Nuys Courthouse on Nov. 10. The next pre-trial hearing is Jan. 14. Photo courtesy of Frederick Brown of the New York Post
Afterwards, the court discussed the defense’s request to access witness Victor Calandra’s phone to retrieve data from Oct. 8, 2023, including his speed, location, acceleration and communication with other witnesses.
The defense wants to give Calandra’s phone to Joseph Greenfield, Chief Forensics Officer at Maryman & Associates, to extract its data.
Rubinson ultimately ruled the data will be extracted from Calandra’s phone, with someone from each council — defense, prosecution and Calandra’s — present. Once the process is complete, the data will be sent to Rubinson and he will sit down with Greenfield to review the data and determine what will be shared.
The next pre-trial hearing will take place Jan. 14 at the Van Nuys Courthouse.
Jenna Parsio contributed to this reporting.
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Contact Tony Gleason on Twitter (@tony__gleason) or via email: anthony.gleason@pepperdine.edu
