Judge Denies Request to Dismiss Murder Charges Against Speeding Driver Who Fatally Struck 4 Pepperdine University Students By Sean Neumann 16

A judge has denied an appeal to have murder charges dismissed against the driver alleged to have been involved in a car crash that killed four Pepperdine University students alongside a Malibu, Calif., highway in 2023.

Fraser Michael Bohm appeared in court on Monday, Nov. 10, while his legal team had their request to toss the four murder charges against Bohm denied by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Thomas Rubinson, according to reports by the Los Angeles Times, KTLA and local KABC.

Bohm, who was 22 at the time of the Oct. 17, 2023 crash, has been charged with four counts each for murder and vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence in the deaths of Niamh Rolston, 20; Peyton Stewart, 21; Asha Weir, 21; and Deslyn Williams, 21.

PEOPLE reported at the time that Rolston, Stewart, Weir and Williams were standing alongside the Pacific Coast Highway while waiting to meet up with friends when Bohm’s vehicle crashed, killing them in a fatal chain reaction collision with three other parked cars.

At the scene, officials immediately placed blame for the crash on Bohm’s speed. “The leading cause of collisions on PCH by far is speed,” Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Jennifer Seetoo said at a press conference that night, according to NBC News. “It is a town — it is a college town.”

According to the Times, officials alleged Bohm was driving 104 mph when the crash occurred. Authorities said at the time that Bohm appeared to lose control of his vehicle while going around a turn — known locally as “Dead Man’s Curve” — before he then crashed into three parked cars, which were then pushed into the four college students who were later pronounced dead at the scene.

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All four of the college students were members of the Alpha Phi sorority at Pepperdine University.

“In this time of immeasurable grief and heartache, we stand together as a community and turn to our faith and each other to find hope and healing in the midst of this tragedy,” Connie Horton, the Vice President for Student Affairs at Pepperdine University, said in a statement at the time. “Each departed student brought a unique gift and spirit to the University, and we deeply grieve the unfulfilled hopes and aspirations of our precious community members.”

Bohm, now 24 years old, recently hired a new high-profile legal team led by Alan Jackson, the defense attorney who helped represent Karen Read in her trial earlier this year, according to the Times. That trial ended in an acquittal in June.

Jackson alleged in court on Monday that Bohm was fleeing a road rage incident when he crashed into the cars that then hit the four women. “Tragedy doesn’t create murder,” Jackson told Judge Rubinson, according to the Times, arguing that’s “why manslaughter exists.”

The newspaper reported that Bohm is being tried for murder on the basis of implied malice due to the high speed he was allegedly driving at the time of the deadly crash, which prosecutors say suggests a disregard for human life.

Prosecutors also argued that there is no evidence of a road rage incident prior to the crash, to which Judge Rubinson appeared to agree with while refusing to toss out the murder charges against Bohm, according to the Times. “The defendant knew how dangerous it was to drive at 100 mph,” the judge told Bohm’s defense team, “and his actions had a high degree of probability of causing death.”

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Bohm’s attorney said they will be appealing Judge Rubinson’s refusal to throw out the murder charges, according to KABC. The case is not scheduled to continue until January, which is when Rubinson hopes to set a date for the trial, per the outlet.