The platinum-selling musician known as D4vd, accused of murdering 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez and concealing her dismembered remains in the trunk of his Tesla, appeared in court Wednesday and received a third postponement of his upcoming probable cause hearing.
The “Romantic Homicide” singer, born David Anthony Burke, agreed to push the hearing from June 29 to July 21 after his defense team asked for more time. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine F. Olmedo set a status conference for July 7.
“Thank you, your honor,” Burke said before he was led out of the courtroom in an orange jail uniform and waist shackles. His lead defense lawyer, Blair Berk, declined to comment as she left the courthouse. His other lead lawyer, Marilyn Bednarski, did not attend.
The judge said she found “good cause” to continue the hearing after reading a sealed declaration from Bednarski submitted with the motion to continue. The important hearing is expected to last several days with multiple witnesses. After the hearing, the judge will decide if prosecutors have enough viable evidence to warrant a jury trial.
Burke, 21, was arrested April 16 and charged a week later with first-degree murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains. Prosecutors added special circumstance allegations of murder of a witness, murder for financial gain, and lying in wait, making him ineligible for bail.
