The latest on the Karen Read murder case
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Alan Jackson has a new high-profile murder case in California. Here’s what to know.
Karen Read's lead attorney is back with a new high-profile murder case, and it involves an alleged pedestrian collision.
Fresh off Karen Read’s second trial, defense attorney Alan Jackson is tackling another high-profile murder case in his home state of California.
Jackson is now representing Fraser Michael Bohm, a 23-year-old man accused of killing four Pepperdine University sorority sisters in a high-speed 2023 Malibu crash. Bohm is charged with four counts of murder and four counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, California court records show.
“Here, in this particular incident, we lost four young people with a complete life ahead of them for really no reason other than complete and reckless disregard for the life of others,” then-Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said during an October 2023 press conference announcing the charges.
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Gascón alleged Bohm was speeding at up to 104 mph in a 45-mph zone before the fatal crash on Oct. 17, 2023. According to prosecutors, Bohm lost control of his BMW and collided with parked vehicles before striking Niamh Rolston, 20, Peyton Stewart, 21, Asha Weir, 21, and Deslyn Williams, 21. The four women, who were standing on the side of the road, all died at the scene.
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“They were minding their own business, just being in the neighborhood where their school is, and they lost their lives unnecessarily,” Gascón asserted.
Due for arraignment in a Van Nuys courtroom last week, Bohm appeared with Jackson by his side.
“Your honor, before the entry of a not guilty plea, which is what we expect, obviously, I would ask the court for one continuance of the arraignment,” Jackson requested, per video from ABC7 Los Angeles. “We have just been brought on the case as of the last 48 hours. Our appellate specialist needs about 30 extra days.”
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Bohm’s arraignment was continued to Aug. 6, court records show. He previously pleaded not guilty to charges in the killings.
Dueling narratives emerged earlier this year at Bohm’s preliminary hearing, often used to determine whether felony criminal cases in California can move forward and go to trial.
According to The Graphic, Pepperdine’s student-run newspaper, a Malibu resident who was driving alongside Bohm before the crash spoke during the hearing and recalled seeing the BMW driving erratically. He also said he noticed Bohm had his cellphone out under the steering wheel while at a stoplight.
The man said he rolled down his window to get Bohm’s attention and called out, “Hey, you need to be careful. You’re going to hurt yourself,” per The Graphic, but Bohm allegedly took off with “extreme acceleration.” Another witness also testified that he saw the BMW accelerate and swerve around other vehicles, according to the news outlet.
Yet defense attorney Michael Kraut, who represented Bohm during the preliminary hearing, argued his client was in fact a victim of road rage. Speaking to Fox News Digital, Kraut also questioned the 104 mph rate of speed offered by prosecutors and suggested witnesses corroborated Bohm’s claim that he was actually going 70 miles an hour.
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“This is a horrible, horrible case for everybody — the victims, families,” Kraut told Fox News. “It’s a horrific event. And my client’s family and my client feel distraught over what happened. But the issue is holding my client responsible for the level of crime, if any, that he committed, not just going to the top for murder.”
Kraut has also said Bohm was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the crash, according to The Graphic.
Jackson, a former Los Angeles prosecutor himself, recently secured Read’s acquittal on murder and manslaughter charges in Massachusetts. Read, a 45-year-old former Fidelity Investments equities analyst and Bentley University lecturer, was accused of drunkenly backing her SUV into her boyfriend, Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe, while dropping him off at a house party in January 2022.
Her lawyers argued she was the victim of a botched and biased police investigation, and jurors last month acquitted her of all but a drunk driving charge — a misdemeanor for which she received a year of probation.
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