Law&Crime Sidebar - Hollywood ‘Producer’ Dumped Two Dying Women at Different Hospitals

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

A Los Angeles jury found David Pearce guilty on multiple charges, including rape and murder, after Christy Giles and her friend Hilda Marcela Cabrales Arzola died from drug overdoses. Pearce gave the women drugs laced with fentanyl, then tried to cover up their deaths. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber discusses the case with former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Get a FREE title history report AND a 30-day free trial of Triple Lock Protection TODAY by going to https://www.hometitlelock.com/sidebar and using promo code SIDEBAR HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea & Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. The verdict is in one of Los Angeles's most chilling murder trials in years. Prosecutors claim Hollywood producer David Pierce drugged and killed two women in a case that involves a disturbing mix of drugs, deception, and death. From shocking statements that Pierce made to chilling surveillance footage, we are going to break down the details of this case for you right now. Welcome to Sidebar.

Presented by Law and Crime, I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, so now before we get into the story of Hollywood producer David Pierce, who prosecutors claim drugged and killed two women, model Christy Giles, and her friend architect Hilda Cabrales Arzolo, We have a verdict in this case. And the reason I say that now is because before I throw to my interview with former prosecutor at Nima Romani, we actually did this interview as the jury was deliberating. So I want you to keep that in mind.

We are going to break down all the evidence, the story, the arguments. But at the end, I will tell you what the jury ended up deciding here. So with that in mind, here you go. Hollywood producer David Pierce is accused of drugging and killing two women model Christy Giles and her friend architect Hilda Cabrales Arzola. And now that at the time of this recording, the Los Angeles jury is officially deliberating Pierce's fate as well as that of his co-defendant. We're going to break down everything we know about this case and to help me do that. I want to bring on special guest, former federal prosecutor at Nima Romani, friend of the show. Neema, thanks so much for coming on.

So at the time of this recording, the jury is deliberating, I have to imagine that as a former federal prosecutor, any prosecutor, one of the most stressful moments of a prosecutor's career is when the jury is out deliberating, right? Absolutely, Jesse. The anxiety is through the roof because you never know what 12 strangers who can't get out of jury duty will do. So obviously- Can't get out of jury duty.

You mean they don't want to be there? What on earth are you talking about? I know. Believe it or not, Jesse, people aren't excited to be on a jury. Obviously, you and I would absolutely love it. I never have that opportunity. I was on a jury. I was on a grand jury, actually. It was quite the experience.

Oh, grand jury. Yeah, yeah, very different. But yeah, no, sorry to interrupt. But yeah, it's a stressful moment, right? It really is because obviously you believe in your case, any lawyer, but especially a prosecutor, because there's so much pressure to win. You're expected to win every single time. Your defense attorney and you're winning 10, 20 percent, you're probably knocking it out of the park because we know that prosecutors really bring cases with very strong evidence, sometimes overwhelming evidence.

And this is a murder case. I mean, it doesn't get more serious than that. And I kind of want to go through the details of this. Bring everybody up to speed. And Nima, I'm happy to have you here as we go through it. So this all began, apparently with a night out at a warehouse rave in East L.A. back on November 12, 2021. Christy had been at an art exhibit at the Soho House in West Hollywood earlier in the night. She had apparently been enjoying some drinks, reportedly using recreational drugs. And this is according to the affidavit from Los Angeles police detective Jonathan Vanderley. These drugs included, according to this report, cocaine, ketamine, marijuana. But around 1 a.m., she sent to text to her husband, Jan Killiers, letting him know that she would be going with her friend Hilda to a party. And eventually the two women apparently meet David Pierce, a Hollywood producer who had been at the rave, and at some point they all ended up at Pierce's apartment. This is according to police.

So surveillance cameras reportedly capture Pierce, Christy, Hilda, along with two other men, Brandt Osborne, and Michael Ansbach, leaving the party, presumably to go to an after party at Pierce's apartment. But around 5.30 a.m., Christie texted Hilda asking to leave. And according to police, the last communication from Christy was a text saying, let's go, followed by a wide-eyed emoji. Hilda reportedly responded, I'll call an Uber 10 minutes away. But when that Uber arrived, it left shortly after without the women. Now, it's unclear what happened over the next 12 hours or so, but the following day, surveillance footage allegedly shows Pierce and Osborne carrying Christy's body to a Toyota Prius with no license plates. Christy was found dead on the morning of November 13, 2021, outside of the Southern California hospital in Culver City. Hospital staff told investigators that two men told ER personnel that they'd found a woman, quote, passed out on a curb somewhere nearby.

They were trying to be good Samaritans by bringing her to the hospital. They didn't leave any information like their names or phone numbers. And prosecutors say Pearson Osborne returned to the apartment to then bring Hilda's body down to the car. And Hilda was apparently discovered unconscious in critical condition outside of a completely different hospital, Kaiser Permanente, in West L.A. Hilda was declared brain dead and died after several days in a medically induced coma. This was just one day before her 27th birthday. Really tragic set of circumstances here. CBS News spoke with Hilda's parents who say that their daughter and architect had moved to L.A.

just four months earlier for Mexico to start her dream job as an interior designer. and look how this all ended up. Yeah, just a really, really scary case here. And actually, look, talking the stories that we cover here on Sidebar, we really do show you the ugly side of the world. And I'll tell you what, talking the unknowns, what's out there? I didn't even know this. But apparently, home title fraud is rampant right now.

Talking about crime, I met with the people over at Home Title Lock. They're an amazing partner and sponsor. They really opened my eyes to this. I had no idea. Look here. So this is an example of a fraudulently quick. claim deed got filled out with my information, forged signature, fake not only can my property just get transferred behind my back, but the scammers, they go after the equity. They take out

loans using your home as collateral. They do all this. They disappear. They leave you with a legal and financial nightmare. But that is where home title lock comes and to give you peace of mind, especially with their triple lock protection. That gets you 24-7 monitoring, alerts of any changes, and restoration services that know-out-a-pocket cost to you. So to protect your home, you go to home tidal lock.com slash sidebar. Use promo code sidebar to get a 30-day free trial of their triple lock protection and a free title history report to make sure you aren't already a victim. Now, the autopsy results confirmed that these women had died of drug overdoses.

Christie's autopsy showed traces of cocaine, fentanyl, ketamine, the date rape drug GHB in her system. Hilda, who survived on life support for 10 days, had MDMA, cocaine, other drugs in her system. and police were able to trace Christy's phone to Pierce's apartment where they found the black Prius with no license plates. Inside that Prius, police found a large amount of cash, a total of over $30,000, $30,000, $250, as well as his passport. What appeared also to be described as trophies from a porn company he ran, and they also found what was a face mask, which prosecutors claim was used by Pierce when he allegedly dumped the bodies. Now, the LA Times also reports that when police search Pierce's phone, they found that he'd been allegedly researching, quote, non-extradition countries.

So Pierce was eventually arrested. The charges started to pile up. In addition to two counts of murder, Pierce faces two counts of providing a controlled substance and seven counts of drugging sexually assaulting women after multiple women came forward to make claims against Pierce after Christy and Hilda died. And prosecutors say Pierce has a disturbing pattern of allegedly drugging and raping women that he would meet at a party scene or on dating apps for more than a decade. As for Brant Osborne, who the L.A. Times reports was Pierce's roommate. He was also arrested in charge with two counts of accessory after the fact. And Michael Ansbach was questioned by police, not officially charged in the case. Instead, he apparently became a material witness for the prosecution. So, NEMA, a lot going on here. Someone might hear that fact pattern and say, why is this murder?

Because he was initially, Pierce was initially arrested, my understanding, on suspicion of manslaughter, then they upgrade it to murder. Why murder? It is murder. If you provide drugs and they kill someone under California law, that is indeed murder. And when you put someone in harm's way, normally there's no duty to help someone. But one of the exceptions is if you actually cause the harm, so both in terms of providing, the drugs, the ensuing death, that's medical causation, and having to help these young woman after the fact, that's where the criminal liability lies.

How important is the surveillance footage allegedly showing Pierce carrying the women's bodies out of his apartment? How important is that? Because is this enough to establish what appears to be an intent to kill? Because I've seen cases before where someone dies and they find the defendant not guilty of murder, but guilty in connection with the disposal. I remember a case from Florida. I always bring this up where a man was accused of killing his father, you know, who apparently

the question was, did he die from a heart attack, did his son kill him? And then he chopped up the body and disposed it. The jury actually found that he was not guilty of murder. They found that the father overdosed, but they found them guilty with respect to the disposal. If you see evidence of a disposal, is that automatically mean that they're guilty of murder? Not necessarily. And just I have seen that type of defense before where they'll ask the jury to split the baby. Obviously, disposing of a body, acting as an accessory after a murder is committed, carries a much lesser potential sentence.

So that's something that a jury may accept or find. They may have a tough time saying, hey, I'm going to give this guy a walk entirely. So I have seen that defense strategy. Here, they're really swinging for the fences and saying it, wasn't me. It's going to be very tough defense. They're not accepting responsibility for any of this, really, which is somewhat of the challenge here. So going back to the surveillance footage, it allegedly shows these men dumping the victim's bodies outside the separate hospitals. Ansbach wasn't charged in the case. Osborne was. He's actually a co-defendant in this case with

Pierce. Why do you think that is? Why do you think Ansbach wasn't charged? And when you charge Osborne with accessory after the fact. Let's be clear about what that we're talking about there. So why was Ansbach, in your opinion, not charged? And what does it mean for Osborne to be charged as an accessory after the fact? Well, Ansborn wasn't charged because he was a cooperating witness. And he was going to get a pass because of the information he provided. He's the key witness.

He's the third person that was there, saw these women die and has the communications between himself, Osborne, and Pierce. Now, Osborne obviously went along for the ride to dump these two girls, which is why he's being charged. But believe me, he wanted out of this case. The last thing you want is if you're a less culpable co-defendant and be along for the ride when someone is being prosecuted for murder. Now, obviously, jurors need to make decisions independently, but there's so much bad evidence against Osborne, both in terms of the murder itself, is really cavalier and insensitive. attitude after the murder but setting the that night aside there's all these sexual assault alleged victims who are testifying that he's just a terrible person so really osborne is dirtied up

in this case uh in a way that i would not want to be if i were him or representing him and you wonder what's going to be relevant right the idea that they apparently discover his passport and over $30,000 in cash searching the car. Is that significant? A very significant risk of flight or excuse me attempts to flee. That's consciousness of guilt. There's a jury instruction in every state in this country. And when you have them searching for is Ukraine a non-extraditioned country, that's really bad for the defense because people that are innocent, they don't try to flee the jurisdiction or the country. He could make the argument. And I don't know if he actually did make the argument that if those searches are attributed to,

him, I thought I was going to be falsely accused of murder. I know I'm going to get in trouble. They might think they might have evidence of me disposing of the bodies. But of course, I think I think I'm going to get in trouble. Doesn't mean I murdered them. Doesn't mean I murdered the women. Yeah, I think what you would have to really argue, and this is a tough argument in my opinion is the girls, and this is really the argument that they're making. The girls died on their own, right? They died on their own. We made a mistake in, you know, not calling 911 like we should of you made a mistake in, you know, taking off our plates and, you know, lying to the police and dumping these bodies. You know, you have to accept some sort of responsibility here to have

any shot, in my opinion. Oh, the evidence is not great against them. Let me be clear about that. And I want to get into that a little bit more. But, you know, they're also the sexual assault charges. So authorities reveal that in their opinion, Pierce had been accused by several women of drugging and assaulting them over a span of years and now he faces multiple rape charges and this is from i believe 2010 to 20 20 incidents um that separate part of the case what do you make of that it's very important and by the way just taking a step back just i could tell you that i'm here in los angeles i remember when these two women were found and my wife's a member of that soho house in west hollywood we have colleagues here that knew one of the victims i have friends that

knew the other victim as well. So, you know, this was a really big deal here in Los Angeles. And obviously, when Pierce was identified as a suspect, many women came forward and talked about their interactions with him and accused him of sexual assault. So it's very important because obviously the allegation is that these women were drug, rape, and murdered, as opposed to, you know, accidental overdoses and the like. I have to talk to you about this case in the sense before we even go to the opening statements, there already was a lot of drama going down inside the courtroom.

I want your opinion on this because prosecutors revealed that Pierce allegedly tried to influence the trial by making a phone call to his mom discussing potential jurors, how to create a mistrial. According to the son, Pierce made a call to his mom using another inmate's pin telling her he was trying to engineer a mistrial. His mother then apparently called an attorney for a three-way conversation. And when Judge Eleanor Hunter addressed this situation, she reportedly scolded Pierce for this saying, you can't cause your own mistrial just so you know that up front before barring him from making any more phone calls or having visitors and only allowing him to speak to his defense team for the duration of the trial. Nima, that's quite the development.

Is it common for defendants to try to do this, assuming these allegations are true? not common obviously we've talked about on law and crime with using other inmates pins and ditty right obviously one of the biggest cases that we're covering so it does happen inmates and defendants they say all sorts of things on those jail calls and some of the things that pierce said are really harmful for his case so i'm not surprised that he allegedly called his mom and tried to you know affect this type of mistrial he seems like the type of defendant that doesn't believe that the rules apply to him it's probably why he took the stand and testified. Well, we'll get to that and you kind of, you know, being consistent with what the prosecution said because I want to break down now some of the opening statements. So prosecutors claim that Pierce gave these women a lethal mix of drugs, including the date rape drug known as GHB, cocaine, fentanyl, before dropping them, you know, just clinging to life at these two different hospitals. And they stark and very powerful opening statement, Deputy District Attorney Catherine and Mariano,

wasted no time in painting a very harrowing picture of the accused. She said, quote, defendant Pierce is nothing short of a sexual predator. He's the guy you fear at a bar. He's the one you can't trust with a drink with your safety. He's the person you don't want to end up alone with. And also, she said that Pierce gave these women the drugs knowing it would kill them. But he didn't care whether they lived or died. He just wanted to take advantage of them.

Niba, what do you make of Mariano's characterizations of Pierce? Do they have to prove intent to kill? Is that tough to prove? You don't have to prove intent to kill. You should have to prove the intent to provide the drugs and the victims died as a result. That's the only intent. So it can be, you know,

and obviously we know about the fentanyl epidemic here. There's a lot of drugs. And look, it's no secret that these raves involve a lot of drug use. And these women were talking about drugs and reportedly had their own drugs as well. So this is something I think that's important for the prosecution to establish that medical causation, right? That it was Pierce's drugs that caused them to die.

And when you're talking about these drug cocktails, right, you have cocaine, you have fentanyl, you have MDMA, which is commonly known as Molly or Ecstasy, and you have GHP, which is, you know, a date rape drug that you talked about, Jesse. You know, that's where the experts got to come in and you've got to say, hey, you really got to trace the death to that specific drug provided by Pierce. Yeah, because in very stark contrast, defense attorney Jeffrey Volz sought to deflect blame from Pierce,

presenting a narrative that suggested the deaths were the result of the victim's own choices. He argued that Christy and Hilda, they were both active participants in the drug use, that the drug they ingested on the night of the incident. That's what led to their deaths. And he emphasized that the women had discussed their enjoyment of ketamine in the lead-up to that evening. In fact, Vol told the jury, they were aware of the dangers associated with it. And they chose to use it that night. Unfortunately, things went terribly wrong.

And now, here we are. What do you make of that strategy? And it's tough, right? Because you put the blame on the victims, that can be tricky. Juries, jurors might not like that. No, I certainly didn't like it. But I think it's the right strategy. Obviously, defense attorney needs to defend his client.

And that's what he's doing. You know, you certainly want to say that the victims themselves voluntarily took these rugs. And it was those drugs that they took themselves or got from others that caused them the diet, not what was provided by Pierce. Of course, the timeline is a little bit challenging because they took these drugs at this rave. They were at least okay as of 5 a.m. or so. So likely the drugs that killed them, and we know that fentanyl kills pretty quickly, they were provided at Pierce's apartment at a minimum.

And of course, the jury can infer that they were provided by Pierce himself. I want to take a look at some of the key testimony that came out of this case because I imagine the jury is going to be considering this. So the jury was able to hear from Michael Ansbach, who I mentioned before, he testified that even he was drugged by Pierce. Yeah, so Ansbach started by describing just a chilling sequence of events that began with Pierce allegedly handing Mavaka drink that left him feeling immediately sick and dizzy. But it wasn't until Pierce brought out what he allegedly called, quote, the good stuff, believed to be. maybe cocaine, that the night took a far more sinister turn, along with Christie and Hilda. Ansbach said he consumed the drug, realized that it was not cocaine at all. And as the night unfolded, Ansbach's fear grew as he saw both women lying unresponsive on the floor, their

body still and lifeless, in a desperate attempt to get help, he claimed he pleaded with Pierce to act, but Pierce, this is big, told him something absolutely chilling, or allegedly told him, allegedly said dead girls don't talk he says he checked christie's pulse found that there was nothing there pierce did not do anything about this according to him only appearing to essentially shrug it off and ansbach also testified that he saw pierce take the license plate off his prius now nema in your opinion how significant is it for pierce's alleged statement to be dead girls don't talk and do we look at Ansbach's testimony, you know, with a grain of salt here. Talk to me about what you make of that. It is the key evidence in the case of my opinion. If I'm trying

this case, I start my opening statement with dead girls don't talk. That shows that intent, right? And, you know, describing this process, right, where they're checking the pulse, they're seeing if the girls are breathing using sunglasses. And Pierce's response, I mean, it's just horrifying. as a human being, you know, even if you did provide the drugs. And, you know, going back to, you know, his testimony, obviously, look, he's a cooperator. The defense is going to say that he's lying to save himself. He's a rat. He's a snitch, right?

We've seen it time and time again. But his story is consistent with the evidence in the case. And, you know, he's doing what he believes to be cocaine and he doesn't feel good. And usually that's one of two things, either ketamine because they look similar and someone can go into what is called by drug users as a K-hole. The body shuts down. Or, of course, fentanyl, which trace amounts, even cause someone to die.

So the fact that he experiences the same thing, even though he ends up surviving, is good evidence for the prosecution. Well, during cross, Pierce's defense attorney didn't waste any time, really homing in on the inconsistencies or the apparent or alleged inconsistencies in Ansbach's testimony, because in his initial police interview, Ansbach had apparently minimized the events,

claiming that he hadn't seen the women do drugs, presented a much different portrayal of Pierce to which Ansbach actually admitted that he lied during that interview because he was afraid. He didn't know how to fix the situation. So obviously, that could be a problem in terms of how the jury looks at this. But the jury was also able to hear from Brandt Osborne.

I want to talk about this. So this is the co-defendant in this case. His testimony, I think, arguably appeared to corroborate what Ansbach said, because Osborne provided, you know, disturbing details of what went on. Osborne apparently testified that Pierce didn't do anything to help the two women, but he went even further. And this was a really disturbing fact that the two of them apparently went to a fast food restaurant, El Polo Loco, for a meal. And then after their meal, Osborne said he and Pierce, I guess the reporting was, went to bed with these two women

there, according to the affidavit, the women remained in that apartment dead for hours. Now, Neema, why is Osborne taking the stand? Why is he saying these things? Could it help him in any way? It could. You know, obviously, he is trying to get a potentially either an acquittal by the jury. That's what his defense attorney asked for. Or maybe he can ask for some sort of consideration at sentencing from the judge or the prosecution who makes their recommendation.

He's going to come and say, listen, I took the stand, I accepted my role in this, and I told the truth. Contrast that to Pierce, who obviously built a very, very different account. So I think it is important. And again, I think from the jump, Osborne wanted out of this case. So it's clear that he's going to tell his story, just like he told. prosecutors and law enforcement, ultimately, the true version of the story. I think prosecutors wanted him to stay in this case because when you're trying a case like this, you really don't want an empty chair, right? That can be a little bit challenging. So, you know, if Osborne is out,

it makes it easy for Pierce to say, well, look, why isn't Osborne here? You know, he was involved in dumping the bodies. You saw him on video. Where is his responsibility in all this? So I think for strategic reasons, the district attorney's office kept him in, but I think he is going to get a break at sentencing. If he's convicted, if he's convicted. Look, I'll tell you this. Pierce, Osborne wasn't the only one who took the stand. And possibly one of the most dramatic moments in the courtroom was when David Pierce himself

took the stand too. This was reportedly against the advice of his legal counsel, but we all know it's up to the defendant if they decide to take the stand. And nevertheless, he recounted what he says happened in those fatal hours. testified that the group, which included Michael Ansbach, drank red wine, they did cocaine together. He denied giving the women any drug, stating that he never personally saw them take any substances. He also mentioned he was preoccupied, taking care of his dog, while Ansbach remained partying with the women. And then at around 6.30 a.m., Pierce testified that he found the women unconscious.

And he described seeing empty wine bottles, what he described as, quote, powder on a glass table. but he assumed the women had simply passed out from drinking too much. Pierce testified that he tried to wake Christy up multiple times, but when she didn't respond, he placed her in a spare bedroom with a bottle of water in a trash can. He also put, according to him, Hilda, in his own bed, offering the same provisions. And later on, Pierce testified that he noticed Christy was showing signs of life and he began performing CPR and that he hoped she would, quote, snap out of the state that she was in. However, despite allegedly performing chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation,

Pierce admitted he didn't call 911. And when asked why, Pierce claimed he just assumed the women were sleeping off the night's events and were unaware of the severity of their condition. In his testimony, Pierce maintained that he regularly hosted parties at his home, which he described as a crash pad and party house. He claimed that guests frequently passed out at this apartment after drinking and using drugs, but he denied ever supplying the substances, and he also denied each rape accusation, saying he never met one of his accusers, even claim that the others were all consensual hookups.

So Nima, you know, a lot of times criminal defendants think they themselves are their best defense. What do you make of his account? Does it square away with the other testimony? Does it square away with the evidence? He thinks that there's an advantage here. Tell me, is there one? I don't think so. I mean, it is a Hail Mary type defense, but the criminal defense.

that testifies, the entire case comes down to his or her testimony. And at this time, we don't know what the jury is going to do, but I didn't believe it. So we're just going through step by step, right? You're talking about someone who took his license to play off, right? Someone who went to El Pollo, someone who waited 12 hours before dumping these women. And I think the biggest challenge for Pierce and his lawyer are the rape allegations, right? Osborne didn't have sex with two women who couldn't consent, right? Allegations are that Pierce did. And not only with these two women

who ended up dying or may have even been dead, who knows the timeline of the allegation, there's all these other women who've come forward and have made similar allegations. So the question is, and, you know, having handled rape cases both as a prosecutor and as a civil plaintiff's lawyer, sometimes jurors have a tough time

for leaving the testimony of one victim or even two, but when you have woman after woman who's really telling the same story of being drug and sexual violence and being assaulted, very hard for those jurors to disbelieve. And I think that's what's happening here. And by the way, I mean, you make a great point. I'll say the other difficulty or maybe consideration was his police interview. That was played for the jury. And Pierce in that interview adamantly denied having any involvement in drugging these women. He reportedly stated, I feel horrible that two girls died, that they were active drug users. I didn't give them any drugs.

I knew they were at a rave. He emphasized his own reluctance to use dangerous drugs, particularly fentanyl, noting that he had heard about a bad batch that was circulating near the University of Southern California. And at the time of the interview, the police hadn't yet disclosed that fentanyl was a factor in the women's death, according to prosecutors, which is interesting to think about that he said that or apparently said that. Detective Jonathan Vanderley testified that the police only learned of fentanyl's involvement months later in April of 22 when the toxicology reports came in. So consciousness of guilt, why would he mention unless he knew what he did? And Pierce, however, didn't know that when he was

questioned. In the interview, Pierce repeated that he didn't believe the women were dead when he took them to the hospital. He said, I didn't think that they were dead. I thought they were breathing. That's why I brought them to the hospital. I'm not some effing monster. He tried to paint himself as a concerned person trying to help the women, claiming that he didn't see them take any drugs at his apartment, that he simply took a short break to walk his dog. And Pierce also went on to say he wasn't into buying drugs and doing drugs. He emphasized that he came from a good family. He was raised well. Neema talked to me about the mention of fentanyl in his interview and these other statements. Sometimes when the alleged killer mentioned something that isn't public

knowledge yet, that could be a problem. The other way I looking at it, look, fentanyl is a big drug. seeing it across the country. We're seeing a lot of overdose deaths attributed to fentanyl. How much is that a smoking gun? I mean, it's important. I don't think it's dispositive. You're talking about fentanyl, right? Which really at the time, it was the heyday of fentanyl-related deaths and overdoses. Thank God those numbers have come down over the past couple of years. So I think he has an argument that it wasn't illogical to think that, hey, there was a bad batch of drugs that did contain fentanyl but of course it's a problem and that's why as defense attorneys you don't want your client talking to law enforcement at all because of course during trial he gave a very

different statement he said that his house was the party house and people were using drugs and he really accepted more responsibility for at least the setting than he did with that initial conversation with law enforcement nema romani thank you so much for coming on breaking it down for us particularly from a prosecutor's point of view there's a again really really disturbing case, sad case, and we'll see what the jury decides. Nima, thanks so much. Thanks, Jesse. Talk to you soon. Okay, so as I mentioned, now I'm going to tell you the verdict in this case.

So, David Pierce was officially found guilty of first-degree murder in connection with the death of Giles and Cabrales-Ozola. And he was also found guilty of seven counts of sexual assault with respect to seven women over a span of 13 years. Now, when it came to Osborne, the judge. jury was deadlocked on the accessory after the fact charges, and therefore, the judge had to declare a mistrial. And at the time of this recording, no word yet on whether or not prosecutors will retry Mr. Osborne. We'll keep an eye on for that one. But that is all we have for you right now here

on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.