Disheveled D4vd's Messy Appearance Stuns Courtroom

Accused child murderer David was back in. court today for a status conference, a. key meeting before a major reported. multi-day preliminary hearing that was. supposed to happen in 2 [music] weeks. Although what happened today, what. happened in court, what do we learn, what can we expect from the prosecution. and the defense? And also, how did the. romantic homicide singer look and act? Breaking it all down with [music] a. reporter who was inside that courtroom. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law &. Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. [music].

All right, we just had a new hearing in. the David case, just wrapped up this. status conference. The sides coming. together with the judge determining. where we're at in the case, what's going. to happen. Now, I'm going to give you a. little preview. We were supposed to have. a preliminary hearing on June 29th, and. it's reportedly going to be a few days. This is when the prosecution will. present the evidence that they have, maybe not all the evidence, but enough. evidence to say, "Hey judge, there's. sufficient probable cause to support the. charges and for this case to go to. trial." That's what a preliminary.

hearing is. The defense has an. opportunity to challenge the evidence. Now, I say that, but you're going to. hear how the timeline got a little. tricky today based on what happened in. court. Now, David is currently charged. with first-degree murder, continuous. sexual abuse of a child under 14, and. unlawful mutilation of human remains, all in connection with the death of. 14-year-old Celeste Riveras Hernandez. Remember back in September 8th, 2025, that was the day after what would have. been Celeste's 15th birthday, her. dismembered decomposed body is found.

reportedly in the front trunk of a Tesla. allegedly registered to David at an LA. tow yard. At the tow yard, LAPD. detectives apparently opened the Tesla's. front storage compartment and found a. black cadaver bag that was covered with. insects. Inside the bag, they reportedly. discovered a severely decomposed head. and torso. There was a plastic garbage. bag beneath the black cadaver bag that.

reportedly contained the dismembered. arms and legs. Now, it was also reported. that Celeste ring and pinky fingers on. her left hand had been amputated, that. they were not found in this car. But prosecutors allege that David was in. this illegal sexual relationship with. Celeste, that he lured her to his rental. home out in LA on April 23rd and stabbed. her to death, allegedly watched her. bleed out, and then reportedly took. horrifying measures to conceal this. alleged crime. They claim that he.

allegedly purchased a blue inflatable. pool, chainsaws, a body bag, heavy-duty. laundry bags, that he dismembered her. body. They claim that he made suspicious. trips out to the Santa Barbara County. area, that he allegedly lied to friends. and associates about the smell of. purported decomposition in his place. And we know that on April 16th, 2026, he. was arrested. When you go to the. criminal complaint, it also includes the. special circumstance allegations, murder. of a witness, murder for financial gain,

lying in wait, as well as a special. allegation that he personally used a. deadly and dangerous weapon, a sharp. instrument, to commit the crime. So, the. prosecutors allege that he killed. Celeste to prevent her from coming. forward, seemingly about the. relationship, which would have cost him. his career, to silence her. That is what. makes this a capital murder case, those. special circumstances allegations. So, the death penalty is potentially on the. table, but we also know that there. hasn't been an execution in California. for years. There's a moratorium on. executions. Quick snapshot of the.

background. Now, I want to talk about. what happened today. Okay, so let me. bring on somebody who was in that. courtroom today. She's outside the. courthouse right now, NBC LA reporter. Julia Dang. Julia, thanks so much for. coming back here on Sidebar. Before we. get into the substantive issues about. what happened today, I understand it was. a quick hearing, but important. nonetheless. How did David look? How did. he look compared to the last time you. saw him? >> I'm so glad, Jesse, you opened with that.

question because that was actually the. first thing I texted your producers. It. was the first thing I noticed. He did. not look great. I mean, he came in. clean-shaven. It looks like he may have. gotten that haircut his attorneys. requested, but he didn't look good. He. looks like he hasn't slept properly in. days. He's got bags under his eyes. He. looked kind of rumpled. Uh he was. wearing the regulation orange jail. uniform he had on last time, um but the. white undershirt this time, it was just.

really disheveled. Here's the thing. though, this is David we're talking. about. He is so comfortable in front of. cameras, in front of people, on stages. He came in, he sat down in front of the. judge like he owned that courtroom, and. he started nodding and and smiling at. people. He didn't speak much. He just. said, "Yes, your honor." Uh to. acknowledge her questions when she asked.

if he was okay with essentially delaying. this case further. Uh but he was very. engaged, very active, making eye contact. with the judge, nodding and smiling. throughout. And this really caught my. attention. Near the end of this very. short hearing, really the court. proceedings only went on for about 4. minutes, uh we caught David and his. defense attorney smiling at each other. This really appears to be part of the. defense strategy to just keep on.

delaying. So, he may have gotten out of. this hearing today feeling like they. notched some kind of win uh before this. even goes to trial. >> And I want to talk about that, little. 180. I got to tell you about a sponsor. of ours cuz look, the truth is the. summer's here, the weather's getting. nicer, and I think it means, you know, little spring reset on your closet. And. for me, it's about quality over. quantity. And going for pieces that are. easy for every day, but kind of have. that elevated feel that won't break the. budget. That's why I got to tell you. about Quince, okay? Quince makes.

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together running out the door. So, give. your summer closet an upgrade with. Quince. Go to quince.com/lawcrime. for free shipping on your order and. 365-day. returns. That's quince.com/lawcrime. for free shipping and 365-day returns. Just to set the scene a little bit, right? Context of. where you were. Um was there anybody. there for David? Was there family there? Were there friends there? Were there any. known associates there? Uh was there.

anybody from Celeste's family there? I. mean, what was the scene like in the. courtroom? >> Not that I'm aware of. I did not see. anyone sitting in the courtroom this. morning who was easily identifiable as. friends, families, or supporters of. either the defendant or his alleged. victim. Um but the back two rows were. completely filled. Those were seats set. aside for us, journalists covering this. case. And then ahead of us, I think.

about 1 and 1/2 to 2 rows were filled, and those were spectators. I spoke with. a couple of them. Uh just people from. around LA who had been interested in. this case, who had been following it. Nobody was really taking a side. No one. said anything about being personally. connected to either David or Celeste. So, no, we didn't see family, but David. was definitely just holding court on his. own. Again, walking out of this hearing.

smiling. >> Again, before we go into what happened. today, for people who don't know, when. you talk about the condition, right? When you talk about the way David looks, where has he been? Like, what are the. conditions that he's living in right. now? Cuz he's locked up. >> I mean, she is in the county jail. He is. behind bars, and everybody there is now. aware of what he has been charged with. It's not just first-degree murder. It's.

first-degree murder on top of continuous. sexual abuse of a child under the age of. 14. And then on top of that, after he's. accused of stabbing Celeste to death and. abusing her sexually, he's accused of. mutilating her corpse. So, just imagine. what other inmates must feel about. having a neighbor like that. I know. rumors had been floating around online. about the nature of his imprisonment.

right now. He did have bail denied, so. he's not going anywhere anytime soon. But I can only imagine what those daily. conditions are like. He's allowed to. shower, reportedly, once every other. day. He's allowed to make phone calls. only on those days. So, this is somebody. who had celebrity status. He had a. following of several million. He had a. multi-million-dollar.

career in the works. He had sponsorship. deals. He was touring. He had an album. coming out and now he's wearing this. orange jumpsuit. He is behind bars and. he is probably up against behavior that. has him staying up every night and. that's why he came in today looking like. he has not slept in days. I wish we. could have cameras in there. because it it wasn't just his demeanor. that captured my attention. It was his.

face. This is not the same David we saw. in his mugshots, in his promotional. photos, on tour. This is a very. different David Anthony Burke now. possibly about to stand trial for. first-degree. >> Right. And look, yeah, like you said, he's facing serious charges. We have a. sense sort of of what the evidence is. from the prosecution. We were hoping to. get a better sense for a preliminary. hearing that was supposed to happen in. two weeks. But I'm going to throw I'm.

going to give you the floor right now. You're in this courtroom, you're at this. status conference. It's supposed to be. like, where are we at in the case? What. exactly happened today? >> It got delayed again. In a nutshell, Jesse, it got pushed back yet again. because the defense wants to keep on. delaying. So I love coming on your. podcast but we're going to have to do. this again in July after we just did. this in May. So the status conference is.

one part of the preliminary hearing. process here in California. So we just. did this May 12th. It was supposed to be. a preliminary hearing May 26th. That. ended up getting moved. So then it was. status conference today, June 17th, preliminary hearing June 29th. Now that. date, the 29th of June, that's been. canceled. We're going to do another. status conference July 7th now and then. there's supposed to be a preliminary. hearing on July 21st. But I would not be.

surprised at this point if this gets. continued or delayed again. >> And Julia, why did that happen, right? It has something to do with the evidence. in this case, the amount of evidence. I. understand there was a closed-door. hearing as well. I mean, do you have any. sense about what the delay is about? >> Yeah, that is exactly right. So, they. started the court proceedings a little. bit late today. The entire thing went on. for 4 minutes, but the judge sat down.

and immediately told all of us that. there was actually a closed-door. in chambers hearing this morning ahead. of the scheduled status conference. So, she met with both sides. She met with. the prosecution and the defense. And. apparently, defense made a motion to. continue or delay the preliminary. hearing. Now, the judge indicated it was. because of some kind of evidence that. came out during the discovery process. She says, the judge says, the court.

decided there were grounds to continue. this case, to delay it to July, but. beyond that, we don't actually know what. exactly in the evidence led to this. I. imagine it might have something to do. with just the amount of data. We talked. about that last time, how the. prosecution started uploading evidence. from hard drives seized during the. investigation, and days later, they were. only about 10% through that upload.

process. What we were hearing was it was. 40 plus terabytes. of data, and that does include video. evidence, photos of Celeste and the. defendant. So, I imagine just the volume. of data that still has to be sifted. through has something to do with the. defense calling for this delay, and the. prosecution agreeing. >> And look, what's difficult about it is.

we don't know what the defense is going. to do. We don't know if their defense is. going to challenge the timeline. We. don't know if the defense is going to. challenge the cause of death. But, you. know, there is a question of how much. they're going to fight the allegations. of this sexual abuse material allegedly. found on his devices. And, you know, maybe they they need more time to form. an argument. They need more time to. prepare because in a preliminary hearing. like we've talked about before, this. case had gone to grand juries where it's. one-sided. It's only the prosecution. presenting evidence. No indictment was.

returned through that grand jury. So, there was questions about why that was. But, now it goes to a preliminary. hearing in front of a judge. The defense. has an opportunity to challenge this. evidence, to hear what the prosecution. has and to challenge it, see where the. prosecution's going with their case. But, I don't we don't know how the. defense is going to do it. And so, going. back to what you mentioned, whether or. not this is an advantage for the. defense, as somebody who's been covering. this case for quite some time, I want to. read you real quick what Steve Fischer.

posted on X today after this hearing. So, Steve Fischer is a private. investigator who's been looking into. this case. He was hired by the owner of. the property where David had reportedly. been staying, a property that's uh. reportedly near where that Tesla was. recovered with obviously Celeste's body. allegedly found inside. So, he wrote. today, "The preliminary hearing in the. David case has been continued until July. 21st. He is presumed innocent in the. eyes of the law, but as a human being.

with a brain and the ability to think. and perceive, I have to say this. This. is not how I would expect an innocent. person to direct his lawyers to act. If. I were innocent and had been sitting in. jail for months on charges I did not. commit, I would be telling my very. high-priced lawyers, 'No more delays. Get me the bleep out of here.' But, that. is not what is happening. Now, Julia, look, from a legal point of view, I'll. just give my two cents. Look, I get what. he's saying, right? If the prosecution. if he's really innocent, then you would.

assume that the prosecution's evidence. against him is really weak. Put their. feet to the fire, have an immediate. preliminary hearing, which is kind of. what I think the defense initially. wanted, we'll challenge the evidence, we'll get him out, that'll be that. But, the other way of looking at it is, you. know, you got to prepare a. a proper legal argument, and you need. time to look at what the prosecution's. evidence is. So, how do you see it. whether or not this delay is actually an. advantage to David and his defense team?

>> I think there is so much evidence. against the defendant here, Jessie. I. don't really know if there's any kind of. advantage for his case. I hate to let um. what's happening in the court of public. opinion, you know, leak into what's. actually happening in the courtroom, but. it is an undeniable fact that there is. overwhelming evidence against David. Anthony Burke here. Otherwise, prosecutors would not have brought this.

case. Now, there are questions as to why. there was no grand jury indictment, but. we have seen the nine-page preliminary. brief now, the charging document, if you. will, laying out what the prosecution's. side of this is going to look and sound. like in court. And an even some of that. material that can't be presented to the. court, you know, they've described what. that is, and that's part of that 40-plus. terabyte uh volume of of data that was.

dumped during discovery on the defense. Now, from the attorney standpoint, I. understand the more time they have, right? The more options they can. consider, the more research they can do. From David's standpoint, from the. defendant's standpoint, he's the one. sitting in jail. I don't know how much. longer he really wants to be there. Again, he did not look good this. morning. He clearly has not been.

sleeping well behind bars. So, his. attorneys, his team, probably sold this. to him hard. You know, the more time we. have, the more we can look into this, this, and this, and build a stronger. case for you. Because he's not just. facing one felony charge. This is not. just a murder case. He's accused of. three separate felonies. One of those. felonies has special circumstances that.

make him eligible for the death penalty, even though executions had been halted. here in the state of California since. 2019, it is still legal for the death. penalty to be a sentence considered by. prosecutors. So, there's still a. question mark as to whether the. prosecution is going to go down that. route. But, serious case here. I imagine. they just want more time to figure out. what in the world they're going to do to. fight this. >> And look, there there is a moratorium on.

executions. Although, I will tell you. this. This is what I want to really ask. you about. Because we knew that this. wasn't the preliminary hearing today. We. knew we weren't going to maybe. find out all the evidence, but I was. hoping we would get a preview. I was. hoping we'd get an idea of what we can. expect at the preliminary hearing. Because this is a case that has been. shrouded in secrecy since September of. last year. We're We're looking for bits. and pieces of information and evidence. So, when this preliminary hearing. potentially happens, whether it's in. July or it's pushed off,

what are you looking out for? Are you. going to be saying, "You know what, Jessie? I really want to see the actual. substance, the actual content of the. text messages between Celeste and David, not just the descriptions of them by. prosecutors. I I want to know more of. the explanation of that Santa Barbara. trip. Jesse, I want to see the. surveillance video of David allegedly. driving the Tesla. How about this? How. exactly are prosecutors going to prove.

that they know that he watched her bleed. out in his home? Did there is there. surveillance? Is there an eyewitness? What about the DNA and the forensics? You know, there's a part in one of the. prosecution's filings where they say, "Inside the garage, detectives. discovered evidence consistent with the. dismemberment of the victim's body in. the inflatable pool, which contained. multiple linear cuts. Several biological. samples, which tested positive for. blood, were collected within the garage. area. DNA analysis determined that. various samples matched the victim's.

unique genetic profile." So, what are. you looking out for? What do you want to. see in this case? >> I'm looking for all of that, Jesse. And. in addition, I'm curious about who the. prosecution is going to call as a. witness. Now, the DA brought that up. this morning. The the prosecution. brought that up this morning. They said. they had to check with detectives. They. had to check with their witnesses before. agreeing to a status conference. timeline. They did eventually settle on.

that July 7th date. But yeah, I'm. curious about all of that because the. wording in that preliminary brief is so. interesting. Prosecutors state so much. of that as facts, which obviously raises. the question, "Well, how do you know? How do you know the defendant stood by. and watched his victim bleed out?" I. mean, two options come to mind. immediately for me. Either there was a. witness who is claiming that, or there.

must be surveillance video. And yes, absolutely, I am curious about the text. message exchanges between David and. Celeste. We have all read now the. descriptions of those text messages and. how some of them have made reference to. things like plan B, abortion, pregnancy, sexual activity between the two. We have. not actually read those messages. I'm. also curious about the final argument.

the two of them had, the one that went. on before David allegedly ordered an. Uber that brought Celeste from her. family's home in Lake Elsinore more than. 80 miles away to his rental home in the. Hollywood Hills. before her phone went dead and she went. missing. So there's so much of that. evidence that sounds like it was. preserved on devices. In addition, right? We've talked about. the chainsaws that David ordered from.

Amazon that were sent to his address. I. I'm curious about all of those things. that have been referenced now. When do. we get more information. about where this is going and who is. going to take the stand as a witness to. add color, to add dimension? >> Yeah, and look, couple of things there, right? So in a preliminary hearing you. would imagine it's not all the. prosecution's evidence that they have. And sure they get more evidence as they.

go to trial, but usually be like the. lead detective to kind of summarize. everything that they have. But also you. have to think about this, right? The the. conversation that David allegedly had. with Celeste to allegedly lure her. there. That goes not only to the idea of. motive, that goes to the special. circumstances, lying in wait, killing a. a witness for financial gain. She had to. have said, "I'm going to ruin your. career. I'm going to go to the the. authorities. I'm going to expose you.". So what do those messages. exactly say? But also before I let you.

go, Julia, cooperating witnesses. I. don't know if there's anybody from. David's inner circle who is going to. testify against him, anybody who may. have had a role, who may have aided, who. may have abetted, who may have. facilitated, anybody who may have. assisted him in any way with. based on the allegations that he's. facing. We haven't heard that he's had. any help. But one of the things we have. wondered, is there an immunity deal? Is. there anybody a cooperating witness who.

will testify against him? Have you heard. anything to indicate that whatsoever as. we now wait for the next part of this. case? >> I had not heard anything about an. immunity deal, Jesse, but it's what we. haven't heard that raises more. questions. People in David's inner. circle, people who've been shown in. photos with him at concerts, in his live. stream videos, who've been on his social. media, many of them are now very. tight-lipped and making moves to.

distance themselves from David. That. tells me they're not supporting him. And. it wouldn't shock me at this point if. any one of them struck some kind of. immunity deal with prosecutors to share. what they know. Now, I do want to point. out that David has a brother who. allegedly met Celeste when she traveled. with him out of state, out of. California. It sounds like she went to. Texas to meet his family. David has a. little brother. So, very curious if he.

ends up on the prosecution's witness. list and of course what he has to say. about his family member. >> Yeah. Julia, thank you so much for being. our eyes and ears about what's happening. in that courtroom. I mean, I could go. day and night about how much I think. it's a problem not to have cameras in. every courtroom in this country. I think. they should be everywhere, but I really. appreciate the absolutely fantastic. reporting and I'm sure we're going to be. having this conversation again in July.

You know, hopefully we'll have a status. conference. Hopefully we'll have a. preliminary hearing because as much as. the public and we are looking for. answers, it's really the family. It's. Celeste's family that deserves answers. They deserve to know what's going on. here and hopefully they get those. answers sooner rather than later. Julie. Dang, thank you so much for taking the. time. Really appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> And that's 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 get your. podcast. You can also check us out on. NBC's [music] Peacock as well. If you.

want to follow me, X, Instagram, my. NewsNation show, Jesse Weber LIVE, Monday through Friday, [music] 11:00. p.m. Eastern. I'll see you next time, everybody.