The attorney of the rich California man who killed four Pepperdine University co-eds in a car crash tried his best in court to get the judge to drop the murder charges. However, the judge declined to dismiss the charges and set the trial for September 8.

Fraser Michael Bohm, 24, was involved in the fatal crash on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu in 2023.

Bohm’s attorney, Alan Jackson, argued that prosecutors did not have evidence to prove he had intentionally committed the murders. He argued that Bohm was trying to flee from a road rage incident, so he had to speed up his car.

Prosecutors claimed Bohm was driving his BMW, the luxury car he received as part of his parents’ divorce settlement when he turned 18, at 104 mph in a 45 mph zone on October 17, 2023, when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into three parked vehicles nearby. The area is reportedly established as “Deadman’s Curve,” due to the high accident rate. 

 

The four sorority girls who were the victims of the crash were walking. Bohm’s attorney argued that the charges should be dismissed.

Jackson said in court, “But implied malice murder requires more than just tragedy and danger. It requires proof that the natural and probable consequences of that act, and that act alone, as one court put it, is nearly certain to cause death.” Bohm claimed he was swerved by a white car that hit his driver’s side mirror, but no evidence was found to back that.

Meanwhile, Deputy District Attorney Nathan Bartos called out Bohm over excuses: “The defendant understood that what he was doing was dangerous, and he is coming up with excuses about what occurred.” He added that the accused was driving over the speed limit by 231 percent and was aware of the risk of driving at high speed on a dangerous road.

The judge had previously noted, “By his own admission he knew how dangerous speeding was because his two best friends had been killed in a high-speed accident.”

He also has four separate civil lawsuits from the victims’ parents. There was a fifth student who was injured and had sued the local and state agencies that were responsible for the dangerous roadway. The victims of the crash were identified as Deslyn Williams, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir, and Niamh Rolston.

The four families collectively sued California, the California Department of Transportation, the California Coastal Commission, Los Angeles County, and the city of Malibu. They called the PCH’s design dangerous and without adequate safety measures.

Disclaimer: The Inquisitr could not independently confirm the facts of this incident and is reporting based on the information available within the public record.