Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman is giving a glimpse of how the preliminary hearing will unfold in the D4vd murder case.
The hearing is scheduled to begin on July 21 and will determine if there is enough evidence for the singer, born David Anthony Burke, to stand trial for the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
Hochman discussed the highly anticipated hearing during a July 13 interview on KTLA 5 News, and gave viewers an idea of the evidence prosecutors will include.
“The evidence that’s going to be presented is going to be very thorough,” Hochman said.
Related: Celeste Rivas’ Family Declines D4vd Documentary Requests
He revealed a key piece of evidence at the hearing will be a timeline tracing the last day Rivas Hernandez was seen alive.
LAPD investigators have said Burke ordered an Uber to bring the teen to his Hollywood Hills mansion on April 23, 2025. Detectives believe Rivas Hernandez was killed that night.
“[The timeline] is going to track her movements on that particular night, back in April of 2025, all the way through the time in September 2025, when her body was found all chopped up in various bags inside the front trunk of a Tesla,” the D.A. said.
Burke has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14, and mutilating a body. Prosecutors have alleged special circumstances, making the alt-pop singer eligible for the death penalty if convicted.
While the prosecution previously told the court the hearing would last about three days, Hochman noted it could take longer.
“We estimate that it could take anywhere from probably three to seven days, at which point we’re going to present evidence to a judge to hold David Anthony Burke, the singer D4vd, to answer on the charge of first-degree murder with special circumstances,” Hochman explained.
The district attorney also addressed whether his office will pursue the death penalty.
“We’ll look at the aggravating and mitigating factors. We’re going to reach out to David’s lawyer to make sure that they have an input into the process, we’ll talk to the victim’s family, we’ll talk to the most senior attorneys in my office who have done death penalty cases to determine whether or not this merits the death penalty,” he said.
Burke’s attorneys have questioned the evidence in the case.
They previously told the court, “The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death.”
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