Shocking Sex Images Found on D4vd's Devices: Prosecutors

Singer David and his legal team were. back in Los Angeles court today along. with a team of LA prosecutors and our on. the ground reporter Dina Doll was. inside. There were no cameras. She is. our eyes and our ears. We're going to. talk about what was discussed [music] in. court and what authorities said they. allegedly found on David's devices and I. will tell you right now, shocking. Welcome to Sidebar presented by Law &. Crime. I'm [music] Jesse Weber. Look, before you even go any further, I.

got to tell you about this Law & Crime. legal alert, okay? Roblox. Roblox is. under fire for allegedly not taking. adequate safety measures to protect. children on its platform. That's right. The popular virtual universe has. millions of users who are minors and yet. players can apparently customize their. avatars to hide their age and gender. Now, this is a feature that may also be. available to predators with bad. intentions. Look, you might not even. realize the potential dangers that. Roblox can pose for your child, but if. your child was sexually abused or. assaulted or groomed by someone they met. on Roblox, you may qualify for potential.

compensation. Look, children, they may. not know better, right? But the argument. is Roblox should and our legal sponsors. are seeking justice for the families. that were affected by this alleged gross. negligence. So, visit. gamingadvocates.com. to start your free confidential case. evaluation. Okay, so we have another. court appearance in the David case. By. the way, on the 1-year anniversary of. when prosecutors say, when they claim, he killed 14-year-old Celeste Davis. Hernandez. And by the way, we expected.

today to be a preliminary hearing where. the court will hear evidence if there's. enough probable cause that these alleged. crimes were committed to move forward. with the case. It's a legal barrier, lower standard, low bar, but you have to. show that there is sufficient probable. cause that he committed these crimes and. I'll talk about which ones he's charged. with to move this case to the next. stage. Here's the thing, wasn't a. preliminary hearing today. No, it turns. out even though a preliminary hearing. was on the court calendar, this was more. of a status conference. It's a check in.

regarding next steps in the case. Now, if you thought that this was going to be. a 2-minute hearing and that was it, not. the case. No, no, no, no, no, no. We are. going to get into specifically what. authorities claim they found on David's. devices. I wonder if this is a whole new. game here. I wonder if now we're talking. potential federal charges if those. allegations are true. I'll get to that. But before you even get into what. happened today, I just got to give you. some context about this, okay? So, we have talked about this before. Remember, when I'm mentioning a. preliminary hearing, which I understand.

is now been scheduled for a later date, this goes back to the idea of the grand. jury. We know that there were reports. that a grand jury was impaneled to hear. evidence in the case of this 21-year-old. singer, but there was no grand jury. indictment, right? There was no formal. charges. No, instead, at the beginning. of this week, the Los Angeles County. District Attorney Nathan Hochman, his. office filed first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under. 14, and unlawful mutilation of human. remains charges against David in. connection with the death of Celeste. Remember, her decomposed and dismembered.

body was reportedly found September 8th, 2025 in the trunk of a car allegedly. registered to David, real name David. Anthony Burke. And he's also facing. special circumstances allegations, right? Lying in wait, killing for. financial gain, killing of a witness, using a sharp instrument, all with. respect to the murder charge. And this. is significant because this can carry. heavier penalties if he's convicted of. the murder charge. We're talking life in. prison without the possibility of. parole. We're talking the death penalty. even though there is a moratorium on.

executions in California. But this is. why it's so significant why the. prosecution believes they have evidence. to prove that. And the main idea here is. essentially that David allegedly killed. Celeste because she was going to expose. him potentially about their illegal. underage sexual relationship. I think. that's the fair argument and that this. was going to affect his career, which. was on the rise. Remember, he was on. tour when all of this happened. Now, as. we learned yesterday when the autopsy. report was released, that Celeste's. official cause of death was multiple.

penetrating injuries and her manner of. death was listed as homicide. We did a. whole sidebar yesterday with forensics. examiner Dr. Mary Gimbellic. It's up on. YouTube right now, up on our Law & Crime. YouTube. You can watch the whole thing. Oh, and by the way, the full autopsy. report, if you want to go through the. details, if you want to see it for. yourself, it's up on our our app, Law &. Crime Plus as well if you want to check. it out. I actually think it's. significant that we're putting these. case files on the app because look, unfortunately in today's day and age, there's a lot of um misinformation.

There are a lot of AI tools someone can. use to make fake reports or fake. information. This is the official. released autopsy report. It's up on uh. Law & Crime Plus, so you can check it. out there. But bottom line, David was. charged by the DA's office, but in order. for this to move forward, in order for. this to go to a trial, there has to be a. legal determination that there is. sufficient probable cause that David. committed these crimes to move forward. with this case. Again, lower standard.

and if it's not by a grand jury, then it. needs to be by a judge at a preliminary. hearing. And by the way, preliminary. hearing is a little bit different than a. grand jury because grand jury. proceedings are secret. The defense. doesn't have an opportunity to challenge. that evidence. Preliminary hearing in. court, in front of a judge, defense. there. They get an opportunity to fight. back against this. But anyway, brings us. to today. This courthouse in downtown. LA. By the way, just talking about a. preliminary hearing for a second, David's attorneys, his defense. attorneys, pushed for a preliminary.

hearing immediately. They have said that. he didn't commit this murder. They have. said that he was not the cause of her. death. But what happened today? Now, look, there were no cameras in the. courtroom. The good news, we have our. own eyes and ears, okay? We have our own. eyes and ears. Attorney and legal. analyst Dina Doll was in that courtroom. So good to see you, Dina. Thanks for. taking the time. First of all, I need. you to clarify what this hearing was. because I think a lot of us thought this. was going to be the preliminary hearing.

We thought that was on the calendar. That was not the case even though they. did talk about when the preliminary. hearing is going to be scheduled, right? Absolutely. It was calendar as a. preliminary hearing, but the judge at. the outset said, "I'm sure that's not. actually going to start today. Let's. talk about it." And that's exactly what. they did, scheduling it and most. importantly talking about the discovery, the transferring of what seems to be a. mountain of evidence from the. prosecution to the defense and the.

logistics of how that's going to happen. And I want to get into that because. quite the headline what was allegedly. found on either David's phone or his. devices, which we'll get to. But the. preliminary hearing is scheduled for. next week, right? And is this because. there's just like you said, there's so. much evidence to go through, there's so. much data to go through? Well, this is. significant. They have not waived their. right to a speedy preliminary hearing. The very last day it could be under law.

was May 4th, but the judge said, "I. don't like to schedule it that last day. because there could be unexpected. circumstances just with the court system. in general." So, they have scheduled it. for May 1st, but significantly, they. will all be back in front of the judge. the afternoon of April 29th in order for. the defense to determine whether or not. the prosecution has handed over enough. evidence where they think they can. properly defend their client at the. hearing. The judge making a point that. although statutory law requires the.

prosecution to hand over everything. prior to trial, they are not required to. do that for a preliminary hearing. They. just have to hand over sufficient. evidence that is most favorable to the. defendant in order to prove probable. cause. So, that afternoon of April 29th, the defense will determine if they think. they have enough evidence to continue. with this speedy preliminary hearing. Dina, let me ask you this. The autopsy.

report that came out yesterday. Is that a reason why we didn't have a. preliminary hearing today? Did they talk. about that because there's a lot in that. report that's the official cause of. death. We know the defense has said that. uh David is not the cause of death. Did. that come up today? That did not come up. As. they really spoke about the fact that. they have a wide range of evidence that. the defense has not getting. Specifically, they actually highlighted.

the fact that they have a significant. amount of child pornography on his. iPhone. But they did not get into the specifics. of the medical examiner's report. Okay, so talk to me about the big bombshell. Apparently, they found what? Or. allegedly found what on David's devices? So, she said the words, the prosecution. said a significant amount of child. pornography. And she raised this saying. it is going to be different. You cannot.

hand over that type of evidence to the. defense as you would the rest of the. evidence. The defense has to instead. have somebody a a counsel or an expert. go to the county and actually look at a. determined computer to look at this. because of the sensitive nature of that. evidence. The prosecution also. highlighting the amount of this evidence. and the evidence on the data and the.

cell phone in general because of the. difficulty and how long it takes to hand. and transfer over this kind of amount of. evidence. Okay, let put your legal cap on. Are we. talking potential. federal charges? You and I both know. that if someone is caught with allegedly. child sexual abuse material on their. devices, that could be federal charges. That's a really great point and it's. very possible federal charges may come.

At this point though, it definitely is. relevant and probative to one of the. three charges. There are three charges. against him, murder, continuous child. sex abuse, and mutilation of a corpse. So, this specific child pornography. evidence is definitely going to be used. by our prosecution for that continuous. child sex abuse. But, whether or not the. federal prosecutors decide to add. charges, we will wait and see. Just want. to clarify, any idea.

who. was portrayed in these. you know, the the this footage, these. videos, this data on his phone? Is it. Celeste? Is it someone else? Did. prosecutors acknowledge that? And let me. clear Let me be clear, allegedly on his. phone. Do we Did they say the identity. of this person or persons? They did not. say the identity, but even that specific. phrase, you you know, the the press, there was a ton of press in the. courtroom. Everybody had their laptops. out taking notes, and you just heard the.

chatter of the typing. Just the phrase. significant amount of child pornography. was enough to raise flags about what may. become in this trial. What about I read there was something. about a wiretap and search warrants? Exactly. They said that there was a. significant amount of evidence collected. in a wiretap. There was also three. different investigative grand juries, one convened in November, one in.

December, and one in February. The. prosecution really trying to convey to. the judge how much evidence they have. and the difficulty of it to be able to. be transferred to the defense that. quickly. They did say however, that they. plan on handing the defense tomorrow. arrest records, photographic evidence, chemical evidence reports, and DNA. evidence reports. Wait a second. Let's just take a step. back here. We always We were debating.

whether or not there was a grand jury. that was going to be invest-. investigating this case, right? Locking in witness testimony, gathering evidence, that they didn't. have the power to indict. That was one. thing. Now we're learning there were. multiple grand juries that were all in. this investigative function, not one of. them had the power to indict. That's. what came out today. The prosecution. said specifically investigative grand.

juries without the power to indict. And. they said it was up to the defense to. request that these records be unsealed. And the latest grand jury was what, February? That's what they said. February was the latest one. Um what was the vibe in that courtroom? Let's start here. What did David look. like? So, when David came in, he was in. his orange jumpsuit. He sat down, his. attorney Blair Berk immediately put her. hand on his shoulder. Every time she.

conferred with her client, she in fact. put her hand on his shoulder. He. vigorously nodded even every time the. judge referred to him. If he asked her a. question, he answered in the. affirmative. At the very end, when she. was explaining the process of how he's. going to be brought back to the hearing. and how he may have to wait, but make. sure he's on time, he folded his hands. in a prayer position. But, otherwise, he was just quietly.

listening to the proceedings and. listening to his attorneys speak on his. behalf. And. um what about for the prosecution? Who. was there? The prosecution They had their. attorneys. Interestingly, there were two. young girls. sitting next to the investigators. They. were not referenced. They were not. conferred with. We know that the. Hernandez family said in advance they. did not plan on attending the hearing, so it's unclear who those girls were.

I I just want to be clear about. something. There have been rumors. There. has been speculation that David has. allegedly allegedly, hasn't been. charged, but allegedly maybe been. involved with other minors. Are you. Is there anything to indicate that those. And I want to make sure your terminology. is correct. You're saying they were. children. They're not women. They appear. to be children. Were there? Is that somehow connected to other. people that might allegedly be in. David's orbit? You do wonder. They were.

They looked I mean, of course, I did not. have their identification, but they. looked young. I would say in that range of what. Celeste was, 13, 14, 15. Definitely, they looked. uh eight less than 18. And so, was there anybody there for. Celeste's side as far as you can tell? I. could not tell if there was, and there. was an announcement by the family that. they were not planning on coming today. What about anybody there in support of.

David? It's always unclear because this. was a hearing that so many people wanted. to attend. Every single seat was taken. There were people behind the defense. table that did not look like press. They. did not have the press. credentials. They They didn't have their. laptop and typing. But, whether or not. they were members of the public or. supporters of David is unclear. Mhm. And. and you're saying it was packed. There. was a lot of media. Is this one of those.

cases where you think it's getting a lot. of attention just from people online, streamers? Like I understand there was. even a long line to get in to court. today. Absolutely. This You know, here. we're in Los Angeles. It's no stranger. to high-profile cases, and the press. showed up. There was a line to get in. Literally, every single seat in that. courtroom was taken. The press cameras. were lined up outside waiting for a. press conference that never happened. The prosecution decided not to speak.

The defense decided not to speak. But, this is going to be heavily watched. There was actually at the very end of. the hearing a representative from the. news organization asking the judge to. reconsider her denial of allowing. cameras in the courtroom, reiterating. that the judges here seem to have kind. of learned the lesson after the O.J. case to not allow cameras, and that. after so many years, perhaps the O.J. case. afraid of letting in cameras needs to go.

away. And saying how the public pays for. this building and should allow cameras. in, but the judge denied it. There will. not be cameras allowed in this next. hearing or if trial moves forward. Wow, no cameras in the preliminary hearing. I. I look, I I personally think that's a. mistake, particularly in a case like. this since there's so much speculation, so much rumors. This is a front row to seeing what the. evidence is, what evidence the. prosecution believes they have. Do they.

have sufficient probable cause to. support these charges? Um I think that this is one of those. cases where the public has a right to. view and should view what the evidence. is. What Which by the way, let me go. back to you, Dean, on this. This is both. a. legal question for you and a reporter. question. I have been curious after I heard Nathan. Hochman the other day, what is the. evidence they have to prove lying in. wait, that he was that he allegedly. killed Celeste because she was a witness.

to a to a case or an investigation, that. he allegedly killed her for financial. gain. The basic idea here is she was. going to allegedly expose him for this. illegal sexual relationship, right? Did. you get any sense today about what that. evidence will be? No, and I'm glad you. brought that point because to me that is. uh in a way a very strange motive. Because here the prosecution is alleging. that he killed her in order to cover up.

the crime [snorts]. of his child sex abuse. But, yet he kept the body in his car for. months. So, he did a very bad job of. then. disposing of the evidence, you would. say. The prosecution needs to explain. something like that. But, what we did. hear today is in this digital age, there. is a mountain of digital evidence. Obviously, with three grand juries, they. have quite a bit of witness testimony.

They have the wiretap evidence, which we. didn't know about that, and then it. appears they have DNA, chemical, sure, video surveillance. But, that theory of. the case strikes me as very strange as. an attorney. And perhaps the prosecution. has explanation. I mean, the prosecution. said today that quote, "We're ready to. go to trial." They would be happy for. the defense to waive their right to a. speedy trial. But, they do have to. explain that contradiction.

in the motive and the lack of disposing. of the evidence. Let me follow up on. something. We don't know for sure. that her dismembered. um decomposed body was in the car from. April to September, right? Did you learn. something different? No, we do not. It's. more of that You You and I talk about a. lot of true crime cases. You would think if the idea is that. somebody is trying to cover up another. crime and goes to such lengths as to.

commit murder, you would think they. would do a better job of disposing of. the evidence and the murder crime. Let. me ask you this. Um. Anything about potential cooperating. witnesses? Did any specific names come. up? You talk about the connective. tissue. There have always been a lot of. players that have come up in this case, allegations about who might have. testified in front of a grand jury or a. hearing. Did you hear any name, any. potential cooperating witness? We heard.

no names whatsoever, and in fact, the. prosecution did not give a glimmer as to. what happened in that grand jury saying. this is secret. It could only be. unsealed by a motion from the defense. Okay, interesting for a status. conference here. I'm very curious to see. what happens with the preliminary. hearing. Um but before I let you go, any idea of where the defense is going. when they say he's not the cause of. death, do they have an idea that they're going. to be introducing their own forensic.

expert or they're going to be casting. doubt on that? Perhaps she didn't die. from multiple penetrating injuries, that. it was caused by something else, or is. this too early? It was too early. They. really were focusing on basically. telling the judge they didn't have. enough evidence and their. defendant, because he was waving his. right to a speedy preliminary trial, had. a right to receive some evidence and. they really hadn't received enough from. the prosecution. That was really what.

they were asking for the judge. The. judge being sympathetic, the prosecution. saying they're planning on cooperate. They're going to meet at the end of. April 29th to determine if they have. enough. If the preliminary hearing goes. forward, prosecution says they expect it. to last about 4 to 5 days. Mm, okay, interesting. All right. We shall see. Dina Doll, thank you for coming in. Thank you for taking the time. Thank you. for covering for us. Thanks for having me. 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. [music]. 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 [music] Monday through. Friday 11:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you. next time, everybody.