A Los Angeles judge granted a motion to postpone a preliminary hearing for D4vd, after the singer’s legal team asked for more time to prepare.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo handed down the ruling on Wednesday, June 17, after meeting with the attorneys in the case, according to Rolling Stone.
The judge said there was “good cause” to move the hearing to July 21, at which timr the court will determine if there is enough evidence for the singer to stand trial. The judge also scheduled a status conference for July 7.
This is the third time the hearing has been delayed, after the defense requested more time to get through the “40 terabytes” of data prosecutors said LAPD detectives collected during their months-long investigation
Related: Celeste Rivas’ Family Declines D4vd Documentary Requests
The “Romantic Homicide” singer is charged with first-degree murder, lewd and lascivious acts with a person under 14, and mutilating a body in the killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegations of lying in wait, murder for financial gain, and killing a witness in a criminal investigation. The singer could face the death penalty if convicted as charged, although there has been a moratorium on executions in California for years.
The lying in wait allegation stemmed from D4vd allegedly inviting Rivas Hernandez to his Hollywood Hills home on April 23, 2025. She was never heard from again.
The singer, born David Anthony Burke, was in court Wednesday and told the judge, “Thank you, your honor.”
Burke was arrested on Thursday, April 16, nearly a year after Rivas Hernandez was killed. He remains jailed without bail.
The alt-pop singer pleaded not guilty during his arraignment on April 20. His attorneys 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.”
Rivas Hernandez’s dismembered and decomposed body of was found in the front trunk of a Tesla registered to the singer in September 2025.
Prosecutors alleged the 21-year-old performer killed the teen to prevent her from revealing they had been having sex, to protect his lucrative music career.
The 26-page autopsy report said Rivas Hernandez died from “multiple penetrating injuries.” The medical examiner said she was stabbed in the “right abdomen” causing an injury to her liver. There was a second stab wound on her “left chest.”
The prosecution previously said Burke met Rivas Hernandez when she was 11 years old in January 2022. Detectives alleged the two started having sex in November 2023, when she was 13 and he was 18.
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