Facing criminal proceedings later this year is now set in stone for American singer-songwriter D4vd.
This comes after a Los Angeles judge ruled there is sufficient evidence for the artist to stand trial over the alleged killing of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
Preliminary hearing paves way for trial
A five-day preliminary hearing concluded earlier this week with a ruling from Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo, which acknowledged that prosecutors established probable cause on all charges against 21-year-old David Anthony Burke.
Burke has firmly maintained his innocence despite being charged with first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 and unlawful mutilation of human remains.
He is set to return to court for arraignment on August 31, with the trial expected to commence within 90 days.
Additionally, prosecutors were permitted by the judge to investigate special-circumstance murder charges, including assertions that the killing was executed for monetary benefit by lying in wait and to completely silence a witness.
Burke is deemed eligible for the death penalty should he be found guilty of those allegations.
However, prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek capital punishment amid the preliminary hearing.
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Both sides clash over key evidence
Hernandez became the heart of a gruesome murder case after her remains were discovered sealed in a cadaver bag and a black plastic trash bag inside a Tesla registered to Burke’s address.
Burke endured the hearing with mounting accusations from the prosecution, including his inflicting fatal stab wounds on the victim before dismembering her body.
This was allegedly triggered by Hernandez’s threat of exposing their relationship and damaging his music career, a related report from the BBC said.
According to testimony from investigators, body bags, chainsaws and a shovel were among the discovered items he purchased after the victim’s death, though no blood was detected on the recovered chainsaws as per forensic experts.
Defence attorneys, on the other hand, challenged this, saying that the lack of surveillance footage placing Burke at home during the alleged killing and testimony that Hernandez had misrepresented her age have made the presented evidence insufficient.
They also stressed the forensic uncertainty regarding the victim’s injuries and questioned the prosecution’s understanding of the text messages exchanged between her and the defendant.
Following the declared ruling, prosecutors stated that the preliminary hearing witnessed only a portion of the evidence they plan to use at trial.
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