July 21, 2026
We’re About To Hear Even More Disturbing Evidence Against Singer D4vd
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RSS Feed The long awaited preliminary hearing for singer D4vd is officially underway in Los Angeles. Prosecutors will spend the next several days presenting their case against the 21-year-old once-rising star, who is facing life in prison or the death penalty if convicted for the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas-Hernandez. The prosecution says it has DNA evidence, surveillance footage, text messages, and online purchases all connecting David Anthony Burke, aka “D4vd” to the murder and gruesome dismemberment of his underaged girlfriend.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks. It is Tuesday, July twenty first, and this is a long awaited day in the case of singer David. As we record this, they are getting ready in a courtroom for a preliminary hearing in which he is accused of murdering and dismembering a teenage girl who he was also in a sexual relationship with. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes. All the details we've heard up to this point are heinous. We're expecting to hear worse today.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: Yes, we have been told to prepare ourselves as the prosecution presents the evidence that they have collected over the past several months against singer David. And if you'll remember, they took their time making that arrest. They found the body of fourteen year old Celestrie Vus Hernandez in September, and it wasn't until April of the following year that they actually era vested David, singer David, whose real name, or whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, all those months later, and now finally here we are in July with a long awaited preliminary hearing. It had been delayed several several times, but today it begins and it's expected to last anywhere from three to seven days. We're not sure just how long the prosecution will take in presenting all this evidence.
00:01:25
Speaker 1: The reason this is such a big deal is because, yes, the Los Angeles Police Department has learned lessons over the years in high profile cases, and they played robes so much of this close to the vest, so much so that even the medical examiner was complaining, you're playing it too close to the vest, wanted to release some details. They've been playing this so closely robes and being protective of all this information. And today's a big deal is because this is the first time we are going to see essentially a prosecution lay it all out. Yeah, what they have, what their evidence is robes. This is a mini trial. There is nobody out there suggesting there's not enough evidence to go to full trial. But this is part of the process and robe. So today we are going to hear even though we've heard some rose, we're going to hear so much stuff that they insist the judges insisted we can't have cameras in the courtroom because some of the stuff that might come out might be too tough for the public to stomach.
00:02:15
Speaker 3: Isn't that something to know that?
00:02:17
Speaker 2: That is in part the reason why there are no cameras because of the gruesome nature of this crime and the details that are just even the ones that we already know are hard to even write.
00:02:30
Speaker 3: Or read or hear, that's how awful this is.
00:02:33
Speaker 2: But much of what we know came from that legal filing from the prosecutors back in April, where they had eight pages of evidence, and we're going to be adding to that evidence, but they have laid out a pretty damning timeline.
00:02:46
Speaker 3: Of what they believe happened.
00:02:48
Speaker 2: And among the disturbing details, prosecutors claim that David met Celeste when she was just eleven years old on social media and then began a sexual relationship in twenty twenty three, when she was thirteen and he was eighteen. So among the crimes he's committed or excuse me, he's being charged with in addition to first degree murder, sexual abuse of a child, and unlawful mutilation of human remains.
00:03:17
Speaker 1: Yes, he's twenty one.
00:03:18
Speaker 3: Nine, yes, twenty eight.
00:03:19
Speaker 1: I was twenty when this all started happening, at least as far as this case in her death and whatnot. So he is still a really young man. But Robes, he was still considered a grown man when he got involved with even at the ages eighteen nineteen. That is, you're an adult. She twelve thirteen. This just goes a little bro There's no acceptable age she should have would have ever been that. Anybody would have said, oh okay, that's cool or that's not so bad. Robes, There's no point in his age, Reigne. She should have been hanging out with a child that's eleven, twelve thirteen, unless he was babysitting her.
00:03:54
Speaker 2: Exactly, and to your point, that is exactly the reason or the motive prosecutors say David had when they claim he murdered her, because they believed that Celeste, who was fourteen years old, threatened to expose their illegal relationship just as tickets for going for sale for his world to where his big break was coming. He was a TikTok sensation, but he was about to become a worldwide sensation. So he didn't need her threatening him with this underage relationship. And that is why prosecutors alleged he lured her to his home. She was last seen getting in an uber they claim he ordered. They say they have text messages between the two leading up until she arrived there. Her phone goes dead after that and she is never seen again. But it's what happened inside that garage specifically, where details get very gruesome.
00:04:53
Speaker 1: You know, gruesome. Yes, I don't know why, and I guess they'd added this part of the charge. The luring of her, like you called her to the house to kill her, is what the allegation is.
00:05:06
Speaker 2: In meditation that comes with I think, what a special circum circumstance.
00:05:10
Speaker 1: That part of it, for some reason, robes the rest of it, awfully is horrific. But the idea that you are beckoning her to her death, she was a child, she's fourteen. That's wild to think about. But when was her birthday? It was right before she was found.
00:05:26
Speaker 2: Her birthday happened the day before what would have been her fifteenth birthday was the day before her body was found.
00:05:32
Speaker 1: That was in September, And I remember there was so much back and forth with the press kept calling her fifteen. She's fifteen year old, fifteen year old and it wasn't her birthday yet, So okay, she was right on the cusp of being fifteen. No, no go back. This was in April. She is solidly fortunate.
00:05:45
Speaker 3: She's fourteen years old.
00:05:46
Speaker 2: And you mentioned that special circumstances, babe, and the actual the language used in describing the special circumstances that Burke quote lay in wait committed the act for financial gain and murdered a whitess to an investigation. And because of those special circumstances. That is why if he has found guilty of these charges, he will either get life without the possibility of parole, or he will get the death sentence because of those special circumstances.
00:06:15
Speaker 1: And the next governor could be a Republican, right there is I mean, just worth noting avenue someim out there. There's been a moratorium on executions for a while. Doesn't mean they don't have people on death row. He's just not signing death warns. This guy can still get the death penalty.
00:06:31
Speaker 3: You make a very good point.
00:06:32
Speaker 1: You don't know what's going to happen down the road, so don't think add death penalty, no big deal, not now. But this is significant robes and how many times we've seen cases. Are they going to make an argument that she dies some other way and then he had to chop up the body how many cases hell, In the past twelve months, we have seen court cases like this up she died, I freaked out and then had to chop her up ropes. What other argument can he use?
00:06:54
Speaker 2: I can't think of another one. And you're right, that has been the defense for a lot of these criminal defendants who have not really been able to explain the fact that they absolutely took part in dismembering or disposing of the body, but tried to act as though they had nothing to do with the death of that body. But look, they've got text messages that we already know that certainly will be read aloud in court this week between David and Celeste, and they say they contain references to sex, pregnancy, abortion, the use of the Plan B emergency contraceptive, clearly establishing a sexual relationship. And then they say they have surveillance video. We can imagine that perhaps this will be played in court showing David was the last person to drive that Tesla where it was found parked with Celeste's body badly decomposed. I should say remains, not even her body, because her body, her remains were in two separate body bags. And let's not forget about the receipts that we know the prosecution has about all that online ordering he was doing.
00:08:02
Speaker 1: Literal he's having. Was it Amazon who was delivering stuff to the house that was an inflatable pool of chainsaws.
00:08:10
Speaker 3: Body bags?
00:08:11
Speaker 1: These are receipts that come directly to the home where you are residing, you order this stuff, I can I'd wait to hear this defense.
00:08:21
Speaker 2: Exactly, and then don't forget the DNA evidence that the prosecutors say they have where they have Celeste DNA in those blood stains found in David's garage. And then remember, look, I imagine we know they're calling witnesses. We expect law enforcement to be called to the stand to go through a lot of this evidence. That's how they'll walk us through this evidence.
00:08:43
Speaker 3: But I don't know.
00:08:44
Speaker 2: Are we also going to hear from some of David's friends who talked about a foul odor that had been in his home for months and they were complaining about it.
00:08:51
Speaker 3: He had some excuse. But this is some of the macabre grew some.
00:08:56
Speaker 2: Details that we're going to be hearing a lot more about because we're going to be hearing either directly from some of these folks or from the detailed reports that officers made when they arrived on the scene.
00:09:06
Speaker 1: Who was the one I'm thinking it was it? The not the nanny one. Who am I thinking about, babe? The guy who said he went upstairs and she just was at the help me here? The New Year's Eve one where he went upstairs and she wasn't alive, and they sudden death.
00:09:22
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, he was trying to say.
00:09:25
Speaker 2: Is the act as if he walked upstairs after a New Year's Eve party and he just found his wife had just accidentally died like sudden almost like sudden infant death syndrome, except for it was sudden adult death syndrome or some random thing that obviously did not did not.
00:09:42
Speaker 3: Pass any tests with the jury.
00:09:44
Speaker 2: They did not buy it, and they tried to act as if he had no idea how she died. It's just that he freaked out and panicked and then dismembered her body and tried to.
00:09:56
Speaker 3: Get rid of the evidence.
00:09:58
Speaker 1: I'm going back to that because you remember that case Robes. There were surveillance videos and receipts of him going in and out to hardware stores and doing all these things. It sounds like David doesn't have anything to stand on to say no, I didn't buy that, No I didn't use that. No I didn't use that pool. No I didn't order that body bag. He seems to have robes just like in that case. No way of saying I am innocent of this completely. I wasn't in the neighborhood, I wasn't at the house, so robes. We're not attorneys, but we watch a lot of this stuff and robes in a case like this where these things are adding up, he has roes. What other thing can is he just trying to get a better sentence, a lighter sentence.
00:10:41
Speaker 2: Well, well, he's most likely trying to avoid the death penalty or life behind bars without the possibility of parole when you're twenty one years old.
00:10:48
Speaker 1: He has to make a deal. Baby.
00:10:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, and that's not happened to any time. It doesn't seem as though that's where it's headed. And when the case you were referencing, in case anyone wants to look it up, because this is similar. Brian Walsh was a Massachusetts man, and this was a guy who ended up getting convicted of murdering and then yes dismembering his wife on a Walsh in twenty twenty three. So yes, he admitted to disposing of her remains, but said she suffered a quote sudden, unexplained death. That would be I would imagine the only way we can actually even begin to envision a defense for David that would make any sense, because if they've got this DNA evidence, they've established the relationship was happening. They've established that she took an uper straight to his house and that is the last time she was seen alive, and that her dismembered body was seen in his car, and he was the last person driving the car.
00:11:40
Speaker 3: There's not a lot of will room there.
00:11:41
Speaker 1: You can't say what in me? So what do you say? You have to say. He's twenty, he was scared his career's coming. He didn't know what to do. This girl came over, she threw a fit, She had an accident some kind of way. I don't know. They looking into her medical history. Maybe she had a problem, maybe this Please, There is nothing you cannot say. I didn't order that. Nope, I wasn't at that house. Nope, that's not my car. You can't do that. So you have to the only defense robes is that she died some other kind of way was an accident They got into a fight in some way accidentally died. Maybe that lessens the impact ropes I got. This is fascinating.
00:12:23
Speaker 2: Yes, and so when we come back, Yes, the defense will get a chance to interview, not necessarily cross examine, some of the witnesses that will be testifying this week. But we'll also hear what David's attorneys have said so far that might, I guess, lends some insight into what they're preparing in terms of his defense and what we will see from David himself in court this week. Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:13:00
Speaker 3: Singer David.
00:13:01
Speaker 2: David Anthony Burke is in court in his preliminary hearing. It is happening right now today. This is Tuesday, the first day of what's expected to be a three to seven day preliminary hearing, a mini trial of sorts. But the prosecution is going to convince a judge they have enough evidence to take this to trial. I think from what we've seen and heard already, it kind of feels like this doesn't even need to happen. But we're going to learn a lot more in terms of what the evidence is and maybe get an idea of what we're going to hear from David's defense team.
00:13:35
Speaker 3: He has been behind.
00:13:36
Speaker 2: Bars in a jail near the courthouse since he was arrested in April, and we know that he is going to appear in court in his jail clothes. They did ask for him to be able to appear in a suit and tie. Judge denied that, said, nope, you're coming in the way you came in from jail. But look, his defense has been adamant that he had nothing to do with her death.
00:14:05
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm waiting to hear that and Robes say, hey, this is an innocent man until proven otherwise. But there is an overwhelming amount of evidence against him right now and they're just getting started at least presenting it publicly. So had nothing to do with it. I mean, that's what you're supposed to say. You have to say that, you will continue to say that. But how do you refute all this stuff?
00:14:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, to what you were saying before the break, I thought it was interesting if you take a look and just actually analyze these sentence that they gave when he was arrested. I think what you were saying before the break actually fits perfectly into what the defense is likely to present. So this was their exact quote back in April. The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Reves Hernandez, and he was not the cause of her death. All right, So maybe they get in an accident and there's some pushing in, some shoving, and she trips and she falls and she hits her head. He's freaked out because he's about to go on to this big world tour. He doesn't know what to do. He's afraid to call police, and he just covers it up. Is that plausible? Could they prove that?
00:15:18
Speaker 1: Will race come into it. He's a young man, he's black, he's in LA He didn't think he'd get for fair shake. He was scared. I mean, you're gonna throw everything at the wall. You can run.
00:15:27
Speaker 3: Black men don't call police.
00:15:29
Speaker 1: It was that thing there. Won't say the line again from them. They didn't call say it again.
00:15:33
Speaker 2: The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Reeves Hernandez, and he was not the cause of her death.
00:15:43
Speaker 1: Didn't murder her and not the cause, meaning they have information suggestions she wasn't murdered, correct, was not the cause. They don't have to say. They don't have to present it during the pillminary preliminary hearing, do.
00:15:56
Speaker 3: They They don't.
00:15:57
Speaker 2: But here's the problem the autopsy, as we have been told by the medical examiner, is the cause of death is being stabbed multiple times. So if if David Burke was not the cause of her death, they can't claim it was an accident that she slipped and fell. She slipped and fell on a bunch of not exactly on multiple knives, So that doesn't make any sense given her cause of death. If she had blunt forced trauma to the head, maybe you could try to make that argument.
00:16:28
Speaker 3: But multiple stab wounds.
00:16:31
Speaker 2: I'm not really sure how you then remove or take away any responsibility from your client other than point the finger at someone else. Someone else was in the house, someone else caused her death. I mean, that would be the only other way he wouldn't be responsible for her death.
00:16:47
Speaker 3: Okay, did she stab herself?
00:16:49
Speaker 2: I'm thinking of Oh, could he claim that she was so upset that he broke it off with her that she stabbed herself in front of him.
00:16:58
Speaker 3: That would be the only other possible.
00:17:01
Speaker 1: What defense attorney is going to stand up with a straight face and say that.
00:17:07
Speaker 2: I can't imagine. But I can't think of what another defense would be other than another person or she did it to herself.
00:17:14
Speaker 1: And I'm not sure if they have to right now present with their defense is going to be Again, I don't think they're not under any illusion that this is not going to go to trial, So I don't know if they have to actually present in their defense or not. So it's getting started as we speak as of this recording. There will be plenty of updates later today. There are going to be reporters in the courtroom who are going to be we assume, putting out feeds and updates. But there are no cameras. There will be no cameras through the preliminary hearing. I assume through the trial as well if there is one. But nowhere there any interest in a plaque.
00:17:51
Speaker 2: No that there has been zero talk of a possible plea deal here in this case. But this will be fascinating and as soon as we get any information from it inside that courtroom, of course, we will pass it along to you all. But in the meantime we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Roebuck alongside TJ.
00:18:08
Speaker 3: Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks. It is Tuesday, July twenty first, and this is a long awaited day in the case of singer David. As we record this, they are getting ready in a courtroom for a preliminary hearing in which he is accused of murdering and dismembering a teenage girl who he was also in a sexual relationship with. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. Robes. All the details we've heard up to this point are heinous. We're expecting to hear worse today.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: Yes, we have been told to prepare ourselves as the prosecution presents the evidence that they have collected over the past several months against singer David. And if you'll remember, they took their time making that arrest. They found the body of fourteen year old Celestrie Vus Hernandez in September, and it wasn't until April of the following year that they actually era vested David, singer David, whose real name, or whose legal name is David Anthony Burke, all those months later, and now finally here we are in July with a long awaited preliminary hearing. It had been delayed several several times, but today it begins and it's expected to last anywhere from three to seven days. We're not sure just how long the prosecution will take in presenting all this evidence.
00:01:25
Speaker 1: The reason this is such a big deal is because, yes, the Los Angeles Police Department has learned lessons over the years in high profile cases, and they played robes so much of this close to the vest, so much so that even the medical examiner was complaining, you're playing it too close to the vest, wanted to release some details. They've been playing this so closely robes and being protective of all this information. And today's a big deal is because this is the first time we are going to see essentially a prosecution lay it all out. Yeah, what they have, what their evidence is robes. This is a mini trial. There is nobody out there suggesting there's not enough evidence to go to full trial. But this is part of the process and robe. So today we are going to hear even though we've heard some rose, we're going to hear so much stuff that they insist the judges insisted we can't have cameras in the courtroom because some of the stuff that might come out might be too tough for the public to stomach.
00:02:15
Speaker 3: Isn't that something to know that?
00:02:17
Speaker 2: That is in part the reason why there are no cameras because of the gruesome nature of this crime and the details that are just even the ones that we already know are hard to even write.
00:02:30
Speaker 3: Or read or hear, that's how awful this is.
00:02:33
Speaker 2: But much of what we know came from that legal filing from the prosecutors back in April, where they had eight pages of evidence, and we're going to be adding to that evidence, but they have laid out a pretty damning timeline.
00:02:46
Speaker 3: Of what they believe happened.
00:02:48
Speaker 2: And among the disturbing details, prosecutors claim that David met Celeste when she was just eleven years old on social media and then began a sexual relationship in twenty twenty three, when she was thirteen and he was eighteen. So among the crimes he's committed or excuse me, he's being charged with in addition to first degree murder, sexual abuse of a child, and unlawful mutilation of human remains.
00:03:17
Speaker 1: Yes, he's twenty one.
00:03:18
Speaker 3: Nine, yes, twenty eight.
00:03:19
Speaker 1: I was twenty when this all started happening, at least as far as this case in her death and whatnot. So he is still a really young man. But Robes, he was still considered a grown man when he got involved with even at the ages eighteen nineteen. That is, you're an adult. She twelve thirteen. This just goes a little bro There's no acceptable age she should have would have ever been that. Anybody would have said, oh okay, that's cool or that's not so bad. Robes, There's no point in his age, Reigne. She should have been hanging out with a child that's eleven, twelve thirteen, unless he was babysitting her.
00:03:54
Speaker 2: Exactly, and to your point, that is exactly the reason or the motive prosecutors say David had when they claim he murdered her, because they believed that Celeste, who was fourteen years old, threatened to expose their illegal relationship just as tickets for going for sale for his world to where his big break was coming. He was a TikTok sensation, but he was about to become a worldwide sensation. So he didn't need her threatening him with this underage relationship. And that is why prosecutors alleged he lured her to his home. She was last seen getting in an uber they claim he ordered. They say they have text messages between the two leading up until she arrived there. Her phone goes dead after that and she is never seen again. But it's what happened inside that garage specifically, where details get very gruesome.
00:04:53
Speaker 1: You know, gruesome. Yes, I don't know why, and I guess they'd added this part of the charge. The luring of her, like you called her to the house to kill her, is what the allegation is.
00:05:06
Speaker 2: In meditation that comes with I think, what a special circum circumstance.
00:05:10
Speaker 1: That part of it, for some reason, robes the rest of it, awfully is horrific. But the idea that you are beckoning her to her death, she was a child, she's fourteen. That's wild to think about. But when was her birthday? It was right before she was found.
00:05:26
Speaker 2: Her birthday happened the day before what would have been her fifteenth birthday was the day before her body was found.
00:05:32
Speaker 1: That was in September, And I remember there was so much back and forth with the press kept calling her fifteen. She's fifteen year old, fifteen year old and it wasn't her birthday yet, So okay, she was right on the cusp of being fifteen. No, no go back. This was in April. She is solidly fortunate.
00:05:45
Speaker 3: She's fourteen years old.
00:05:46
Speaker 2: And you mentioned that special circumstances, babe, and the actual the language used in describing the special circumstances that Burke quote lay in wait committed the act for financial gain and murdered a whitess to an investigation. And because of those special circumstances. That is why if he has found guilty of these charges, he will either get life without the possibility of parole, or he will get the death sentence because of those special circumstances.
00:06:15
Speaker 1: And the next governor could be a Republican, right there is I mean, just worth noting avenue someim out there. There's been a moratorium on executions for a while. Doesn't mean they don't have people on death row. He's just not signing death warns. This guy can still get the death penalty.
00:06:31
Speaker 3: You make a very good point.
00:06:32
Speaker 1: You don't know what's going to happen down the road, so don't think add death penalty, no big deal, not now. But this is significant robes and how many times we've seen cases. Are they going to make an argument that she dies some other way and then he had to chop up the body how many cases hell, In the past twelve months, we have seen court cases like this up she died, I freaked out and then had to chop her up ropes. What other argument can he use?
00:06:54
Speaker 2: I can't think of another one. And you're right, that has been the defense for a lot of these criminal defendants who have not really been able to explain the fact that they absolutely took part in dismembering or disposing of the body, but tried to act as though they had nothing to do with the death of that body. But look, they've got text messages that we already know that certainly will be read aloud in court this week between David and Celeste, and they say they contain references to sex, pregnancy, abortion, the use of the Plan B emergency contraceptive, clearly establishing a sexual relationship. And then they say they have surveillance video. We can imagine that perhaps this will be played in court showing David was the last person to drive that Tesla where it was found parked with Celeste's body badly decomposed. I should say remains, not even her body, because her body, her remains were in two separate body bags. And let's not forget about the receipts that we know the prosecution has about all that online ordering he was doing.
00:08:02
Speaker 1: Literal he's having. Was it Amazon who was delivering stuff to the house that was an inflatable pool of chainsaws.
00:08:10
Speaker 3: Body bags?
00:08:11
Speaker 1: These are receipts that come directly to the home where you are residing, you order this stuff, I can I'd wait to hear this defense.
00:08:21
Speaker 2: Exactly, and then don't forget the DNA evidence that the prosecutors say they have where they have Celeste DNA in those blood stains found in David's garage. And then remember, look, I imagine we know they're calling witnesses. We expect law enforcement to be called to the stand to go through a lot of this evidence. That's how they'll walk us through this evidence.
00:08:43
Speaker 3: But I don't know.
00:08:44
Speaker 2: Are we also going to hear from some of David's friends who talked about a foul odor that had been in his home for months and they were complaining about it.
00:08:51
Speaker 3: He had some excuse. But this is some of the macabre grew some.
00:08:56
Speaker 2: Details that we're going to be hearing a lot more about because we're going to be hearing either directly from some of these folks or from the detailed reports that officers made when they arrived on the scene.
00:09:06
Speaker 1: Who was the one I'm thinking it was it? The not the nanny one. Who am I thinking about, babe? The guy who said he went upstairs and she just was at the help me here? The New Year's Eve one where he went upstairs and she wasn't alive, and they sudden death.
00:09:22
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, he was trying to say.
00:09:25
Speaker 2: Is the act as if he walked upstairs after a New Year's Eve party and he just found his wife had just accidentally died like sudden almost like sudden infant death syndrome, except for it was sudden adult death syndrome or some random thing that obviously did not did not.
00:09:42
Speaker 3: Pass any tests with the jury.
00:09:44
Speaker 2: They did not buy it, and they tried to act as if he had no idea how she died. It's just that he freaked out and panicked and then dismembered her body and tried to.
00:09:56
Speaker 3: Get rid of the evidence.
00:09:58
Speaker 1: I'm going back to that because you remember that case Robes. There were surveillance videos and receipts of him going in and out to hardware stores and doing all these things. It sounds like David doesn't have anything to stand on to say no, I didn't buy that, No I didn't use that. No I didn't use that pool. No I didn't order that body bag. He seems to have robes just like in that case. No way of saying I am innocent of this completely. I wasn't in the neighborhood, I wasn't at the house, so robes. We're not attorneys, but we watch a lot of this stuff and robes in a case like this where these things are adding up, he has roes. What other thing can is he just trying to get a better sentence, a lighter sentence.
00:10:41
Speaker 2: Well, well, he's most likely trying to avoid the death penalty or life behind bars without the possibility of parole when you're twenty one years old.
00:10:48
Speaker 1: He has to make a deal. Baby.
00:10:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, and that's not happened to any time. It doesn't seem as though that's where it's headed. And when the case you were referencing, in case anyone wants to look it up, because this is similar. Brian Walsh was a Massachusetts man, and this was a guy who ended up getting convicted of murdering and then yes dismembering his wife on a Walsh in twenty twenty three. So yes, he admitted to disposing of her remains, but said she suffered a quote sudden, unexplained death. That would be I would imagine the only way we can actually even begin to envision a defense for David that would make any sense, because if they've got this DNA evidence, they've established the relationship was happening. They've established that she took an uper straight to his house and that is the last time she was seen alive, and that her dismembered body was seen in his car, and he was the last person driving the car.
00:11:40
Speaker 3: There's not a lot of will room there.
00:11:41
Speaker 1: You can't say what in me? So what do you say? You have to say. He's twenty, he was scared his career's coming. He didn't know what to do. This girl came over, she threw a fit, She had an accident some kind of way. I don't know. They looking into her medical history. Maybe she had a problem, maybe this Please, There is nothing you cannot say. I didn't order that. Nope, I wasn't at that house. Nope, that's not my car. You can't do that. So you have to the only defense robes is that she died some other kind of way was an accident They got into a fight in some way accidentally died. Maybe that lessens the impact ropes I got. This is fascinating.
00:12:23
Speaker 2: Yes, and so when we come back, Yes, the defense will get a chance to interview, not necessarily cross examine, some of the witnesses that will be testifying this week. But we'll also hear what David's attorneys have said so far that might, I guess, lends some insight into what they're preparing in terms of his defense and what we will see from David himself in court this week. Welcome back everyone to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:13:00
Speaker 3: Singer David.
00:13:01
Speaker 2: David Anthony Burke is in court in his preliminary hearing. It is happening right now today. This is Tuesday, the first day of what's expected to be a three to seven day preliminary hearing, a mini trial of sorts. But the prosecution is going to convince a judge they have enough evidence to take this to trial. I think from what we've seen and heard already, it kind of feels like this doesn't even need to happen. But we're going to learn a lot more in terms of what the evidence is and maybe get an idea of what we're going to hear from David's defense team.
00:13:35
Speaker 3: He has been behind.
00:13:36
Speaker 2: Bars in a jail near the courthouse since he was arrested in April, and we know that he is going to appear in court in his jail clothes. They did ask for him to be able to appear in a suit and tie. Judge denied that, said, nope, you're coming in the way you came in from jail. But look, his defense has been adamant that he had nothing to do with her death.
00:14:05
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm waiting to hear that and Robes say, hey, this is an innocent man until proven otherwise. But there is an overwhelming amount of evidence against him right now and they're just getting started at least presenting it publicly. So had nothing to do with it. I mean, that's what you're supposed to say. You have to say that, you will continue to say that. But how do you refute all this stuff?
00:14:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, to what you were saying before the break, I thought it was interesting if you take a look and just actually analyze these sentence that they gave when he was arrested. I think what you were saying before the break actually fits perfectly into what the defense is likely to present. So this was their exact quote back in April. The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Reves Hernandez, and he was not the cause of her death. All right, So maybe they get in an accident and there's some pushing in, some shoving, and she trips and she falls and she hits her head. He's freaked out because he's about to go on to this big world tour. He doesn't know what to do. He's afraid to call police, and he just covers it up. Is that plausible? Could they prove that?
00:15:18
Speaker 1: Will race come into it. He's a young man, he's black, he's in LA He didn't think he'd get for fair shake. He was scared. I mean, you're gonna throw everything at the wall. You can run.
00:15:27
Speaker 3: Black men don't call police.
00:15:29
Speaker 1: It was that thing there. Won't say the line again from them. They didn't call say it again.
00:15:33
Speaker 2: The actual evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Reeves Hernandez, and he was not the cause of her death.
00:15:43
Speaker 1: Didn't murder her and not the cause, meaning they have information suggestions she wasn't murdered, correct, was not the cause. They don't have to say. They don't have to present it during the pillminary preliminary hearing, do.
00:15:56
Speaker 3: They They don't.
00:15:57
Speaker 2: But here's the problem the autopsy, as we have been told by the medical examiner, is the cause of death is being stabbed multiple times. So if if David Burke was not the cause of her death, they can't claim it was an accident that she slipped and fell. She slipped and fell on a bunch of not exactly on multiple knives, So that doesn't make any sense given her cause of death. If she had blunt forced trauma to the head, maybe you could try to make that argument.
00:16:28
Speaker 3: But multiple stab wounds.
00:16:31
Speaker 2: I'm not really sure how you then remove or take away any responsibility from your client other than point the finger at someone else. Someone else was in the house, someone else caused her death. I mean, that would be the only other way he wouldn't be responsible for her death.
00:16:47
Speaker 3: Okay, did she stab herself?
00:16:49
Speaker 2: I'm thinking of Oh, could he claim that she was so upset that he broke it off with her that she stabbed herself in front of him.
00:16:58
Speaker 3: That would be the only other possible.
00:17:01
Speaker 1: What defense attorney is going to stand up with a straight face and say that.
00:17:07
Speaker 2: I can't imagine. But I can't think of what another defense would be other than another person or she did it to herself.
00:17:14
Speaker 1: And I'm not sure if they have to right now present with their defense is going to be Again, I don't think they're not under any illusion that this is not going to go to trial, So I don't know if they have to actually present in their defense or not. So it's getting started as we speak as of this recording. There will be plenty of updates later today. There are going to be reporters in the courtroom who are going to be we assume, putting out feeds and updates. But there are no cameras. There will be no cameras through the preliminary hearing. I assume through the trial as well if there is one. But nowhere there any interest in a plaque.
00:17:51
Speaker 2: No that there has been zero talk of a possible plea deal here in this case. But this will be fascinating and as soon as we get any information from it inside that courtroom, of course, we will pass it along to you all. But in the meantime we always appreciate you listening to us. I'm Amy Roebuck alongside TJ.
00:18:08
Speaker 3: Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.