RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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A Los Angeles judge ruled Monday that prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence for the musician D4vd , whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, to stand trial for the murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez when she was 14 years old.
"It appears to me, for the purposes of preliminary hearing, the people have met their burden of proof on all charges," Judge Charlaine Olmedo ruled. "I order that Mr. Burke be held to answer." Burke's re-arraignment has been set for August 31st.
D4vd was a "very clever adult" who sexually abused Rivas, "gaslit" the minor, and eventually murdered her after causing her such severe emotional anguish that she threatened to expose the abuse, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman argued to the court shortly before the ruling.
Silverman spoke in a Los Angeles courtroom on the fifth and final day of a preliminary hearing for the singer. She was responding to a defense motion arguing that prosecutors had failed to present enough evidence to send Burke to trial on a first-degree murder charge and special circumstance allegations that he was lying in wait when he allegedly killed the 14-year-old girl for financial gain and to prevent her from reporting the abuse.
Defense lawyer Marilyn Bednarski argued that Rivas had invited herself to Burke's home on the night of April 23, 2025, and that Burke had been participating in a multiplayer virtual-reality game in the minutes before she arrived, not preparing to kill her.
Bednarski said the scores of text messages presented in court on Friday showed "the opposite of homicidal animus." Burke, she said, "repeatedly expressed his love and care [for Rivas] even after they broke up."
Burke also faces charges of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains. Prosecutors allege that he dismembered Rivas' body in his garage with a chainsaw, placed the remains in a cadaver bag and a laundry bag, and concealed them in the front trunk of his Tesla. Editor’s picks The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far The 100 Best TV Episodes of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 100 Best Movies of the 21st Century
"Dismemberment is post-mortem conduct. It says nothing about what caused the death, when, where or how," Bednarski argued. "There is no evidence of a deliberate intention to kill. We cannot impute malice from concealment. What remains is suspicion of concealment of a death, which is not murder."
After Bednarski finished, Silverman argued that investigators presented a "mountain of evidence" that proved the allegations "way beyond the standard required" for a preliminary hearing.
"We have a minor who was sexually abused for many, many months. She was groomed. … She was being gaslit," Silverman said. "The defendant was telling her over and over again that this was sex she asked for, and he just went along with her. This is very obvious grooming. We have a young victim who really doesn't know what is in store for her."
Silverman said the messages between Burke and Rivas were sexually graphic and included discussions of contraception, pregnancy, and abortion. Even after Burke ended their relationship in late 2024, she said, "he unfortunately continued to use the victim for sex."
"We saw some of the devastating consequences of that on this young girl through her text messages revealing mental health issues caused by the way she was being used by someone who was an adult, telling her that he loved her," Silverman argued. "She wanted to have a future, and yet she had enough maturity to indicate to this adult that she was clearly head over heels in love with that she wanted more for herself than hanging out and having sex." Related Content Trump May Be to Blame for Less Accurate Weather Forecasts D4vd’s Texts Show He Got Celeste Rivas Hernandez Pregnant at 13, Talked Her Through Abortion: LAPD Pentagon Says Some Servicemember Deaths Don’t Count Sean Combs Placed in Solitary Confinement After Brawl With Fellow Inmate: Reports
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