D4vd's Bombshell Decision Rocks Teen Dismemberment Case

The district attorney's office is ready. to proceed to prove all three charges. beyond a reasonable doubt. >> Bombshell news from Los Angeles court. today as we move closer to a murder. trial for David. The romantic homicide. singer's highpowered legal team is now. out. We're digging into what happened in. court, what's next, what this means for. one of the biggest cases of the year, and we're doing it all with a reporter. who is inside that courtroom today. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and.

Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. David is back in court for a big hearing. in his criminal case. Something major. happened. And when that happens, you. know what we do? We break it down here. on Sidebar. And in a little bit, I'm. going to be bringing in our reporter who. was in the courtroom, our eyes, our. ears. There's no cameras in that. courtroom. She'll let us know what. happened. But look, today out in LA, this was David, 21-year-old David. Anthony Burke's arraignment. This is. where a criminal defendant is presented. the charges that they're facing. They're.

instructed on their legal rights. It's. supposed to be, you know, pretty. standard, pretty pro-forma, not what. happened today. Okay, before we even get. into what happened both inside and. outside of that courtroom today, remember this comes about a month after. a judge determined there is sufficient. evidence for this case to move forward. towards trial. sufficient evidence, sufficient probable cause to support the. charges of firstdegree murder with. special circumstances, continuous sexual. abuse of a child under 14, and unlawful. mutilation of human remains. David has.

pleaded not guilty to all these charges. He has remained held without bail. Actually, we did a whole sidebar episode. on what his life may be like at the Twin. Towers Correctional Facility out in Los. Angeles. Remember, he's accused of. murdering and dismembering the body of. 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, this teen from Lake Elenor. Her remains. were reportedly found back in September. of 2025 in the trunk of a Tesla, allegedly registered to David. He was. arrested in April. Prosecutors alleged. that he had been in an illegal sexual.

relationship with Celeste, a minor, and. when she allegedly threatened to expose. him, authorities claim that he allegedly. lured her to his place and killed her. Now, something big happened in court. today that none of us expected. So, aside from the report that he looked. exhausted and his hair was rumpled, what. happened today changed the entire game. Okay. Now, before I bring in our. reporter who was in that courtroom will. let us know everything that we need to. know. You know, this is a big case that. we've been following here on Sidebar.

And with that, we can't show you every. line of every page of every document, every piece of evidence. We're limited. here on Sidebar. But the case file. section on the Long Crime Plus app, that's your answer. We are opening the. evidence vault so you can inspect the. raw body cam footage, the 911 calls, the. crime scene photos, the full trial tapes. firsthand on all these major cases. Plus, you get adree streaming of all. your favorite law crime and court TV. shows. So, you can see the full picture. for an entire month free, by the way.

Just head on over to longrimeplus.com, enter promo code sidebar, and you can. start exploring and learning today. Okay, so this is where I bring in long. crime correspondent Julia Deng into the. conversation. Uh, she was in the. courtroom. She's been in the courtroom. for all these major hearings. So, happy. to have her back. Julia, this was not. what we expected. This is not what we. thought was going to be a typical. arraignment. as I said, where a. defendant is just, you know, presented. the charges, presented their legal. rights. There was a bombshell today.

Talk to us what happened. >> Yeah, this took a turn this morning, Jesse. Nobody that I talked to, at least. was expecting this. So, this started a. little bit later than it was supposed. to. It was supposed to be an 8:30 a.m. arraignment here at the courthouse. And. everybody here knows this judge is very. prompt. So when the clock made it to. 8:35, we started wondering, you know, what is going on? The attorneys are not. seated. Defendant is not here and the.

judge is still in chambers. So we. learned pretty quickly after this went. on for a couple more minutes, they were. talking about something with the judge. and I started to wonder, you know, could. they be working out a plea deal? That's. the one thing that might stop this from. going to trial at this point after they. determined during that preliminary. hearing that went on for 5 days there is. probable cause for this to move forward. So I'm thinking could there be a plea.

bargain? You know what charge might be. reduced? What is going on back there? So. then they come out and again this took a. turn. This took a 180 turn. Um, David. David Anthony Burke charged with. firstdegree murder. Um, in addition to. other felonies, he now has new defense. council. He is no longer being. represented by his original defense. team. He is now going with a public.

defender. Nobody saw this coming. Um, but he does have another hearing on the. schedule. Now, that's going to be. another status conference. Uh that. status conference is going to be his. first one being represented by an LA. County public defender and that's on. Monday, October 19th. He did enter his. ps today. He pleaded not guilty again to. all three counts. Um and we did hear. from the LA County District Attorney. Nathan Hawkman right after this. arraignment wrapped. I mean, he made it.

clear he still hasn't made a decision. about whether or not the prosecution is. going to pursue the death penalty, which. this case is eligible for. >> Yeah. And I'm going to play you that. sound a little bit later on for our. audience. And again, I think that's cuz. they might be using as a bargaining. chip, a way to say, do you really want. to take this to trial? We have this. death penalty uh here. You know, maybe. there's a deal we could work out where. you plead guilty life in prison and not. the death penalty. Um, you know, there's. a mortorium on exec executions in. California. But I gotta go back to this.

So after this moment in court, there was. a statement that has been released from. David's for former attorneys, Blair. Burke, Marilyn Barkski, Regina Peter. This was obtained by uh LA magazine. Uh. this morning, the court granted our. request to withdraw his counsel and. appoint the Los Angeles County Public. Defenders Office after it was determined. David qualified for appointed counsel. We continue to support David and his. defense against these serious charges. We are grateful that the Los Angeles. County Public Defenders Office has taken.

over the representation and that David. has a highly capable and committed team. of attorneys and investigators behind. him. Let me ask you this just to be. clear. This was them withdrawing from. the case as opposed to him firing these. attorneys? Because if they're. withdrawing from the case, do we know. why? Was it an issue of money? Does he. not have the funds for private counsel? Was it disagreement over a legal. strategy? Do we have any idea what. happened here?

>> That's the big question, Jesse. We don't. actually know why. And because of. attorney client privilege, we may never. find out why, at least from the parties. involved. Um, money could be an issue. You know, this case is dragging on. Representation is very expensive. It. could be that there may have been a. rift, a disagreement over whether or not. to take a plea deal. We don't know yet. what happened in chambers this morning.

between the defendant and his attorneys, prosecution, and the judge. We simply. don't know. But moving forward, we do. know David now has a public defender. And what that public defender can do uh. per Nathan Hawkman, the LA County. District Attorney, is submit a. mitigation packet. And that's going to. be a packet of information and the DA, the prosecution will take into. consideration regarding whether or not. to pursue the death penalty. There's no.

timeline on that decision. We don't know. if that mitigation packet is going to be. submitted before this goes to another. pre-trial hearing, that status. conference set for October 19th. But I. can tell you this, this just came out. this morning. Uh LA County District. Attorney Nathan Hawkman revealed the. original defense team, they had an. opportunity to submit that same. mitigation packet. They never did. So, we don't know why David has now split.

with that defense team and moved forward. with a public defender. Um, but. definitely a turn, definitely a 180 turn. that we did not see coming this morning. >> All right, before we jump back into. this, if you run a business, I think you. want to listen up, okay? Because running. a business, as you know, is tough. enough. Why make it harder doing things. manually or relying on dozens of apps. that don't really talk to each other, right? That's where our sponsor ODU. comes in. Odo is an all-in-one business. management platform with a full suite of.

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carefully examines the evidence. We are. committed to providing him with that. defense. In court, did you make any. observations from Burke or Benarki or. David? Did their facial expressions, emotions, behavior indicate anything to. you as to what's going on here? >> No, Jesse, no indication from the. original defense team as to how they. were feeling um or what exactly they may. do next regarding this case. But I can. tell you when Beth Silverman, the deputy.

DA prosecuting this case, when she. walked into the courtroom out of judge's. chambers following this conversation, uh. she seemed to be grinning. She had a. very brief whispered conversation with. um one of the LAPD detectives who. testified during the preliminary. hearing. She was probably filling him in. on what was happening and what we were. about to find out. Um one of the. original defense attorneys, Blair Burke, she had her hand on the defendant's back.

um as the judge was relaying this new. information to the court. But beyond. that, no, no indication as to what. happened. But this was significant to. me. The LA County public defender, uh, last name Kand Deal, the attorney who's. taking on this case now, he was seated. in the courtroom during this. conversation. He was there and he was. ready to take on this appointment. That. tells me this was all negotiated.

beforehand. Big question is why? We. don't know that. and he wanted more. time, right? Didn't he want to wave this. uh arraignment for more time to prepare? >> That's correct. That was probably a. strategic move. The more time they have, the more they can push this back, the. better because he's got other cases to. handle as well. But when he made that. request, the judge immediately denied. that request. And she told him um in. front of the court, you know, this is.

pretty straightforward. It's the same. three felonies that he has been charged. with since April. You simply need to. submit your client's plea. So, David did. again plead this morning to all three. felony counts, and that's firstdegree. murder, unlawful mutilation of a corpse, and ongoing sexual abuse of a child. under 14. Let's just put this in. perspective for our audience about how. significant this is in the sense this is. no this is no criticism of the public.

defenders office or any public. defender's office. However, we had. talked before that his now his former. council Blair Burke in particular. These. are these are very skilled and. experienced defense attorneys who have. tried criminal cases in Los Angeles, have had celebrity clients. You and I. both were covering kind of what they. were doing during the preliminary. hearing which was quite significant. trying to poke holes in the. prosecution's case. I mean talk to our. viewers and our listeners about what was.

the work you were seeing from this now. former defense council. What were the. arguments they were bringing up? They were methodically. breaking down every single piece of. circumstantial evidence they could and. it was expertly done. However you may. feel about these truly horrific charges, however you may feel about this case and. who could be at fault, you have to hand. it to that defense team. They were doing.

their jobs. In this country, you get. your day in court, no matter what you're. charged with, and you can be represented. by whoever you choose to hire, who's. licensed, of course. So, David chose. this very aggressive, very experienced. defense team, and they were in court. doing their jobs. We watched that play. out. There was no indication at all. during the preliminary hearing that just. wrapped at the end of July. The final.

day was Monday, July 27th. There was no. indication to me that there was any kind. of rift or disagreement brewing between. David and his three attorneys, Marilyn, Blair, and Meredith. They seemed to be. in lock step on the same page. Um, they. waved time for this to go to an. arraignment and then trial. So, we. didn't see this coming. And again, we. don't know what happened, but that.

public defender who was waiting in the. courtroom to take on this appointment, he had a heads up. So, something. happened before this morning that just. became official that was just accepted. by the judge and this court. So, look, I. mean, people will speculate if this had. to do with funds because this was a. complicated defense, particularly if. they were going to challenge the cause. of death and they needed their own. experts. There was a question of what. happened behind closed doors. Remember,

if we remember in the preliminary. hearing, there was um evidence that. could they definitively establish that. Celeste arrived at the property, no. surveillance footage. Uh the Uber driver. apparently wasn't entirely sure what. happened. I know they were relying on. cell phone evidence and digital data to. try to place a timeline here. Uh there. was also a question, you know, what. happened? Was there a fight inside the. house? Was he acting in self-defense? You started seeing the the the. beginnings of what could be a. complicated defense. And then even when.

it talked about the the evidence that. was collected and whether there was a. sloppy investigation and why could you. not definitively say which weapon was. used for the alleged dismemberment, a. missing chainsaw, you don't have a. murder weapon. So, there was a lot of. different areas that you see them. exploring, but when there is such a. complicated case with this amount of. charges, I was wondering, they're going. to have a lot of witnesses and a lot of. experts and a lot of time and a lot of. motions that costs money. So, I do. wonder if in the end that's an issue,

which is surprising considering, you. know, one of the first pieces of. testimony we heard, Julia, was how much. money he was making or was planning to. make. I mean, remember prosecutors said. as the special circumstances allegations. that um you know, he was he killed. Celeste for financial gain that he knew. what he would lose if their relationship. was going to be or their alleged. relationship was going to be exposed. So, it is shocking to say the least, but. as I'm starting to formulate why this. might have happened, did we get a sense.

of other than this hearing that you. mentioned that's now upcoming in. October, did we get a sense of when the. trial is going to happen? Because under. California law, there's a specific. amount of time from when an arraignment. happens to when you can actually have a. trial. Did he wave it or now we now we. don't know when the trial date's going. to be? >> He did wave time. In California, I. believe, Jesse, it is 60 days after the. arraignment uh for a felony case, but I. have a feeling this is not going to go.

to trial in 60 days. Um, I also have a. feeling if there's an opportunity here. for this public defender to negotiate a. plea deal with prosecutors, I have a. feeling uh that's something the. defendant may want to take into. consideration. I mean, we're talking. about three serious felony charges and. one of them is eligible for the death. penalty, >> right? He's looking at serious. consequences. And and yes, Jesse, to.

your point about money, I wouldn't be. surprised if that was part of this, if. that may have played a role in why David. decided to go with a county public. defender instead of his original very. experienced but very expensive defense. team. But here's what I'm wondering. You. know, why take on accounting public. defender when you could hire different. private attorneys who are maybe not as. price? He had other options, but he went. straight to an LA County public.

defender. I'm wondering, and this is. completely speculative, there's no. information um on the record uh that. would lead me to believe this, but I'm. wondering if perhaps there was a. conversation before today about a. possible plea agreement. And I'm. wondering if the original defense team. tried to convince their client, David, to take that plea deal, and he didn't. want to. He wanted this to go to trial.

and he wanted to fight every charge. I'm. wondering if that might have been a. piece of this too. We simply don't know. and because of attorney client. privilege, we may never find out. >> We may never find out it is true and and. we just don't know like you said. Um, and particularly when there there was an. argument that the evidence was strong, really strong with respect to the sexual. abuse charge, maybe questionable with. respect to the murder charge or at least. reasonable doubt. But look, that was. from a legal point of view. Julia Deng,

thank you so much for coming on, our. long crime correspondent. We look. forward to having you back for the next. hearing. Now, before we wrap things up, after court today, Los Angeles County. District Attorney Nathan Hawkman. appeared outside that courthouse, held a. presser. Here's what he said. >> At that arraignment, uh, David Anthony. Burke entered not guilty pree. In addition, David Anthony Burke has. substituted his council record out.

Before it was Blair Burke, now it will. be someone in the public defenders. office. with respect to the what happens in the. future on October 19th. The court has. set the next hearing that is a pre-trial. hearing zero of 90 days. What that means. is that the court could order a trial. within 90 days if the defense is ready. to proceed. As soon as a defense. announces ready to proceed, the DA's. office is ready to proceed. The last. thing that will have to be decided, and. that's a decision by myself as the.

district attorney, is whether or not. we'll be seeking the death penalty in. this case. We had invited David Anthony. Burke's prior counsel to submit what's. called a mitigation packet to the. district attorney's office for. consideration. A mitigation packet are. factors that we are to consider why we. should not bring the death penalty in. this case. We had not received that. mitigation practice packet as of today. Certainly, we will give additional time. for new council to come up with a.

mitigation packet if they so choose to. present it in order to consider that. mitigation p packet as well as all the. aggravating factors in determining. whether or not we will proceed with the. death penalty. That decision has not. been made today. >> All right, continue to follow what. happens next in this case. unpredictable. as always. But as always, thank you so. much for joining us here on Sidebar. Please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your. podcast. You can also check us out on.

NBC's Peacock as well. If you want to. follow me, X Instagram, my NewsNation. show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through. Friday, 11 PM Eastern. I'll see you next. time, everybody.