Law&Crime Sidebar - JUST IN: Judge Drops Hammer on D4vd, Orders Murder Trial
Episode Date: July 28, 2026Attorneys for D4vd, real name David Anthony Burke, are revealing possible defense strategies during the singer/songwriter's preliminary hearing. D4vd is accused of killing and dismembering 14...-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, with whom police believe he was in a yearslong sexual relationship. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber and NBCLA reporter Julia Deng break down what happened inside the courtroom on the fifth day of D4vd's preliminary hearing, as a judge decides whether the case will go to trial.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Level up your business with a free 14-day trial of Odoo by visiting https://odoo.com/sidebar.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson, Heather Berzak & 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/lawandcrimeTwitter: 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.
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Today I am here to announce that Judge Charlene O'Madeau held David Anthony Burke, who goes by the name David spelled D4VT, to answer for the horrific and barbaric killing of a 14-year-old at the time, Celeste Revis Hernandez.
That's DA Nathan Hockman out of L.A. talking after the conclusion of David's preliminary hearing, we are going to tell you what the court decided regarding whether or not this accused child.
killer is going to go to trial, and we just got a really big glimpse into what this defense may be.
And I will tell you right now, it is shocking.
Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime.
I'm Jesse Weber.
We just wrapped up David's preliminary hearing.
So this was over the course of several days.
This is where the court would decide if there is sufficient evidence for this case to move forward to trial.
Remember, he faces murder, continuous sexual abuse of a minor.
unlawful mutilation of human remains charges all in connection to the death of 14-year-old Celeste
Rivas Hernandez.
We know her dismembered, decomposed remains were found in a Tesla out in an L.A. towyard back in
September of 2025, a Tesla allegedly registered to David.
And the purpose of this hearing over the last several days was to determine if there is sufficient
probable cause, if there is enough evidence to support these charges to go forward to trial.
Before I even tell you what the court decided, I'm going to play you my interview from earlier today with Julia Dang, our reporter who was in the courtroom, our eyes and ears since there are no cameras.
But also, I want you to listen very carefully to what the defense did.
They just gave a preview of what their defense may be, self-defense.
What am I talking about?
You're going to see in a moment.
So first, this is my interview with Julia Dang, and then in the opposite side, I'm going to tell you what the court decided.
So I'm back here with NBC LA reporter Julia Dang, who's been in that courtroom. She was in here today. We are talking during this lunchtime break. There's still some more arguments that are happening. At the time we're recording this, the judge hasn't made the decision about whether or not this is going to go to trial or not. I am made of questions regarding what happened this morning because I'm starting to see potential holes in the prosecution's case, which I want to get to. So Julie, good to see.
you. Let me just start here. We had LAPD, uh, Detective Corey Farrel back on the stamp talking about
this plethora of text messages between David and Celeste, thousands of messages. This is something
that we were waiting to see. Talked about it on Friday, the images, the text messages.
But today he talked about the conversation leading up to April 23rd when prosecutors claim
David killed Celeste. Talk to me about what those.
conversations work? This was so fascinating to me, Jesse, because opposing counsel here, the prosecution and the
defense, you know, they're presenting the exact same digital evidence here. They're presenting this same
text message conversation between David and Celeste. And based on what these different attorneys are
essentially cherry picking from these conversations, we are getting a very different view
of what happened between the two of them and what was said the night before Celeste was allegedly
killed. Now, first we heard from Beth Silverman, Deputy DA prosecuting this case. When she had this
LAPD detective, Corey Farrell, on the stand, they presented select text messages from hundreds, thousands of
messages between the two during these two or three nights. And they were meant to basically just
established time, location, the two of them arguing, the two of them coordinating when and where to
meet up, the two of them deciding on a pickup location for the Uber, and then Celeste alerting David
when she apparently got into his home just after 10 o'clock in the evening on April 23rd,
2025, and asking him to let her in. So very basic facts, they're just establishing the two of them
were communicating, they were planning on meeting up, and Celeste said in her text message to David
that she had arrived. Now, then on cross-examination, Blair Burke was questioning LAPD detective
Corey Thorell, and she asked to show the court additional messages from that same conversation.
That's where we started to get a little bit more color about the argument that has been referenced
previously in the prosecution's charging documents.
This is where we actually saw text messages from Celeste to David threatening him.
Let me paraphrase for you some of this.
In those messages that were shown to the court that Detective Farrell read to us,
Celeste tells David that she's going to ruin his career.
She tells him that she's going to tell her father lies about him.
She tells him that she has contact information for his business associates.
And for his mother, she tells him that she's going to call his mother,
and tell her damaging information about David.
Now, we previously have not seen these messages.
is we didn't really have a sense of exactly what was said in the argument between David and
Celeste leading up to the night of April 23rd when she allegedly died at his hands.
So hearing this now and seeing all of this actually in print on the overhead monitor in the
courtroom, it adds a little bit more color and life to this.
And to be clear, the reason this matters, is it not only is potentially going to support
the prosecution's narrative.
that he lured her there to kill her.
But it goes to those special circumstances allegations, right?
Lying in wait, killing for financial gain, killing a witness.
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I do have a question about this, though.
When she claimed in these messages or allegedly claimed these messages that she was going
to ruin his career, was it directly about their relationship?
Did she say, I'm going to tell everybody that you've been with a minor.
I'm going to tell everybody about our sexual relationship.
It wasn't, was it about that?
Because that's what I thought, based on the prosecution's arguments and they're filing before this preliminary hearing, that that's what she specifically threatened.
There was a lot, Jesse, that was said in these tax messages.
And there was a lot that really was not spelled out.
Keep in mind, too.
A lot of this was typed out in Gen Z shorthand in text message format and its little blips of back and forth.
But let me tell you what these messages did not explicitly state.
And this is what the defense brought up during their closing statements just now.
Celeste did not at any point during this back and forth, based on what we've seen in the courtroom today,
explicitly threatened to disclose anything criminal about David's.
She did not spell that out.
But what she's insinuating, what she's alluding to, right, the evidence that she's gathered,
the material that she has, that she's threatening to leak.
Absolutely.
I mean, that is child sexual abuse material.
She references that she talks about reaching out not only to David's mother, but people on his
management team.
So that speaks to two of the special circumstances in this case that make the first
degree murder charge eligible for the death penalty here in California. That's, of course, murder for
financial gain. There was some back and forth just now about whether preventing financial loss
constitutes financial gain. The prosecution is alleging that it does, in fact, count. And there are
several cases here in California that set a legal precedent for that. This also speaks to another
special circumstance under that first degree murder charge, and that is murder of a witness,
a witness to a criminal investigation. And the prosecution made it very clear just now in their
closing statements that there did not need to be an ongoing or pending criminal investigation
for that special circumstance to be applied. Here's where there might be an issue,
though. Lying in wait, it seems to me, based on the text message,
conversations we were just parsing through in the courtroom that Celeste was actually the one who
demanded she and David had this meeting on the evening of April 23rd. She was the one who pushed him
to have an in-person conversation. They were fighting about whether he was dating somebody else.
She became very upset after seeing social media posts featuring the two of them. And it sounds
like that was what triggered this argument. So she demands to see.
him. He tells her no. He's getting ready for a trip to Singapore. He says his parents are there visiting.
He doesn't have time. She demands to see him. And finally, he gives in. So we previously did not know that
about this argument. We thought that he arranged it. Well, he did get her the Uber, right? So it's
interesting. I was listening to what the prosecution was arguing. They said, lying away doesn't mean
a surprise attack. But they're saying he's the one who got her the Uber, got her to go to the house,
right? And we still don't know what actually happened in that house because I have to tell you
when we're talking about potential now holes in the prosecution's case, didn't we learn a thing
or two about potential surveillance footage and the Uber driver that may not be so helpful to
the prosecution's case? Absolutely. I was wondering last week as the prosecution was calling
their witnesses for this preliminary hearing, are we going to hear from that Uber driver at any
points? You know, we've heard about that piece of the investigation for months now that an Uber
picked up Celeste in Lake Elsinore where her family lives and then dropped her off at David's
home just about 80 miles away in the Hollywood Hills. We haven't heard from this Uber driver yet.
Well, that came up today in court. Apparently, LAPD did interview that Uber driver and he
he denies having any recollection on that trip.
He cannot definitively confirm that he dropped her off at that time just after 10 p.m. that
night, and he does not remember picking her up or driving her there.
That is absolutely a hole in what the prosecution has been alleging for months now.
And no surveillance footage of her showing up or him being at the house, which if I'm reading
it correctly, again, seems to be problematic, which I know I'm jumping around a little bit, because I do
want to get a little bit back into what the prosecution was arguing with Detective Farrell, but
something else that really stuck out to me, they are mounting as far as I can see. And I think
the court referenced it, a potential self-defense argument. I mean, when I'm reading these
messages, there was an aspect to it and correct me if I'm wrong. Did Celeste physically, or are they
trying to suggest Celeste physically threatened David and that perhaps when he when she got to his
house, he acted in self-defense? Am I looking at this completely wrong? You're not. We've talked
about a couple different defenses that attorneys have been, I think, either laying the foundation
for or exploring as a potential option if or when this does go to trial. And I think this self-defense
argument, maybe the one they have the strongest foundation for right now. As to the point you're
making about physical assaults from Celeste, that was actually stricken from the court record this
morning. The judge explained she is the victim here. She is not being charged with assaults.
So until this goes to trial and the defense is presenting a self-defense argument, that's
simply irrelevant. But that did come up. And it sounds like there may be evidence relating to that
that we could hear at a later date. But to your point to, Jesse, about that surveillance footage
or lack thereof, absolutely. I mean, there is irrefutable hard evidence for so many other things,
right? Phone records, Tesla records, text messages that spell out what people were saying and doing
at specific times. There is no surveillance footage actually showing
David or Celeste going into or coming out of the Doheny Place home where he was staying at the time.
The LAPD detective, Corey Ferrell, the final witness for the prosecution during this preliminary
hearing, he spoke to that today. And he laid out what I thought was a very reasonable explanation.
He says by the time they tried to access that security system to search for that video,
It had been so long. It had been months. And the system simply overrode itself. It wasn't stored there anymore.
Now, we don't know if somebody may have gone back and deleted that. We don't know if the cameras may have been turned off during that time. All we know is there is no video.
So what the prosecution has been alleging this whole time that David stood by and watched the victim bleed out, well, there's no video, document.
that in that. So we have to wonder, Jesse, if they're going to call another witness to the
stand during the trial who can say that they saw that happen. Well, I think what I was hearing
today from the prosecution is they're assuming that happened because the argument would be
there was no outgoing calls to emergency services. Although it seems to be complicated a little bit
because the defense was saying your medical examiner, right? The couldn't, your medical examiner said
that we don't know how long it took for Celeste to succumb to her injuries, right?
So this idea that you're that you claim our client was watching her bleed out,
it seems that it's complicated by the M.E.'s testimony, right?
That's right. I mean, he testified the other day, either one of those two penetrating
wounds that they attributed her death to, either one could kill somebody in, quote,
Minutes to an hour, that is a pretty wide window of time.
And he simply can't stay.
And that's because of the advanced state of decomposition.
She may have been dead for weeks to months before her body was found.
We saw in very graphic imagery exactly what her body looked like when the pieces were found in body bags inside that vehicle.
So he can't say.
He can't say which penetrating wound happened first.
It took them about three months just to finalize their autopsy findings and confirm her cause of death.
So he doesn't know what kind of instrument or weapon caused those injuries.
The body goes through a lot of change post-mortem.
Sure.
So there was back and forth the other day about just how deep those penetrating wounds really were.
They cannot say for sure at this point.
I have to tell you, I was reading your notes, an interesting name.
popped up. Somebody that I was wondering if they were going to testify at this preliminary hearing,
somebody that we knew was a purported associate or friend of David, somebody who created some
social media video in anticipation of this case. And that is Asia Collins. We never really
understood what her connection or role was to this. We sure did get a lot more information today
about Asia Collins, didn't we? We did. Jesse. Turns out Asia Collins,
who is in LA-based influencer social media model.
She's got a presence at a platform online.
Turns out it was her association with David
and their rumored friendship or perhaps early stages of dating
that made Celeste incredibly upset.
And that is what Celeste cites as the source of her anger
when she is threatening David and telling him over text.
the night before he sent the Uber to pick her up and deliver her to his home.
She tells him over text that she's going to, quote, mutilate his...
She tells him that she doesn't want to see one more instance of David being tagged in posts with Asia Collins.
Asia did come out on the record and state publicly after the charges were filed against David that she never dated him.
She also came out and says she wants justice for Celeste.
Now, we don't know if she may be called as a witness during the trial, but her name did come up today.
And we've been waiting to see what kind of role she played in all of this.
But again, this goes to this all idea that's so, right, the defense is saying, Celeste was the one who wanted to come over.
Celeste was the one who was dating.
Celeste was the one who was violent.
Celeste was the one that was threatening him.
and you appreciate where you said the court kind of put a limitation to that, but you're seeing where
the defense may go if this ultimately goes to trial. However, we've been talking about kind of the
holes in the defense's case. Something else that Detective Ferell mentioned today, I was hoping you
could amplify it, was this idea of tracking the movements of the car and the phone. That came up
today, right, about David's electronic signature, electronic movements. Can you talk to us about that?
That's right. It came up again. This was from testimony that another LAPD expert spoke to a couple days ago last week during the first few days of this preliminary hearing. And in short, what that testimony established was that David's phone and David's Tesla were moving in the same place at the same time the night that Celeste was allegedly killed. So that came up again today. And they reminded the courts that is part of, you know, in the same place at the same time, the night that Celeste was allegedly killed. So that came up again today. And they reminded the courts that is part of,
the prosecution's case, they found David left, or David's vehicle and his phone left his
Hollywood Hills home at about 1130 p.m. So about an hour and a half after Celeste arrived at that home
and then headed up to Lake Kuchuma. Now, he went further north than that to charge his Tesla. It stopped
at a supercharger location. And there were photos shown to the court today as part of the people's
exhibit of the infotainment system in David's Tesla. So that tracks, I think, without a lot of
room for doubt where the vehicle was. There's still a question as to whether there's any surveillance
footage that shows David inside the car. Defense obviously pointed that out the other day.
There's nothing so far that places the defendant definitively inside his car as it's moving away from
the house up to Lake and Chuma where the victim's passport card was found months later.
Julie, I thought another interesting point was about Celeste's family. There seemed to be a big
conversation today about what did they allegedly know or seemingly know about David's
purported alleged illegal sexual relationship with Celeste, which by the way, and we'll talk
about this in a minute, the prosecution said, even if there's this idea that David was mistaken about
how old Celeste was. That's not a legal defense to the charge that he's facing. We talked last week
about all the alleged imagery and photos and text messages, potentially proving their sexual
relationship, which is pretty disgusting to say the least, that whole conversation. But the point is
there is, I have to bring it up. There was testimony today regarding what Celeste family knew it.
And if I'm reading your notes correctly, did her parents like walk in right as this was happening?
So to be clear, Jesse, as you stated, and the prosecution made this very clear in court today, several different ways, it does not matter how old Celeste told David she was.
That does not absolve him at these child sexual abuse charges. It does not matter if she lied to him about her age and said she was 18 when she was 13.
That does not change the factual substance surrounding that particular charge, sexual abuse of a minor under 14.
It also does not matter that her parents consented to letting her travel with him.
It also does not matter that her parents, her aunts, her cousins, and apparently her older sister were aware that she spent time with him, went to the mall with him, went to the movies with him.
that does not make it okay for him to have sexual relations with this child.
So that did come up.
And I think that's part of this bigger story, right?
We're getting a more colorful picture of what was happening around not only David, but Celeste.
Yes, it does seem like, based on the evidence shown to the court today, people around her, including her family, they were aware the two of them spent time together.
But beyond that, we don't know if her parents.
were aware of this purported abortion that happened in January 2024.
And let me just remind you, in January 2024, Celeste was still 13 years old.
We don't know if her parents were aware that he was instructing her to take Plan B.
We don't know if they were aware of who she was with and what they were doing when she ran away from home,
from her home in Lake Elsinore at David's prompting.
He called that away.
He had a name for those runaway operations.
He called them Operation Awesome.
He was talking to her overtext in records that we've seen.
He was talking to her about getting married, starting a family.
He told her over text, you know, if you have twins, great, because we wanted two kids anyway.
She was 13 years old when they were having those conversations.
And Celeste's family in court today was listening to all this?
They were. Her parents, Jesus and Mercedes, they walked in a little bit late. They came in around 10 in the morning and they're sitting through this testimony. They're sitting there through closing statements. We feel their presence.
By the way, how was David acting and behaving in court today?
He's so interesting to watch Jesse because the response is the reaction.
I think he would expect from somebody in his position. We're not seeing those. I'm sitting at an
angle, maybe about 15 to 20 feet behind him, so I can see from the side his facial expressions.
You know, he walked in this morning. He was smiling, laughing a little bit, sidebarring with his
attorneys. He's been sitting in his usual seat at the end of the council table, kind of staring straight
ahead for most of today. He did start taking notes. That was something we didn't see during the first
three days of this preliminary hearing, but he was jotting something down as they were going back
and forth talking about the text message conversations. Beyond that, you know, we haven't heard
much from him. He's very still. You know, he's not moving much. He's not fidgeting the way that
he was on Friday when testimony was dissecting the child sexual abuse material found on his phone.
it's very interesting to observe him. I've had a couple hallway conversations during breaks with
the courtroom sketch artist, and she agrees. I mean, in her words, she says it's like he's off
on a different plane. Where we just left off, when you got out of court to speak to us, the defense,
I understand, had made a motion to basically say, hey, listen, court, there's insufficient evidence
for this case to move forward. And as we're talking about, by the way, it's interesting. We've always
wondered why was there no grand jury indictment in this case? My mind is thinking maybe there's an
issue with some of the holes we're talking about. But talk to me about, if you can summarize,
what have been some of the arguments from the defense today about why there's not enough
evidence to support these specific charges, the elements of these charges, and what have you
heard from the prosecution in response? So what we just heard from the defense before breaking
for lunch, defense attorney, Maryland Bidnarsky was laying out
five issues that she has with the prosecution's case. Essentially, she is alleging they don't have any
evidence proving murder. She says they only have evidence that can support concealment and
transportation of a body. They also spent quite a bit of time attacking the three special
circumstances surrounding that first degree murder charge that make it eligible for the death
penalty. It seems like there's a lot of focus on that. And of course, that's lying in wait,
murder for financial gain, or in this case, murder to prevent financial loss, which the
prosecution has established is essentially the same thing. And murder of a witness to a crime,
which the prosecution has established, they can apply, even though there was no pending criminal
investigation yet. So there's a lot of focus, I think, on invalidating those special circumstances
and perhaps saving their client from the death penalty, which the DA, the LA County District Attorney Nathan Hockman, hasn't actually decided whether or not they're going to pursue.
There wasn't a lot of back and forth in the defense team's closing statement relating to the charge for which I think there is the most hard evidence for the continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 charge.
But three felonies here, including mutilation, unlawful mutilation of human remains first-degree murder,
and the continuous sexual abuse of a child charge.
After prosecution reps, I believe defense may have another opportunity to respond.
So there's still a question mark on whether this is actually going to end today or if this might continue into Tuesday morning.
Julia Dang, thank you so much for coming on.
I really, really appreciate it.
So after I finished up with Julia, this is what came out of court. The judge found that there is sufficient cause to believe the defendant is guilty and to move this trial on all three counts, talking about how such a low standard it is.
The judge reminded this is an exceedingly low standard, sufficient cause to hold someone to answer. Again, probable cause.
Apparently David was staring straight ahead of the judge with his arms folded in front of him as she was reading this case, the law notes, court decisions.
So yes, the judge found that there's sufficient probable causes is going to move forward.
And it appears that an arraignment on these charges is going to be held on Monday, August 31st at 8.30 a.m.
bail has been denied.
And there was also reporting from Julia that David was nodding rapidly as his attorney was whispering to him before waiving the speedy arraignment.
So again, Monday, August 31st, arraignment at 8.30 a.m.
Prosecution agreed.
And now we're going to move forward.
Before we wrap things up, here is Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hockman outside the courthouse after the court's decision.
Good afternoon. My name is Nathan Hockman. I'm the Los Angeles County District Attorney. Today I am here to announce that Judge Charlene O'Madeau held David Anthony Burke, who goes by the name of a singer David spelled D4VT, to answer for the horrific and barbaric killing of a 13-year-old.
14-year-old at the time,
14-year-old at the time, Celeste Revis Hernandez.
She has held him to answer for first-degree murder
with the special circumstances of lying in wait,
doing this crime for financial gain
and murdering a witness to an investigation.
David Anthony Burke has also been held to answer
for the mutilation of the remains
of Celeste Revis Hernandez on September 8,
2025, and he is also
been held to answer for engaging in continuous, lewd, and lascivious acts with a 13-year-old.
What we have seen in this preliminary hearing, and the preliminary hearing was conducted by one of our
most experienced deputy district attorneys who is right here, Beth Silverman, and her team,
working with the Los Angeles Police Department's robbery homicide division.
They methodically presented over five different days before Judge Olmeida the evidence that showed,
and at this point we had to show it by probable cause.
But by probable cause, and I would argue, by an overwhelming amount of probable cause,
and we will eventually prove this beyond a reasonable doubt.
It followed the timeline of the interactions between Celeste Revis Hernandez when she started as a 12th,
12-year-old, then a 13-year-old, then a 14-year-old who never got to see her 15th birthday.
Because in the intervening time where she had these interactions with Mr. Burke,
he engaged in this sexual conduct with a 13-year-old repeatedly over and over again.
This came out in text messages that were presented, in videos and photographs that were presented to the judge
and so this sexual activity.
Ms. Silverman methodically tracked the timeline of their interactions during 22, 22, 23, 24, 25,
that eventually led to the time where Celeste Revis Hernandez went over to Mr. Burke's House
in the Hollywood Hills on April 23rd, 2025, and has never been heard of again.
But what Ms. Silverman and her team were able to show to Judge Omeido is that on April 23rd, 2025, what actually happened was the brutal and horrific murder of Ms. Hernandez.
And thereafter, over the ensuing five months, how her body was chopped up, left in the front trunk of a Tesla, only to be discovered on September 8, 2025, after the car.
Mr. Burke's car have been towed to a tow yard. What now happens is that there will be an information
that will be filed within the next week or so. That information will track these three felony
counts that have already appeared in the complaint. August 31st will be the arraignment on that
information. Thereafter, there will be a trial that will be set. That trial can be set as early
is 60 days. And as we saw with the preliminary hearing, where the defense demanded that they
have that preliminary hearing done, within the time that the law allows, whatever time they want
a preliminary hearing, we were ready. Often preliminary hearings in a case of this complexity
take many, many more months than you have seen in this case. But when the defense demanded
a quick preliminary hearing, we said, bring it on. And that's exactly what we did. If the defense
wants a trial 60 days out or whenever they want this trial, we will be ready for that trial.
So at this point, again, we don't have the one additional consideration is that Mr. Burke now
is eligible for a death penalty. The death penalty considerations are now being weighed.
Part of that consideration will be any submission that the defense wants to submit to the
district attorney's office. It is something that we will consider on a...
whether or not we will seek the death penalty. At this point, the death penalty determination has not
been made. I will now open it up for questions. The defense made many arguments. The defense did not
present any evidence. And by the way, the defense doesn't have to do anything in a criminal case.
At all points in time, a defendant is presumed innocent, until and unless proven guilty, and today it was by
probable cause. And at a trial, it will be beyond a reasonable doubt. We will have to confront.
convinced 12 jurors unanimously to find every element of the crime in order to actually get a conviction.
So the defense has made many arguments. Again, they are arguments at this point.
The arguments themselves are not evidence. If and when the defense wants to present evidence at any point,
we will match and meet that evidence and overcome any of the arguments or evidence in the trial that will be upcoming.
So the other idea that you need to have is that a preliminary hearing is not designed for the prosecution to present all its evidence.
Mr. Quilly is correct from the Los Angeles Times that there was additional evidence that was actually considered in this case
that we anticipate being presented at trial. I'm not going to go into the specifics of that additional evidence,
only to say that we presented a significant but small fraction of our evidence.
in this preliminary hearing.
At a trial, we will present all our evidence
because the proof at a trial will be beyond a reasonable doubt.
We will not be allowed to use certain hearsay
that you can use in a preliminary hearing
that you cannot use in a trial.
It has to be admissible evidence,
and the witnesses will need to come in
to establish all the foundation, the relevancy,
and overcome any objections to the type of evidence.
So you are correct that there will be additional
and significant evidence presented at a trial that wasn't presented here at this preliminary hearing.
We'll take a question right here.
We believe that the evidence at trial will be overwhelming to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt
on the three charges with which Mr. Burke will be charged.
You got a small preview of some of that evidence, including the text messages
and the video and photographic evidence that was also presented directly to the judge.
This was difficult evidence to even hear, but also the crime that we are dealing with is incredibly horrific and barbaric.
And it's not shocking that the evidence that would prove a horrific and barbaric crime would itself also be very difficult to deal with and to watch and listen to.
That is the evidence.
We'll make sure that the jury eventually has all the evidence in order to reach a verdict in this case.
Let's say right here.
I'm sorry, you have to speak up just a touch.
So again, we have said this before, the unspeakable tragedy that the Revis Hernandez family has had to go through
to first lose their daughter, but to then find out how they lost their daughter is something
that there are no words to do.
All we can do at the district attorney's office is bring justice in this case by bringing that killer to justice.
That killer is David Anthony Burke, and we intend to bring him to justice before a jury at a trial in the upcoming future.
One more question, one more question.
Right here.
Again, at trial, we will bring in all relevant evidence that will establish all the elements of the crimes that have been charged.
You heard a preview of that evidence in the preliminary hearing, whether it was, again, certain witness testimony, certain text messages, videos, photographs, there will be business records.
And there will also be witnesses that are precipient witnesses.
They have information that is relevant to establish the mental state of David Anthony Burke and the acts he committed.
That evidence will be presented at trial, at the end of which we will be seeking a verdict of guilt
on the three counts of which he will be charged, first-degree murder with the special circumstances of lying in wait,
doing it for financial gain, and eliminating a witness in connection with that case.
mutilation of human remains and engaging in a continuous series of sexual acts with a minor
that are lewd in lascivious acts.
Thank you all very much.
And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody.
Thank you so much for joining us.
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