Preliminary hearing on PCH accident scheduled for October

The Los Angeles County Superior Court has set a tentative trial date in the October 2023 PCH accident that killed four Pepperdine students.

The preliminary hearing will take place on October 9 at the Van Nuys courthouse. Judge Diego H. Edber is requiring Fraser Michael Bohm to be present at that October hearing, which will be within 10 days of the first anniversary of the crash.

Bohm, 22, was charged with four counts of murder and four counts of vehicular manslaughter by gross negligence after his car struck and killed four Pepperdine students – Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams – on Pacific Coast Highway on October 17, 2023.

Niamh's mother, Tracy Rolston, sat in the courtroom Wednesday morning next to former student Bridget Thompson, a close friend and roommate of three of the four Pepperdine women.

Bohm was released on $4 million bail on October 27, 2023, after pleading not guilty to all charges.

Bohm did not appear in court on Wednesday morning.

The process is now scheduled to begin in early January 2025, Edber said.

Defense attorney Michael Kraut filed a motion to disclose all previous state records of accident incidents that did not involve driving under the influence of alcohol or foreign substances before the upcoming preliminary hearing begins.

Kraut claimed his client was the victim of a road rage incident that led to the accident. He also claims Bohm was driving at 70 miles per hour instead of the 104 miles per hour that Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón had stated.

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