D4vd Murder Trial LOOMS in Teen Dismemberment Case

Accused. child murderer David was back in court. today and we maybe just got a better. sense of when his criminal trial in. connection with the alleged sexual abuse. and killing of a teenage girl may begin. [music] Let's talk about it. Welcome to. Sidebar presented by Law and Crime. I'm. Jesse Weber. We got a new hearing in the David case. happened today. Singer turned accused. murderer was back in court and we're. going to bring in our reporter who was. in the courtroom to tell us what. happened cuz she's our eyes and ears. There are no cameras in the courtroom.

There's no recording devices. But. something happened and we may now have a. much clearer idea of how this case is. going to move forward and when this. trial is going to happen. So David, real. name David Anthony Burke, has been. charged with first-degree murder with. special circumstances, meaning. potentially the death penalty on the. table, continuous sexual abuse of a. child under 14, and unlawful mutilation. of human remains. He has pleaded not. guilty to all these charges. He is. innocent unless proven guilty. He has.

remained held without bail. He's accused. of murdering and dismembering the body. of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. This teenager from Lake Elenor, California. Her remains were reportedly. found back on September 8th, 2025 in the. trunk of a Tesla allegedly registered to. David. We know David was arrested in. April. Prosecutors alleged that he had. been in this illegal sexual relationship. with Celeste, who was a minor, and that. when she allegedly threatened to expose.

him, prosecutors claim he lured her to. his place and killed her. Now, remember, this is an interesting time for David, right? Because while he was initially. represented by private counsel, Blair. Burke, Marilyn Barkski, Regina Peter, they withdrew from his case. Now, this. may be due money issues, it may be. because he's indigent, meaning he may. not have the funds for his defense. We. actually did a sidebar on his apparent. financial situation, but now we know. that he's represented by the LA County. Public Defenders Office. And as we. discussed in a previous sidebar, too, Ricardo Garcia, W Candal, they filed.

with the court what appeared to be a. request to have Candal and a parallegal. have a face-to-face meeting or meetings. or interviews with their client, David, while he's locked up at the Twin Towers. correctional facility, seemingly to show. him case material to go over the. evidence. And in a signed order by the. judge here, Judge Charlene Almeido, it. says that good cause has been shown. It. directs the LA County Sheriff Robert. Luna to allow these meetings to take. place during the course of this case at. either a booth in the attorney room or. in a private face toface room. But I.

want to talk about what happened in. court today. Okay? And before we do, by. the way, I just have to let you know. So. here on Sidebar, we've been following. David from the very beginning. We can't. sometimes show you just every piece of. evidence in this case all at once or all. in one sidebar. Just too much there. So, what we did is we created the case file. section on the Long Crime Plus app. because if you think about it, what. would you do if you wanted to examine. the entire case file, like if you're a. juror, if you're interested. So, you go. to the case file section on the Long. Crime Plus app. We basically open up the. evidence vault so you can inspect things. like raw body cam footage, 911 calls,

crime scene photos, full trial tapes, all firsthand, all on these big cases. Plus, you get adree streaming of all. your favorite law and crime and court TV. shows. And right now, we have a special. offer. Use my promo code Sidefall. You. get 25% off an annual long crime plus. subscription and you enjoy a full year. of true crime commercial free. That is. just $44.99 for the year. You go to. longrimeplus.com. Subscribe today. Okay, now let me bring. in who I've been waiting to bring in.

Once again, our eyes and our ears in. this courtroom since there are no. cameras allowed. We got long crime. correspondent Julia Deng with us. Julia, always good to see you. I know this was. a relatively short hearing, but an. important hearing nonetheless. Before I. get into the substance of what happened, I go to where we always start since we. do not know what David looks like, how. he appears. Let's start right there. What did he look like? What did he say? >> Tired, Jesse. He looked very tired this.

morning. And what was noticeably. different as soon as he was led into the. courtroom by two deputies was the fact. that he wasn't wearing his glasses. So, we got a pretty clear look at his his. puffy eyes. He's definitely not sleeping. well behind bars, but he's wearing the. same orange LA County jail uniform. His. hair is a little bit more grown out this. time. Um, and he sat quietly. He spoke. clearly, very calmly. You know, we.

didn't hear any of the side chatter. between David and his new appointed. attorneys. This is status conference. number five in his murder case, but it's. the first time we're seeing him. represented by these LA County public. defenders. Um, and that's after the last. time we were here in this courtroom. Um, listening to another pre-trial hearing. during which his private defense. attorneys unexpectedly withdrew. So, he.

was wearing the same thing, acting very. much the same way, but Jesse, he looks. exhausted. >> Let me ask you this before we get into. the substance. Um, anybody from. Celeste's family there? Anybody in. support of Celeste or her family or. anybody there in support of David? >> No. That was interesting, too. We. haven't seen any family members, any. friends, any supporters of David, the.

first-degree murder defendant in this. case. But throughout much of the. preliminary hearing, uh, which went on. for five days back in July, we did see. the victim's family. The victim again, 14year-old Celeste Reebas Hernandez. This morning, we did not see her family. We did not see her family's civil. attorney, Patrick Steinfeld, um, who's. actually spoken with us outside the. courthouse before, and he issued a. statement recently on behalf of the.

victim's family, commenting on the. defendant's uh, indigent status now, which is what makes him eligible for. these new courtappointed attorneys. But. no, it was a very, very short hearing. um went on for all of two, three. minutes. And really the only thing that. came out of this, the only decision that. was made by the court was the setting of. another court date, another pre-trial. hearing on Monday, January 11th. So.

that's going to give this new defense. team a little bit more time to prepare. But speaking of substance in this case, Jesse, this also came up this morning. during that extremely short hearing, the. shortest status conference we've had so. far for David Burke. his new attorney, this LA County public defender, Wed Kil, he told the court he actually had to. give several additional hard drives to. the deputy DA prosecuting this case,

Beth Silverman, because that's how much. additional material has to go through uh. from discovery. Uh recall about 40. terabytes of evidence was uncovered. during the investigation. So, they're. going to need that time to prep before. we come back in January. >> And do we have a sense of when the trial. date would happen? Right. So, if they. have a hearing set, um, do we have any.

sense about, you know, they have that. that hearing set in January, do we have. any idea about when the trial would. happen? Are they still confident it. might happen in 2027? And of course, look, it it's complicated by the fact. that the death penalty potentially on. the table, something that the family. seemingly has advocated for, right? So, do we have an idea? >> It is supposed to start within 90 days. of that upcoming court date. So, within. 90 days of January 11th, chances are. willing to bet Jesse this trial is not.

going to start within 90 days of January. 11th. And because of this new defense. team, uh, because David declared himself. indigent, requested this courtappointed. counsel and was just swapped over to. this new team. I think that's going to. delay this case even further. I mean, it. could take months um for his team just. to go through the amount of evidence in. this case. But to your point about the. death penalty about this case being. death penalty eligible that could also.

complicate matters. Um it's very high. stakes. There's a lot of evidence to dig. through. He has new attorneys now. And. keep in mind they're juggling additional. cases. Their case load is heavy as it. is. So for them to suddenly have David. Anthony Burke's case in front of them as. well. And it's not just murder that he's. charged with. That's one of three felony. counts he's facing. It's firstdegree.

murder, continuous sexual abuse of a. child under 14 and unlawful mutilation. of human remains. So on top of that, there are a number of special. circumstances that make this eligible. for the death penalty. So, all that to. say, uh, it could be months, it could be. at least a year or more before this. actually goes to trial. >> And we don't know if his team is going. to adopt the same kind of potential. defense that we heard preview during. that preliminary hearing. I mean, more.

specifically, the idea of maybe. questioning what actually happened. inside that house. Was this a. coldblooded murder or was this an act of. self-defense? And we've talked about. this before because they're questioning. even the cause of death or it seems to. be. So, we don't know if the defense is. going to challenge that and kind of. adopt what we heard from his prior. attorneys. You talked about the issue of. David purportedly being indigent. Can. you expand upon that a little bit more? Um, this is a big issue. You talked. about Patrick Steinfeld made a comment.

about it, but just in general for people. who don't know because, you know, his. finances became a big issue during the. course of that preliminary hearing, >> but we got more information. I. understand you have more information. just for our viewers, our listeners to. understand in terms of, you know, why. he's now gone with the public defender, how it's possible he might be in jail. >> Absolutely. In the United States of. America, we have the constitutional. right um to counsel if we are facing. charges in court. But in order to get um.

a courtappointed. public defender that you wouldn't have. to pay for um or if you want your costs. reimbursed by the court, you have to. prove that you can't afford your own. attorney. Now, what's interesting here. is that during the preliminary hearing, witnesses actually testified on the. stand that David made between 10 and. 11.5 million just between the years 2023.

and 2025. And of course, one of the special. circumstances in the firstdegree murder. case is the fact that prosecutors claim. he committed this crime for financial. gain. So, there was a lot of money on. the line and for this defendant, uh, this upand cominging musician with. billions of streams and a record deal. that was estimated to be worth up to $19.

million. For this musician, this defendant to. suddenly claim that he can't afford his. own attorney, that raised eyebrows. And. that was what prompted uh the victim's. family's civil attorney to issue that. statement claiming that David is. essentially hiding his money uh within. three different corporations. So it. wasn't just his music that he was making. money off of. It was also merchandising.

And I believe he has another company, another corporation with money tied up. in it for publishing rights. So, the. question is, where did his money go? Uh, we know there's been coverage um of of. property owned by David that might have. been transferred to his mother, Colleen. Burke, shortly after these allegations. came to light. So, to answer your. question um about what makes somebody.

indigent, it's different from stateto. state, jurisdiction to jurisdiction. There is no federal standard, but here. in California, uh, the court typically. uses the federal poverty guidelines to. determine whether or not a defendant. actually qualifies for appointed. counsel. Now, none of David's financial. statements that were taken into. consideration in this case that he would. have had to file uh before he got this. county public defender had been made.

public. But the office of the public. defender uh did come out and say that. they examined everything carefully and. they decided David is in fact eligible. So looking at those federal poverty. guidelines, it sounds like if he was. able to show that he's making under. $2,600. monthly right now, he could qualify. So. they would be looking at not only income.

uh but also debts. A lot of questions. about what happened to his money. Again, he made more than $10 million. in just two years between 2023 and 2025. before Celeste's remains were found in. the front trunk of his Tesla a day after. her 15th birthday last year. And you. know what's complicates that? What's. interesting about that is that Celeste.

family, and we reported about this on. Sidebar, they filed a wrongful death. lawsuit against David. They filed it. also um against companies, the. affiliated companies, everything from. wrongful death, battery, sexual battery, childhood sexual assault, assault, false. imprisonment, human trafficking, intentional infliction of emotional. distress. It was a 20-page complaint. It. was filed in the LA County Superior. Court. echoes a lot of the allegations. from prosecutors that they put forward. um in David's preliminary hearing. And. what was interesting about that is of. course there was the allegation was he.

moving around assets to be judgment in. order to protect himself from a civil. judgment. >> It's interesting when you think about. that and you also think about the timing. of it now, right? So you talk about this. January hearing in 2027. Um will the. civil case go first, criminal case go. first? I mean, usually a lot of times. you see the criminal case going first. and then the civil case. And to be. clear, whatever the verdict is in the. criminal case, the criminal case doesn't. necessarily dictate what the civil case. would be. There's two different. standards here, right? >> Um, but it is interesting to be thinking.

about that and the overlap and the. timing of it. There's something else I. wanted to ask you about. You mentioned. all the digital evidence in this case, right? How much has to be reviewed by. the defense, by the prosecution? Do we. have an idea of what that digital. evidence is, those files? I mean, there. was a lot about that during the. preliminary hearing regarding potential. proof that David was engaged in illegal. sexual relationship with Celeste,

photos, videos, texts. But yeah, >> do you know do you have an idea about. what this evidence may be? Is it. surveillance footage? Is it that photos, videos, text? I mean, do we have an idea. about what all of this is for them to. for both sides to review? We do we do have an idea even though we. did not see most of that material during. the preliminary hearing because of CSAM. uh CSAM. child sexual abuse material laws. So. that was actually one of the final.

pieces of witness testimony during the. preliminary hearing. An LAPD robbery. homicide detective uh who was front and. center during the investigation. He took. this stand and because they couldn't. show this material, photos and video. evidence of David sexually abusing. Celeste who was 13 and 14 at the time. He had to look at the material and then. describe to the court what he was.

seeing. And Jesse, you'll recall that. was the day during the preliminary. hearing that Celeste's parents actually. got up uh during this witness testimony. and walked out of the courtroom. I made. eye contact with her mother, Mercedes, as she was rushing out the door uh. during that witness testimony. She was. just holding back sobs. This woman sat. through testimony from the deputy. medical examiner about the autopsy of.

her daughter's remains, but she couldn't. listen to this. So, the prosecutors have. described voluminous amounts of. evidence, and most of it, I believe, is. that CCM material, the child sexual. abuse material. That was actually also. the felony charge um that the original. private defense attorneys didn't spend a. lot of time pushing back on during the. preliminary hearing. And I think because. of that hard evidence, again, the photo.

and video evidence there, uh it it's. really tough to poke holes in that one. What they focused on was the special. circumstances that make this case death. penalty eligible. So, you're right, Jesse. We don't know what the strategy. is going to be from Wed Kil, uh, the LA. County public defender now leading. David's defense, but I imagine it's. going to be something along those lines. There's so much evidence here that seems. nearly impossible to refute.

>> Okay. So, look, we'll wait and see. Uh, we have another court date set. We'll. see what happens between now and then. I. mean, it's interesting. You make the. point, and this is something I've. wondered about, is [snorts] that sexual. abuse charge purely from the evidence. that was presented by the prosecution. during that preliminary hearing, you. could argue it's one-sided, may be. really hard to defend, may be really. hard to refute. So, I always wondered, is there a plea deal in would he agree. to plead guilty to that? Um, I'm not.

saying prosecutors would take murder. charge off the table, but, you know, do. you plead guilty to that? Do you plead. guilty to murder? Death penalty taken. off the table even though there been. executions occurring in California. It's. just one of those things that you have. to wonder what are those conversations. between defense council and their client. regarding the strength of evidence and. where they might be able to poke. reasonable doubt. Um but again, one of. the most shocking things from that. preliminary hearing was the apparent, you know, digital evidence showcase or.

potentially showing this sexual. relationship. Um and that's, you know, that's something to consider. So Julia. Deng, thank you so much for taking the. time. Always appreciate it. You're the. best. >> Again, great interview with Julia. By. the way, after we finished up, we looked. on the court portal. So yes, you have. this January 2027 final status. conference. Now, one more thing before I. let you go because Julia had mentioned. the Celeste family attorney, Patrick. Steinfeld. So I interviewed him before.

on this show and I interviewed him about. the lawsuit that I mentioned before. And. as we talk about things to look out for. in this criminal case, I just can't. forget when he said this. There's a part. in the lawsuit that makes the claim that. Burke and others hid evidence. What do. you mean about the others hiding. evidence? >> Well, again, that's that's uh much of. this complaint is based upon information. and belief because we don't have the. actual documents, the actual evidence at.

this time. And so we believe that Burke. may not have done this on his own. So. we're making the allegation and that. protects that allegation if we do find. that another individual assisted Burke. in the alleged murder or the destroying. of evidence or the mutilation. So we're. leaving that allegation open in the. event that we do find another individual.

that was involved. But no one. specifically because I guess the. question is do you know if the DA if the. LAPD. has investigated anyone else in. connection with David's alleged crimes? >> I believe they have. The district. attorney's office is is not showing. their cards and uh the time and place to. do that is is at trial. But I think that. they've got um witnesses that are going.

to support uh all the allegations that. were made in their uh criminal complaint. against David Anthony Berg. >> Do you mean potentially cooperating. witnesses who were offered a deal in. exchange for testimony? >> It could be. And that's all we have for. you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining. us. I'm Jesse [music] Weber. Speak to. you next time.