Fraser Bohm (left) walks into the Van Nuys Courthouse alongside his family Thursday, Oct. 1. Superior Court Judge Thomas Rubinson warned the courtroom at the start of the hearing that he “will not tolerate” inappropriate behavior between the two sides. Photos 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 was back in court Thursday, Oct. 1 as Superior Court Judge Thomas Rubinson continued the hearing to dismiss evidence from the trial.
The Oct. 1 hearing was the third in a series of 402 motion hearings filed both by the defense and prosecution. Both the Sept. 9 and Sept. 15 hearings lasted over six hours, with the Oct. 1 hearing lasting just an hour shorter that the other two.
Before Rubinson picked up from where the Sept. 15 hearing left off, he started the hearing with a warning for both sides in the case.
“I’ve become aware [that] members of the audience and courtroom are conducting themselves in inappropriate ways,” Rubinson said.
Rubinson said he had heard of “four-letter words,” threats and interactions occurring between the two sides in courtroom elevators and hallways. He emphasized that it is inappropriate for anybody to approach someone who they believe is associated with the other side of the case.
“It’s not OK to be acting in a way that belongs in a junior high school yard — I want it to stop,” Rubinson said. “So if you’ve been involved in doing that — cut it out. I’m not gonna tolerate it.”
Following the warning, Rubinson addressed the large amount of dismissal motions left over from the two previous hearings, starting with a phone call Bohm made to his mother the night of the crash. Bohm’s associate defense attorney Jacqueline Sparagna said something could be “fleshed out” regarding which lines could be used between the two sides without the court’s involvement.
Fraser Michael Bohm arrives at the Van Nuys Courthouse holding a notebook and water bottle Thursday, Oct. 1. Bohm was scribbling in his notebook while waiting for Superior Court Judge Thomas Rubinson to call his case to order.
Rubinson then returned to the defense’s request to include records and statements from several of Bohm’s doctors. Sparagna said she felt it was necessary for jurors to hear the 911 call one of Bohm’s doctors made Oct. 18, describing Bohm as semi-unconscious.
Sparagna also had several printouts of photos taken of Bohm from that day, claiming jurors will need to see him hunched over and semi-unconscious. She added that Bohm’s family members said he was in a cycle that day where he would wake up, cry, go back to sleep and repeat the cycle over again.
Rubinson grew impatient with the defense’s argument.
“How many doctors need to testify that he had a concussion?” Rubinson said.
Rubinson further added that the defense’s photos didn’t establish a concussion, saying Bohm could have just been tired because he was up all night. Sparagna responded with her belief that the photos show the severity of Bohm’s concussion, saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.”
“They’re really not though in this particular case,” Rubinson said to Sparagna.
In response to the defense’s argument that Bohm was “completely out of it,” the prosecution said he was aware he was facing criminal liability and “verbal and cooperative” in the medical reports they had read.
Sparagna also said she wanted to include records from Bohm’s therapists and doctors before the Oct. 17, 2023 crash, reiterating his diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) dating back to June 2018.
Sparagna emphasized Bohm’s mental health decline during this time, saying “he’s had the loss of multiple friends,” which she said happened in 2018 and 2020 — some of which were due to a high-speed car crash in 2020.
Deputy District Attorney Nathan Bartos, who represents the prosecution in this case, said these records “contain a great deal of information,” including billing information and email exchanges from Bohm’s mother. He also said most of the document is illegible due to the doctor’s handwriting, to which Rubinson said he wouldn’t allow something the jury could not read.
Sparagna initially requested for Rubinson to allow her 10 pages of the document. She then asked to lower the number to three before Rubinson said the defense could have one or a couple of pages showing the diagnoses, when they were and the number of times Bohm visited that doctor.
“That should more than cover it,” Rubinson said.
Rubinson reemphasized the overly-long discussion the courtroom was having on these doctors, saying they have spent far too much time focused on the topic, especially considering no one is disputing that Bohm was concussed.
“I cannot believe the matter of time we’ve spent on this,” Rubinson said.
Sparagna told Rubinson that more than one doctor should be allowed, to which Rubinson told her to keep it within reason, as the jury didn’t need to hear the same thing over and over again.
As the doctor discussion continued, the defense said Bohm was arrested the second time from his therapy session Oct. 24 — a day he was experiencing “cognitive fog.”
As Rubinson again brought up to the defense’s desire to bring more doctors than necessary into the trial, Sparagna pointed to the prosecution’s plan to call in 40 witnesses.
“It’s not a competition,” Rubinson told her.
The court regathered after a lunch break, with the defense stating they were going to wait to discuss the nitrous oxide tank found in Bohm’s car, a theory the prosecution introduced at the Sept. 2 hearing, until the day of the Trombetta motion — a dismissal request made by a defendant when evidence is compromised or destroyed, according to Eisner Gorin LLP.
Rubinson granted the defense’s use of statements made by Bohm’s friends, with the stipulation that his friends cannot testify to Bohm’s account of the incident. Rubinson also agreed to the defense’s request to refer to Bohm as “Mr. Bohm,” not Fraser, in the trial, and to refer to his mother as “Brooke Bohm.”
After a lengthy discussion, Rubinson granted the defense’s motion to exclude three statistical studies the prosecution planned to use, which concluded that the chances of a pedestrian surviving a high-speed crash like Bohm’s are essentially zero.
The defense and Rubinson agreed these studies would confuse the jury, using backward reasoning — focusing on the probability once a pedestrian is already hit, not the probability in relation to the act of driving.
The next pre-trial hearing will take place Nov. 4 at the Van Nuys Courthouse.
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Contact Amanda Monahan via email: amanda.monahan@pepperdine.edu or Instagram: @amandamonahanjournalism