The young BMW driver accused of mowing down and killing four sorority sisters in a horrific Malibu car crash pleaded not guilty as he appeared in court with his new hot-shot defense attorney Wednesday. Fraser Bohm, 23, was arraigned on murder and vehicular manslaughter charges in connection with the October 2023 deaths of Pepperdine University students Asha Weir, Peyton Stewart, Deslyn Williams, all 21, and 20-year-old Niamh Rolston.
Dressed in a dark gray suit and tie, he did not speak as his new lawyer, Alan Jackson, entered the not-guilty pleas to four counts each of charge on his behalf at a courthouse in Van Nuys, California. The hearing lasted only a few minutes, during which Judge Thomas Rubinson granted the defense's request for a postponement to September 5.
Wednesday's arraignment follows a delay granted last month, when newly-hired Jackson, who represented recently-acquitted murder suspect Karen Read, requested a continuance. Outside the courtroom, Jackson explained that he plans to raise 'several issues' at the next hearing, including filing a motion to reduce Bohm's $4million bail package that was granted after his arrest in 2023.
Asked when he expects Bohm's jury trial to start, the renowned lawyer told Daily Mail: 'The prosecution has a head start on us and we have a lot of work to do to catch up. So I can't see trial starting before the end of 2025.' The prominent criminal defense attorney, who replaces Bohm's original lawyer Michael Kraut, is a former LA County Assistant District Attorney who prosecuted several high-profile cases, including the murder conviction of music producer Phil Spector.
Since going into private practice, he's made a name for himself as a top defense attorney. Most recently, he successfully got Karen Read acquitted of murder charges in the widely-covered trial related to the death of her Boston Police officer boyfriend John O'Keefe. All four of the young women killed in the Malibu crash were seniors at Pepperdine's Seaver College of Liberal Arts where they were members of the Alpha Phi Sorority.
They were due to graduate with the class of 2024 and later were awarded their Pepperdine degrees posthumously. They died when Bohm - driving allegedly at 104mph - crashed into three parked vehicles in the parking lane next to where the girls were walking after getting out of a car on Pacific Coast Highway where the speed limit is 45mph. 'They were killed because of the driving of the defendant,' Deputy District Attorney Nathan Bartos told an April preliminary hearing where Bohm was ordered to stand trial.
Bartos pointed out that data retrieved from the 'black box' in the BMW showed that the vehicle accelerated from 93mph to 104mph just two and a half seconds before the crash. 'He consciously decided to get that vehicle up to the speed of 104 miles an hour,' the prosecutor added. 'And he lost control of his vehicle..... This was not an accident.' Bohm - who lives in Malibu - has maintained that the deadly crash was an accident that happened when 'some guy' in a white car swerved into his lane, hitting his driver's side mirror, causing him to slam into the three parked cars.
The deadly crash sparked outrage from Malibu residents who have for years been calling for safety improvements to this stretch of PCH between Carbon Canyon and Las Flores Canyon where 53 deaths and 92 serious injuries between 2013 and 2023 earned it the nickname 'Dead Man's Curve.' On the one-year anniversary of the girls' deaths, Malibu officials met to discuss ways to improve safety and creating a California Highway Patrol Task Force to crack down on speeders and traffic offenders on the famous coastal highway. And recently, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new bill authorizing the installation of speed cameras on the 21-mile strip all the way through the ritzy, celebrity-filled enclave.