LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors on Monday gave a moment-by-moment account of the last night of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, showing that after a stream of text messages with singer D4vd, her phone went permanently silent when she arrived at his home.The texts were shown in court on the fifth and likely final day of a Los Angeles hearing to determine whether he'll go to trial in her killing.As she neared his Hollywood home shortly after 10 a.m. on April 23, 2025, in an Uber he had sent to pick her up, she sent her final text: “girly pop i’m almost there open ur door if ur home.”Prosecutors allege D4vd, whose legal name is David Burke, stabbed her to death when she came through the door.The night before, the two argued via text about his relationship with a woman. She sent him an angry and profane text saying she will tell her dad so many lies about him and “i will end ur career and ur life.”Detective Corey Farrell of the Los Angeles Police Department, under questioning from the prosecution, read the texts that were obtained from warrants on Burke's iPhone and iCloud accounts.After the hearing ends, Judge Charlaine Olmedo will decide whether to put the 21-year-old Burke on trial on charges of murder, sexual abuse of a child under 14 and mutilation of a body.He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers have said he didn’t cause her death.Defense argues there's insufficient evidence for murderAfter the final witness on Monday, the defense argued that the evidence was insufficient and the murder charge should be dismissed.
The defense did not address or contest the sexual abuse of a minor or mutilation charges during the multiday hearing, and instead focused their attention on the murder charge.“There’s no evidence that Mr. Burke harbored a deliberate intent to kill Miss Hernandez,” said Burke's attorney, Marilyn Bednarski.She said the communications between Burke and Rivas Hernandez showed “no threat, no evidence of a history of violence” and that he had “the opposite of homicidal malice” toward her.She argued that a medical examiner ruling that her death was a homicide from two puncture wounds was too vague and inconclusive to be evidence of murder. The defense did not directly give an alternative theory on how she died and isn't required to.The defense showed several other texts from Rivas Hernandez threatening him about their relationship, and saying she…
Los Angeles prosecutors give detailed account of Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s last night Prosecutors on Monday gave a moment-by-moment account of the last night of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, showing that after a stream of text messages with the singer D4vd, her phone went permanently silent when she arrived at his home.The texts were shown in court on the fifth and probably final day of a Los Angeles hearing to determine whether he will go to trial in her killing. The texts were shown in court on the fifth and likely final day of a Los Angeles hearing to determine whether he’ll go to trial in her killing. As she neared his Hollywood home shortly after 10 a.m.
The night before, the two argued via text about his relationship with a woman. The hearing will end with a decision from Judge Charlaine Olmedo on whether to put the 21-year-old Burke on trial on charges of murder, sexual abuse of a child under 14 and mutilation of a body. He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers have said he didn’t cause her death.
Defense attorneys established that no witnesses saw and no cameras captured Rivas Hernandez entering the house or Burke being at the house in the time frame prosecutors say she was killed. The defense showed several other texts from Rivas Hernandez threatening him about their relationship, and saying she would go to Burke’s mother, talk to his friends and “leak” information about them. Under questioning from defense attorney Blair Berk, Farrell said he saw no indication that she ever threatened to go to police or pursue any legal action against him.
The defense also established that she had asked seven times to come to see him in the days before her death, and he agreed only after she demanded it. Farrell also said under questioning from Berk that the parents of both Burke and Rivas Hernandez knew about their relationship, that he had attended church with members of her family and that her parents had given their consent to go to London with him for a week. The detective also agreed that Rivas Hernandez in…
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