Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / 4 SORORITY GIRLS DEAD, SUSPECT’S “GIANT CAN LAUGHING GAS”

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4 SORORITY GIRLS DEAD, SUSPECT’S “GIANT CAN LAUGHING GAS” · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: Tonight, four beautiful sorority sisters all dead.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Was it murder?
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: And the suspect's giant can of laughing gas?
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Good evening.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: thank you for being with us.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: A rich brat mows down four beautiful Pepperdine sorority sisters.
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: I remember getting a call that night saying, don't freak out.
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: There's been an accident. Once we hadn't heard from them
• 0:48
  Speaker 4: for a couple hours, because we were always in contact
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: with our friends, we knew that something was wrong.
• 0:55
  Speaker 5: We started to get texts from our other friends saying,
• 0:59
  Speaker 5: there's been an accident outside. All of the girls' locations.
• 1:04
  Speaker 5: say that they're on PCH and at the house, but
• 1:07
  Speaker 5: they're not here and they're not answering their phones.
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: I spent the rest of the night sitting on the
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: side of PCH, calling hospitals, begging, screaming, crying, just hoping
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: that they were alive.
• 1:28
  Speaker 6: The damage to both the victims And the vehicles was,
• 1:32
  Speaker 6: you know, haunting. It stuck with me every day since
• 1:35
  Speaker 6: I saw it that night. Coming across three people in
• 1:37
  Speaker 6: the span of a minute or two, it felt like
• 1:39
  Speaker 6: there's nothing you can do. It takes a toll on you.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: From our friends at KTLA 5 tonight, straight out of
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: the Pepperdine courtroom, four.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Sorority sisters all dead. Was it murder? The case set
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: to go forward.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: This as the defendant has hired high-profile lawyer Alan Jackson.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Remember him?
• 2:10
  Speaker 7: What we've learned, and you can take this to the bank,
• 2:19
  Speaker 7: is that pursuant to the laws of this state, pursuant
• 2:22
  Speaker 7: to the law in California.
• 2:25
  Speaker 8: Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder.
• 2:31
  Speaker 7: Print that.
• 2:33
  Speaker 8: As you know, my name is Alan Jackson.
• 2:35
  Speaker 7: This morning, I had to withdraw as Nick Reiner's counsel.
• 2:42
  Speaker 7: Circumstances beyond our control, but more importantly, circumstances beyond Nick's control.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Straight out to Crime Stories investigative reporter Dave Mack. Dave Mack,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: this case is moving very quickly. But that was Alan Jackson,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: where he swore to defend Nick Reiner and the double
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: murders of his dad, Rob Reiner, and mom, Michelle Singer Reiner.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: And then just a few short days later, when Reiner
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: runs out of money, he's like, bye.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: He's the lawyer in this case, correct.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Dave Mack?
• 3:16
  Speaker 9: Absolutely he is, Nancy.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Okay, what more can you tell me?
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: We've just gotten out of a court hearing in the
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: last days.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: What's going on in the case?
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: What can you tell me about a giant canister of
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: laughing gas?
• 3:31
  Speaker 9: This is brand new, Nancy. This is the prosecution's theory,
• 3:35
  Speaker 9: and this is what has been discussed in the courtroom
• 3:38
  Speaker 9: this week and has actually had a major impact. The
• 3:42
  Speaker 9: prosecutors are saying, that Frazier Boehm was driving 104 miles
• 3:48
  Speaker 9: per hour with a 10 to 12 pound can of
• 3:52
  Speaker 9: nitrous oxide with a nozzle in his lap while he
• 3:57
  Speaker 9: was driving down the PCH before he hit the four
• 4:02
  Speaker 9: Pepperdine students.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Okay, let me understand. When you say giant, what do
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: you mean by that?
• 4:10
  Speaker 9: It's This theory, Nancy, that Frazier-Ball was driving with this
• 4:15
  Speaker 9: can of nitrous oxide is referred to oftentimes as laughing
• 4:19
  Speaker 9: gas with a nozzle attached. The suggestion is they're not
• 4:23
  Speaker 9: saying for sure that he was taking hits of nitrous
• 4:26
  Speaker 9: oxide while he was driving, but they are saying, prosecution
• 4:30
  Speaker 9: is saying, the can was in his lap. There was
• 4:33
  Speaker 9: a nozzle attached to this canister of nitrous oxide when
• 4:39
  Speaker 9: the crash happened. The change in this is that this
• 4:43
  Speaker 9: is a brand new theory. The prosecution came in with
• 4:46
  Speaker 9: it and the defense, Alan Jackson, is like, oh, whoa, whoa. Hey, man,
• 4:49
  Speaker 9: we need time to figure this out. So the judge
• 4:52
  Speaker 9: stepped in and said, OK, I'm going to give you
• 4:54
  Speaker 9: time to figure it out.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Joining us in addition to Dave Mack and an all-star panel,
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: Eamon Murphy is with us, investigative reporter for The Acorn.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: It's there in Thousand Oaks, California. Eamon, thank you for
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: being with us. I asked Dave Mack to clarify. what
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: he meant by a giant canister. But according to sources
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: close to the investigation, it is a 12 pound canister
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: of nitrous oxide.
• 5:21
  Speaker 10: Well, that's what the judge said. I don't think we
• 5:25
  Speaker 10: know the dimensions. There was a photograph included in some
• 5:29
  Speaker 10: of the court documents, but it was a fairly close
• 5:31
  Speaker 10: up photograph. But the judge, when he was summarizing the
• 5:35
  Speaker 10: prosecution's theory, referred to a 10 to 12 pound metal
• 5:39
  Speaker 10: tank either in his lap or on the seat next
• 5:43
  Speaker 10: to him. The canister was recovered from the vehicle, which
• 5:47
  Speaker 10: is a BMW sedan, after the crash. It was in
• 5:50
  Speaker 10: the back seat, but there was blood on the canister,
• 5:54
  Speaker 10: and from that, it was inferred that the canister was
• 5:58
  Speaker 10: possessed in some way by the driver when the crash occurred,
• 6:02
  Speaker 10: resulting in some injuries. So the prosecution was explicit that
• 6:09
  Speaker 10: they're not going to argue Fraser Baum inhaled or was intoxicated.
• 6:14
  Speaker 10: This is going to be a distracted driving theory, part
• 6:17
  Speaker 10: of the argument for second degree murder.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: Let me see Eamon Murphy, please.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: Eamon, I've got a theory as to why the prosecution
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: did exactly what you just said. They're not arguing he
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: was under the influence because we don't have a witness
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: showing him sucking it up.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: At the time of the crash. Hold on, Eamon.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: I want to follow up on what Eamon Murphy from
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: The Acorn is telling us. With us, Joseph Scott Morgan,
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: renowned death investigator, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: He is the author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: And he is the star of a hit YouTube series,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Body Bags, with Joseph Scott Morgan.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Joe Scott, question. With an inhalant, like.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: laughing gas, nitrous oxide, how long does that remain in
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: the body?
• 7:10
  Speaker 11: It diminishes and metabolizes pretty quickly. So if there is
• 7:16
  Speaker 11: not a blood drop done or a check of saliva
• 7:20
  Speaker 11: in pretty short order, you're going to have a real
• 7:23
  Speaker 11: hard time detecting this in his system because it's metabolized
• 7:27
  Speaker 11: so quickly, Nancy.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: Okay. Hold on, Joe Scott. Now, How long does just,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: for instance, pot stay in your system? Isn't it in
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: your hair? It can be detected for a long time
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: after you ingested it?
• 7:42
  Speaker 11: It can be, but THC is a completely different agent
• 7:46
  Speaker 11: compared to nitrous oxide. I know that.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: My question is how long.
• 7:49
  Speaker 11: Yeah, well, with THC, you can... It all depends, particularly
• 7:57
  Speaker 11: how long you've been exposed to it for a protracted
• 8:00
  Speaker 11: period of time. People will say that it can be
• 8:02
  Speaker 11: detected up to 30 days downrange from inhalation.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: Whoa.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Okay, hold on.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: 30 days, simple answer. Joe Scott, what about cocaine? How
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: long can that be in your system?
• 8:15
  Speaker 11: Well, cocaine metabolizes pretty quickly, and it's heavily depended upon.
• 8:19
  Speaker 11: We take our samples for cocaine post-mortem. in urine, it
• 8:24
  Speaker 11: metabolizes actually a bit quicker than THC. Three, four days
• 8:31
  Speaker 11: down range, you can pick up on it.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: Okay. What about booze? What about alcohol, hard liquor?
• 8:38
  Speaker 11: Within 48 hours, you've metabolized almost every bit of ethanol
• 8:42
  Speaker 11: in your system. That's why it's key that when you
• 8:45
  Speaker 11: do breathalyzer tests, they're done as expeditiously as possible because
• 8:49
  Speaker 11: the next day, it's going to be gone.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: It's gone.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: And you're telling me that laughing gas, unlike those substances
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: that you very often have a 48-hour window, that's why
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: you want to blood alcohol pronto.
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: If this test.
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Wasn't done immediately, then we've got no evidence he actually
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: ingested laughing gas.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Is that correct?
• 9:13
  Speaker 11: Correct.
• 9:14
  Speaker 12: Yeah.
• 9:15
  Speaker 11: And if they didn't hop on this and do a
• 9:18
  Speaker 11: blood draw on him really, really quickly, I would think
• 9:21
  Speaker 11: that it would have been diminished in very short order, Nancy.
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: Even up to an hour, it's gone.
• 9:28
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 9:29
  Speaker 11: Yeah, it can be. At least that's what they're revealing.
• 9:32
  Speaker 11: You know, dentists use it all the time. to sedate
• 9:37
  Speaker 11: patients because it gives this kind of euphoric feeling, right?
• 9:41
  Speaker 11: But it burns off pretty quickly. If anybody's ever had
• 9:44
  Speaker 11: laughing gas as a result of some kind of dental surgery,
• 9:48
  Speaker 11: most people out there can identify with it. You might
• 9:51
  Speaker 11: feel a little bit groggy after a period of time,
• 9:53
  Speaker 11: but pretty much it metabolizes really, really quickly within hours
• 9:58
  Speaker 11: of ingestion.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Joe Scott, my dentist in Macon always used laughing gas,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: and you could drive away from the dentist after.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: No problem. That's how quick it is.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: And so back to Eamon Murphy, investigative reporter for The Acron,
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: that is why The state is not arguing he was
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: under the influence because unlike a blood test, a tissue test, autopsy,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: tissue test, blood alcohol, a breathalyzer where you get a response,
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: they didn't guarantee you, Eamon, they did not think to
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: run a test for that. Therefore, they have no concrete proof.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: I bet you that's why they're going with distracted driving
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: like texting while driving.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: What do you think?
• 10:48
  Speaker 10: Well, intoxication has never been a part of the case.
• 10:54
  Speaker 10: The defendant blew a 0.00 at the alcohol screening device
• 11:00
  Speaker 10: on the scene. He was taken to the hospital for
• 11:03
  Speaker 10: a blood draw, but significant time did pass. I'm not
• 11:06
  Speaker 10: sure exactly how much before he was transported there. There
• 11:09
  Speaker 10: was no alcohol, no illicit substances. He did take Xanax,
• 11:14
  Speaker 10: which was prescribed to him for panic attacks. But there
• 11:17
  Speaker 10: was no there's never been a claim that he was
• 11:20
  Speaker 10: under the influence. And now we have we have this
• 11:24
  Speaker 10: distracted driving argument related to the nitrous canister that was recovered.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: So, Joe Scott, if they did an immediate breathalyzer, would
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: it have shown up in that?
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: I don't think it would.
• 11:39
  Speaker 11: No, it's tuned in. That's tuned in for ethanol, Nancy.
• 11:42
  Speaker 11: And yeah, unfortunately, you would not have gotten a hit
• 11:46
  Speaker 11: on that. I'm interested in if they did do a
• 11:49
  Speaker 11: blood draw, if they have retained that sample. And then
• 11:54
  Speaker 11: they would have to go in specific, you know, because
• 11:56
  Speaker 11: in most drug panels, nitrous is not something that you're
• 11:59
  Speaker 11: going to look for. They would have to target that.
• 12:02
  Speaker 11: They'd have to go back to the state crime lab
• 12:04
  Speaker 11: and say, look, check this sample for nitrous. And again...
• 12:08
  Speaker 11: It all depends on where they've.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Stowed this thing.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: Before I get to the friends of the victims joining
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: us tonight, Bridget and Coco, Joe Scott, another issue is
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: that there was blood on this 12-pound.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Of nitrous oxide.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: In his lap with a nozzle? Joe Scott, there is
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: reportedly blood on the canister from Frazier bomb. What if
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: he had the nozzle in his mouth at the time
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: of the incident or on his nose and that's where
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: the blood came from?
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Would that cause be traceable.
• 13:10
  Speaker 11: Yeah, it could be traceable. Here's the other thing that
• 13:14
  Speaker 11: I think is even more salient here, Nancy. If they
• 13:17
  Speaker 11: retain this canister in the nozzle, all you have to
• 13:20
  Speaker 11: do is do a DNA check because understand, if you
• 13:24
  Speaker 11: stick something in your mouth, that will transfer saliva onto
• 13:29
  Speaker 11: that surface, okay? It all depends on how well they
• 13:31
  Speaker 11: preserve this thing. If that area is swabbed and you
• 13:34
  Speaker 11: find his DNA, particularly if it's a rather robust sample there,
• 13:39
  Speaker 11: then I think that they could ask that question. Had
• 13:41
  Speaker 11: this thing been in his mouth? Did it have the
• 13:43
  Speaker 11: utility for him inhaling this thing? Another thing you look
• 13:47
  Speaker 11: for with nitrous, and I've worked cases of people that
• 13:50
  Speaker 11: have ended their own lives using nitrous, You look for
• 13:54
  Speaker 11: frost burns or frostbite burns around the lips, around the mouth,
• 13:59
  Speaker 11: within the mouth, that sort of thing. So I don't
• 14:01
  Speaker 11: know if he's had a history of that, dry lips,
• 14:03
  Speaker 11: that sort of thing.
• 14:04
  Speaker 8: They're wrong and they know they're wrong. I can't put
• 14:07
  Speaker 8: it any more clearly. Of course he was being chased.
• 14:09
  Speaker 8: Of course he was being harassed on the road. All
• 14:11
  Speaker 8: the evidence points to it and we intend to show
• 14:13
  Speaker 8: that to the jury too.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Chased by what? That big 12-pound can of nitrous oxide
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: that was in his lap, covered in his blood?
• 14:22
  Speaker 11: That?
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Who was supposed to be chasing him?
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: By the way, that is Defense Attorney Alan Jackson, now
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: representing Frazier Baum, and that's from our friends at CBS LA.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: Eamon Murphy, on the case in the get-go, investigative reporter
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: with the Akron.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Who's chasing Frazier Baum?
• 14:42
  Speaker 10: So that argument was a big part of the preliminary
• 14:45
  Speaker 10: hearing when Frazier Baum had a different lawyer. But the
• 14:51
  Speaker 10: person Alan Jackson is referring to is a witness in
• 14:54
  Speaker 10: the case, a Malibu resident. His name is Victor Calandra.
• 14:58
  Speaker 10: He testified that he was also driving on PCH near
• 15:02
  Speaker 10: the defendant. He testified he saw the defendant speeding, driving erratically,
• 15:07
  Speaker 10: and that at a stoplight about a half a mile
• 15:10
  Speaker 10: before the crash scene, They were next to each other
• 15:13
  Speaker 10: and the witness said he told Frazier-Balm, you're gonna hurt
• 15:17
  Speaker 10: somebody or yourself. And at this point, the defense claims
• 15:23
  Speaker 10: that when the light turned green, Victor Calandra chased Frazier-Balm
• 15:26
  Speaker 10: in a road rage type scenario. This is why he
• 15:29
  Speaker 10: was speeding, the defendant. This is why he was changing lanes.
• 15:33
  Speaker 10: This is ultimately why he lost control, they say, when
• 15:37
  Speaker 10: another car, as he was passing, veered into his lane
• 15:40
  Speaker 10: and clipped his mirror. The prosecution says there is no
• 15:45
  Speaker 10: evidence for this. The judge, when he upheld the murder charges,
• 15:50
  Speaker 10: said he didn't see evidence for the road rage scenario.
• 15:54
  Speaker 10: The defense did obtain an order from the judge to
• 15:59
  Speaker 10: download data from this witness, Victor Calandra's phone. They sought
• 16:04
  Speaker 10: a very broad order related to communications and speed data,
• 16:10
  Speaker 10: location data, and the judge said, we'll make sure you
• 16:13
  Speaker 10: very narrowly get what's relevant to the case in terms
• 16:16
  Speaker 10: of the witness's location and acceleration and so on to
• 16:20
  Speaker 10: test this argument.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: So, Eamon Murphy, to put that in regular people talk,
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: the defendant claims that he was being chased by a
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: guy that had spoken to him, telling him, you're going
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: to hurt somebody. So, I don't know what the witness saw.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Was Frasier Baum sucking on nitrous oxide and speeding up
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: into that red light? But Baum's theory is that that
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: guy chased him in road rage, and that made him
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: run down the girls.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: In a crash?
• 16:53
  Speaker 10: That it made him lose control as he was trying to,
• 16:56
  Speaker 10: as Jackson said, put distance between himself and a perceived threat. Now,
• 17:00
  Speaker 10: Calandra also said... that at the stoplight he saw Fraser
• 17:05
  Speaker 10: Baum texting, he thought, but the download of Fraser Baum's
• 17:09
  Speaker 10: phone apparently shows no interactions for the 15 minutes preceding
• 17:13
  Speaker 10: the crash. So that's another point of contention about his testimony.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: You know what I wonder, Eamon?
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: If he had been looking at his phone, would that
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: have been revealed in the phone activity? if you were
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: just looking at your phone to see if you had
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: gotten a text as opposed to actually texting. I mean,
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: you know what, Eamon, I had a judge. I had
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: so many amazing judges that I practiced in front of,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: but this particular one would always tell the jury, and
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: this always rings in my ears, it is your duty
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: to make all witnesses speak the truth, impugning perjury upon
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: no one. In other words, Frazier Baum could be telling
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: the truth that he was not actually texting the and
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: the witness may have seen him looking at his phone.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: They could both be telling the truth.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: Interesting.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: You know, in my experience, having lived in California, it
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: is covered.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: In street cams.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: And I would be very surprised if there are no
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: street cams to corroborate or disprove Frasierbaum's theory that he
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: was being chased by a road rager.
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: What about that, Eamon?
• 18:32
  Speaker 10: We did see at the preliminary hearing some images from
• 18:37
  Speaker 10: street side cameras. It was difficult to see exactly, given
• 18:44
  Speaker 10: that it was 8.30 in the evening when it occurred.
• 18:47
  Speaker 10: Sometimes it was tough to make out which vehicle was which,
• 18:50
  Speaker 10: but those will be part of the case, I'm sure,
• 18:54
  Speaker 10: when it's before a jury in December, and it will
• 18:57
  Speaker 10: be used, I'm sure, to litigate whether it seems like
• 19:03
  Speaker 10: there's any evidence of a pursuit.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: Joining us, two very special guests, Bridget Thompson, roommate and
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: dear friend of the Pepperdine crash victims, and Coco Crandall,
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: roommate and friend of the Pepperdine crash victims.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Ladies, thank you for being with us.
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: To you, Bridget, when you hear us or others analyzing
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: evidence that may be probative to a true verdict, I'm
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: sure that's hard to reconcile everything we're talking about with
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: the fact of your suffering. what you have been through.
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: I can only imagine, Bridget, what you go through when
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: you hear analysis that is about your friends.
• 20:04
  Speaker 13: Yeah, definitely. For me, it's just something that I go
• 20:07
  Speaker 13: through every day. And I struggle through every day. So
• 20:13
  Speaker 13: it's great to hear people come up with their theories.
• 20:20
  Speaker 13: And I love that my friends' names are being heard
• 20:25
  Speaker 13: on many different platforms. But I never want people to
• 20:28
  Speaker 13: forget that these were real people and these were my
• 20:31
  Speaker 13: best friends that I lost.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: Bridget, please tell me about your friends because... I don't
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: want who they are, who they were, lost in this
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: whole scenario as I watch Frazier Baum and his high-priced
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: lawyer try to wiggle.
• 20:48
  Speaker 11: Out of this.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: I want to hear about your friends in your words.
• 20:53
  Speaker 13: Yeah, they were absolutely perfect. They were the most amazing
• 20:58
  Speaker 13: people I have ever met. They all were special in
• 21:03
  Speaker 13: their own ways. Neve was just a ball of sunshine.
• 21:08
  Speaker 13: she made every day brighter. Asha was so wise and gentle.
• 21:14
  Speaker 13: She always brought such a calm presence into the room.
• 21:18
  Speaker 13: Peyton was so selfless. She was hilarious. She was ambitious.
• 21:26
  Speaker 13: She dreamed for the stars and absolutely reached them, even
• 21:30
  Speaker 13: at such a young age. And Deslyn was so confident
• 21:32
  Speaker 13: and such an amazing ball of energy. She had a
• 21:39
  Speaker 13: way of making everybody else smile just by even stepping
• 21:44
  Speaker 13: into the room.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Dear, could you tell me how old are you right now?
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: I'm 23. When I look at your photos of you
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: guys just before their deaths, and even now, you remind
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: me so much of my daughter, Lucy, who has just
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: gone off to college with all of her dreams and
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: her hopes, and to think.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: That these girls' parents are in such pain.
• 22:24
  Speaker 14: One of the few comforts I take from this is
• 22:27
  Speaker 14: that they were together with their friend group, and they
• 22:31
  Speaker 14: died together at the spot of the accident with their friends.
• 22:35
  Speaker 14: I told her that the greatest gift to her young,
• 22:37
  Speaker 14: vibrant life and a future goal was a motor vehicle accident.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: That is from the Pepperdine University Instagram. And he goes on,
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: and it's painful, painful to hear. Let me see a
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: shot of these beautiful girls just loving life, loving life
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: before they're only encounter with Frasier Baum. Joining us also,
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: in addition to Bridget, Coco Crandall, roommate and dear friend
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: with the Pepperdine victims. Coco, I know you could hear
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: what Bridget said, but I'd like to hear in your words.
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: Tell me about the girls.
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: Yeah, well, Nancy, thank you for wanting to talk about
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: them as people, because as tragic as this is, like
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: Bridget said, we want to remember them and keep their
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: legacy going for.
• 23:41
  Speaker 13: Like who they are.
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: I think something that is so special about these girls
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: is how they made everyone around them feel. When I
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: met them immediately, we were all best friends and they
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: made me and Bridget and the girls in our sorority
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: and the people they encounter just in passing feel more
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: confident and empowered and it's just such a testament to
• 24:09
  Speaker 4: how selfless and how extraordinary they they were.
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: We are showing videos of the girls in life and
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: it's really hard to reconcile Coco that they're no longer
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: with us and I want to understand how do you
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: do that.
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: I think a lot of the time I haven't fully
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: come to terms with the fact that they aren't here.
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: When I watch videos, like watching these videos you have
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: on the screen, it literally feels like it was just yesterday.
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: And now almost three years later, I go about my
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: life and I see things in the street and I
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: It reminds me of them, and I pull out my
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: phone to text Asher, to text Deslyn, and it still
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: doesn't really feel real that they're not here.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: To Eamon Murphy joining us, investigative reporter for The Acorn,
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: I want you to hear what the famous defense attorney
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: Alan Jackson said regarding this case.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: Please roll it.
• 25:22
  Speaker 8: I suspect, I'm pretty confident, that if Frazier had a
• 25:26
  Speaker 8: different last name, if he did not fit a particular demographic,
• 25:32
  Speaker 8: we would never be having this conversation. This is not
• 25:35
  Speaker 8: a murder case.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: That is from Hot Mics with Billy Bush. What is
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: he talking about? A different demographic. You mean he's white?
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: What is he saying?
• 25:45
  Speaker 10: I actually have no idea. I don't know what he's
• 25:49
  Speaker 10: getting at there. This case is a, it's a murder case.
• 25:54
  Speaker 10: It's a second degree murder case. That means that it's,
• 25:57
  Speaker 10: you know, it's in California, it's called implied malice. So
• 26:00
  Speaker 10: the argument is, the theory is that the defendant knew
• 26:04
  Speaker 10: his conduct was dangerous to human life, that it carried
• 26:07
  Speaker 10: a high probability that death would result and that he
• 26:10
  Speaker 10: consciously did it anyway. So in this case, the accusation
• 26:15
  Speaker 10: is that he was driving, he reached 104 miles an
• 26:17
  Speaker 10: hour in a 45 mile an hour zone and, two
• 26:20
  Speaker 10: and a half seconds before losing control of the vehicle,
• 26:23
  Speaker 10: crashing into parked cars on the side of the road
• 26:25
  Speaker 10: and killing four people. So that's the claim that that
• 26:30
  Speaker 10: amounts to a conscious disregard for human life. I'm not
• 26:35
  Speaker 10: sure what Jackson is suggesting by saying that a different
• 26:39
  Speaker 10: person wouldn't be charged along these lines. There's been an
• 26:44
  Speaker 10: argument by Baum's previous lawyer, that there was political pressure
• 26:49
  Speaker 10: from the Pepperdine community and that George Gascon, the previous DA,
• 26:53
  Speaker 10: who was in some political trouble, he went on to
• 26:56
  Speaker 10: lose the election, that that's why he decided to upgrade
• 26:59
  Speaker 10: the charges from gross vehicular manslaughter to murder. But I don't,
• 27:04
  Speaker 10: I'm not sure what Jackson means.
• 27:07
  Speaker 8: As Nathan Hockman ran an incredibly powerful, truth-telling campaign about
• 27:11
  Speaker 8: how poor a job George Gascon had done. And it
• 27:14
  Speaker 8: was all true. But what George Gascon ended up doing
• 27:18
  Speaker 8: then is this was laid out for him, probably by
• 27:21
  Speaker 8: his campaign, not by his DAs, as a silver platter. Oh,
• 27:26
  Speaker 8: you want to see soft on crime?
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Watch this.
• 27:29
  Speaker 8: I'll take this rich white kid in Malibu, supposedly rich
• 27:34
  Speaker 8: white kid. Frazier doesn't have a penny to his name.
• 27:38
  Speaker 8: And I'm going to charge him to the sheets. I'm
• 27:41
  Speaker 8: going to throw everything I've got at him. Four counts
• 27:43
  Speaker 8: of murder.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: I'm so happy.
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: He's actually arguing that a rich white person is being
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: discriminated against.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Just letting that sink in. That's from Hot Mics with
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Billy Bush. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: Dr. Bethany Marshall joining us. Renowned psychoanalyst. You can see
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: her on Peacock, Hulu, Bravo. Have I missed anything? She
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: is the star of On the Couch. This is a
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: new podcast, On the Couch with Dr.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: Bethany. And you can find her at drbethanymarshall.com. Okay. The
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: rich people are being discriminated against. Did I just hear that?
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go to Dubai in a moment because
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: I don't, Don't think Jackson should argue that to the jury,
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: which will mean he probably will argue.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: That to the jury. But did I just hear that?
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: He's only being charged because he's rich and white. Did
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: you not hear Bridget Thompson and Coco Crandall talking about
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: the loss of their four young friends, beautiful four little
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: sorority girls? They're all, let me throw a Latin phrase
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: at you, effing dead. Because the phrase you're bomb, according
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: to the indictment, but according to Jackson, it's because the
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: bomb is rich and white.
• 29:20
  Speaker 12: If that's the only way Jackson has of muddying the waters,
• 29:23
  Speaker 12: it's a pretty poor attempt. And hopefully that means that
• 29:27
  Speaker 12: the prosecution will be successful. You know, Nancy, this perpetrator, Bomer,
• 29:32
  Speaker 12: 104 miles down Pacific Coast Highway, I've driven that.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Highway many times.
• 29:38
  Speaker 15: It takes a lot of work. to go 104 miles
• 29:41
  Speaker 15: down that highway. It's congested. Many places, it's just two lanes.
• 29:46
  Speaker 15: There are condos all along the ocean. I mean, you
• 29:50
  Speaker 15: have to really veer in and out of traffic, in
• 29:53
  Speaker 15: and out of people. This is not just like a
• 29:55
  Speaker 15: highway out going through the prairie, right, where you can
• 29:58
  Speaker 15: just get up to high levels of speed and you
• 30:00
  Speaker 15: don't even know you're speeding if you have a luxury car. No,
• 30:04
  Speaker 15: you have to work to speed in this specific area.
• 30:09
  Speaker 15: And the fact that this young man was ostensibly warned
• 30:13
  Speaker 15: at a traffic stop. where he seems to have been
• 30:16
  Speaker 15: looking at his phone and he continued to speed.
• 30:19
  Speaker 8: I suspect, I'm pretty confident that if Frazier had a
• 30:24
  Speaker 8: different last name, if he did not fit a particular demographic,
• 30:30
  Speaker 8: we would never be having this conversation. This is not
• 30:33
  Speaker 8: a murder case.
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: That is Jackson giving his defense for Frazier Baum on
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: Hot Mics with Billy Bush 2. Veteran defense attorney joining
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: us from this jurisdiction, Philip Dubé, former L.A. public defender,
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: which means he's tried a lot of cases.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: And always smiling, even though four girls are dead.
• 30:53
  Speaker 7: Okay.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: We hear where Jackson's going, that he, Frazier Baum, is
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: being discriminated against because he's rich. Do you think that
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: will really work with a jury? And of course, it's ridiculous.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: He's being charged because there are four dead sorority girls.
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: Four dead girls.
• 31:15
  Speaker 2: You have familiarized yourself with their photos and their names,
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: I assume. But yet, Jackson is making it out like
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: this is some vendetta against rich people.
• 31:28
  Speaker 16: Well, first of all, he'll never present that to a jury.
• 31:30
  Speaker 16: But what I can tell you is at the time
• 31:32
  Speaker 16: that the then-elected DA, George Gascon, was running, his campaign
• 31:37
  Speaker 16: ran on a platform of disproportionate sentencing toward the minority community.
• 31:42
  Speaker 16: So as a result, he never wanted to seek the
• 31:45
  Speaker 16: maximum exposure for people of color because he really felt
• 31:49
  Speaker 16: that people were being disproportionately impacted in the justice system.
• 31:54
  Speaker 16: And then here comes Frazier, a wealthy white kid from
• 31:57
  Speaker 16: Malibu colony where all the rich celebrities live. And then
• 32:01
  Speaker 16: suddenly he backpedals.
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: Did you call him a kid?
• 32:05
  Speaker 10: But he was.
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: Come on.
• 32:06
  Speaker 16: What was he, 21, 22? Underwear older than you.
• 32:10
  Speaker 11: I don't know.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: At 22, my father was on the other side of
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: the country fighting for his nation on a Navy liner
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: and a whole other world under threat of death.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: So, you know, I don't know.
• 32:25
  Speaker 7: 22?
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: Let's see, when I was 22, oh, I was already
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: practicing law.
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: And guess what? I had three jobs.
• 32:31
  Speaker 11: Three.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: One, two, three. One day job and two night jobs. Now,
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: as you were saying.
• 32:38
  Speaker 16: No, so fast forward, though, to present day, you have
• 32:41
  Speaker 16: an elected D.A. who's running on this idea that he
• 32:44
  Speaker 16: doesn't want to file enhancements against people that will stick
• 32:48
  Speaker 16: them away longer because it had a disproportionate impact on
• 32:52
  Speaker 16: people of color. I'm just letting you know.
• 32:55
  Speaker 8: L.A.
• 32:55
  Speaker 16: Voted the man in.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: What do you want from me?
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: I think I zoned out when you were saying rich
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: people get discriminated against.
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: Just let's have a little reality check. What happened to
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: the victims?
• 33:16
  Speaker 11: Well, to put it quite bluntly, they were essentially crushed
• 33:22
  Speaker 11: to death by the impact of of this vehicle. Mind you, traveling.
• 33:29
  Speaker 11: at this incredible speed. I've been through this area as
• 33:32
  Speaker 11: well several times, and it is tightly congested most of
• 33:39
  Speaker 11: the time, regardless of what time of day it is.
• 33:42
  Speaker 11: And interestingly enough, I think that one of the areas.
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: I bet you slowed down.
• 33:47
  Speaker 11: Yeah, you're damn right I did.
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: When I see people walking around in, quote, congestion, you
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: mean people and cars, you slow down. You don't go
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: 104 MPH.
• 33:55
  Speaker 11: Interestingly enough, there's one kind of roadway feature through this
• 34:01
  Speaker 11: area that is literally referred to as dead man's curve.
• 34:05
  Speaker 11: And so if he is, and here's the thing about it,
• 34:08
  Speaker 11: you've got a high performance vehicle, okay? It's a luxury sedan.
• 34:12
  Speaker 11: And you are a resident of this area. Now, there's
• 34:20
  Speaker 11: no excuse if you're not a resident, but the fact
• 34:23
  Speaker 11: that you are a resident, you understand the dangers of
• 34:26
  Speaker 11: this location, and you're still going to have your foot
• 34:29
  Speaker 11: buried into the accelerator. In this particular area, driving at
• 34:34
  Speaker 11: this speed, it's absolutely absurd that anyone would think that
• 34:45
  Speaker 11: that he did not have foreknowledge of what kind of
• 34:48
  Speaker 11: misery would follow Nancy.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: I believe the Reader's Digest version, the answer to that
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: question is the girls were crushed.
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: Day one, I would take that.
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: 12-pound can of laughing gas.
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: And put it on the jury rail.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: And if the defense opposed that, which of course they
• 35:12
  Speaker 2: would if they were Philip Dubé, I would put it
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: on my counsel table, which is right by the jury rail.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: And I would never let that out of the jury's sight.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: Four girls crushed dead. That video from our friends at
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: Fox 11. At this hour, both sides are preparing their cases.
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: If you know or think you know anything regarding this case,
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: dial 11. Lost Hill Sheriffs, 818-878-1808. Repeat, 818-878-1808. We remember
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: American hero trooper Andrew Stocks, North Carolina Highway Patrol, killed
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: in the line of duty, leaving behind a grieving wife, Leanne,
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: and little daughter, Ashley. American hero trooper Andrew Stocks. I
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: want to remind everyone that everyone across our country is
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: innocent until proven guilty. Even I must presume that they
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: are innocent. And that includes Frazier Baum. And he remains
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: innocent under the law unless and until that presumption of
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: innocence is pierced by evidence proving him guilty beyond a
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: reasonable doubt. Thank you to our guests, but especially to
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: you for being with us. Nancy Grace signing off for tonight,
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: but I'll see you tomorrow night.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: And until then, good night, friend.