Accused PCH Mass Killer To See Judge In 13 Days

The 23 year old Malibu man who was apparently responsible for killing four Pepperdine students on PCH last year will have a major court hearing in two weeks.

Prosecutors will lay out their facts against Fraser Michael Bohm on August 28th … at his preliminary hearing. 

Bohm is currently out of jail on a 4 million dollar bond.

The Malibu resident could face four life sentences in prison if convicted of four counts of murder and four counts of vehicular manslaughter.

Sheriff’s deputies say he was speeding at 104 miles per hour … although the defense attorney says that is not true.

Lawyer Michael Kraut told channel 5 last October that the crash was caused by another driver. 

70496 BOHM LAWYER 

“It was a road rage incident that started at Dukes that this person chased him and tried to push him off the side of the road and when he accelerate to get away from him, that’s when the accident occurred.”

Bohm’s attorney told KTLA that he was able to track down security video from someone on PCH … which supposedly corroborates his claim.

Kraut told Channel 5 he tracked down the other driver  and the person who admitted to a family member that they did drive him off the road,” Kraut said.

It will be up to a jury … eventually .. to decide if Bohm may have had an absence of the mental state necessary for murder. 

Of … if that is merely an attempt by a defense attorney to get sympathy for a nice young man with a clean record. 

In announcing the charges against Bohm last year last year … LA County District Attonery George Gascon noted that putting together a solid murder charge in a car crash is not a fast or easy thing.

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“These cases are complicated. 

“They require a lot of work and the level of commitment to win the work that we require in order to be able to move with our prosecution is praiseworthy.”

And that is perhaps a lesson into why no charges have been announced yet against Summer Wheaton .

She is the young woman who was at the wheel of the car that killed Martin Okeke … an Uber driver … on the fourth of July. 

Sheriff’s detectives are still waiting for the return of toxicology reports … from the medical examiner’s office. 

Deputies said they suspected drunken driving… the night of the crash.

No word has been heard from summer Wheaton since then.

Martin Okeke was killed in the Summer crash.   Last October, Peyton Stewart, Niamh Rolston, Asha Weir, and Deslyn William were killed in the Bohm crash.

New Driveway Access To Malibu High Opened: Cars Only

The new driveway looping around Malibu high school has been opened to traffic.

Just don’t try to walk on it… That’s not allowed.

Construction fences line both sides of the curving driveway … which loops around the new classroom structure that’s under construction.

The new driveway connects up to the old driveway next to the bus garage.

The old center driveway… That split the campus in half and connected morning view Drive up to the swimming pool?

It’s gone … 

Handwritten signs note that the big parking lot next to the Boys and Girls Club is reserved for faculty and construction workers until 4pm daily.

Students will be parking at the top of the steep hill next to the football stadium.

On Morning View Drive… construction continues to rebuild and repave that road from Malibu High School one mile … to its western end … past Guernsey Avenue.

City contractors are hoping to have that finished before school starts next Thursday. 

And getting back to the high school … when you drive up the curving loop driveway … you will see an odd two story structure … looks like a shed with an upstair unit … next to the bus garage..

We had to ask about that weird building.

The answer… It’s a mock up.

District officials say that a large building like this needs to be tested to make sure that all the various components are watertight.

It will be removed at some point soon.

SM Tunnel Reopens After Bridge Next To It Is Inspected

Motorists driving through the tunnel in Santa Monica have noted concrete falling from the Main Street bridge … right next to the tunnel at the start ion Interstate 10..

And that caused Caltrans to close one freeway lane in each direction …. To inspect the structure yesterday and the day before

The roadway linking Malibu to the LA freeway system was built in 1935 … that makes it 89 years old. 

The bridge … and the freeway under it … were reopened to full traffic late yesterday. 

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RV encampments near residential zones, parks, and commercial areas in Los Angeles will soon be banned by the The Los Angeles City Council.

 And an amendment that called for a task force to explore holistic solutions to the RV crisis was rejected in a 4-10 vote. 

Supporters of the amendment, including Council members Hugo Soto-Martinez, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, and Heather Hutt, argued for a more comprehensive approach to the issue, while Councilwoman Nithya Raman was absent.

The RV ban on many streets  is championed by Councilwoman Traci Park who represents the westside. 

She says “Angelenos are demanding swift action to control the spread of RVs that are compromising our public spaces,” Park stated.

Malibu residence have been complaining about the colony of 30 RVs parked along Pacific Coast Highway near Topanga Canyon Boulevard and coastline Drive.

Sheriffs deputies say that area is the responsibility of the California Highway Patrol… Which has been unable to enforce the overnight parking bn for some reason. 

Broad Beach May Vote To Sell Malibu West Beach Clubhouse For Alleged Back Taxes

The convoluted sand relocation project at Broad Beach continues … and now the Broad Beach homeowners’ government agency may vote to try to have the Malibu West Bech Clubhouse sold over a disputed bill for sand that has not been delivered.

Opponents … like the Malibu West Homeowners Association … say 23 million tax dollars have already been collected … but not one grain of sand moved … over 12 years. 

Twelve years ago … the city set up a special, independent government agency … called a geologic hazard abatement district … to rebuild the beach at Broad Beach. 

Only residents pay for it … and it is expensive … with annual bills for most residnets around 33 thousand dollars, tacked onto property tax bills.

For some homeowners .. the tax tops 100 thousand dollars per year.

Only residents can vote for the board of directors … the city has no control over it  … and the current plan remains to truck in up to 22 thousand truckloads of sand from Fillmore … via Oxnard.

But that project cannot happen until Caltrans is finished rebuilding the Trancas Creek bridge… and that’s more than a year from now. 

Down at Trancas is where the Broad Beach district plans to construct a sand transfer station … in the Zuma beach parking lot .. the plan opposed by residents at Trancas …  Some there say: you want a big, noisy sand transfer station  on the beach??? Put it at Broad Beach.

But that is only one of the big problems.

Last weekend … a board meeting for the special government agency was supposed to happen … but they had technical problems and it did not happen. 

That’s the third time in recent years that a board meeting has been cancelled or ended early. 

The board has some major problems facing it. 

For example … because the sand replacement project hasn’t been pulled off … the rocks along the beach are trespassing on state property.

And the state is demanding 329 thousand dollars per year in rent… and the beachfront homeowners have been paying that. 

Moving the rocks off of one rmile of tis beachfront state property would cost 7 point 8 million dollars … so the district is stuck paying rent for its rock wall.

And then there is the issue of the Malibu West beachfront clubhouse.

The homeowners in Malibu West own the beachfront clubhouse through their nonprofit association.

Nonprofits do not pay property taxes … and the Malibu West people say …. that means they don’t have to pay the assessments charged by the geologic district.

The district lawyers say “pay up” … to the tune of 387 thousand dollars.

Malibu West has ignored that demand …. says the district’s lawyers. 

And Broad Beach is now seeking approval from the board … to conduct a tax sale … to auction off the Malibu West beach house and use the proceeds to help pay for the sand project that hasn’t happened. 

Sand district attorney Ken Ehrlich says the beach sand project will continue … but last spring the Malibu’s City Council said they want the entire Broad Beach sand replenishment project to go up for another vote … 

That request has been quietly ignored.  Malibu West has been putting its payments into escrow because its lawyers say the entire taxing structure has been thrown out by the state Court of Appeal.

That court agreed with a dissident group of Broad Beach residents … who don’t want to pay for the entire sand project.

They argue that … since the public will also benefit from the nice new beach … the public also has to help pay for it. 

The California Court of appeal agreed with them … and threw out the entire tax formula.

The county is clearly not going to subsidize the Broad Beach  … even though the the expanded recreational benefits will be great for the general public. 

More questions for the Board Beach Geologic Hazard Abatement District board … if they can ever pull off a meeting.

And this editorial note … this reporter lives at Trancas Beach … and our house will be affected by noise and airborne dirt from the sand transfer station.