D4vd’s legal team is “stopping at nothing” to challenge and undermine the evidence presented in the singer’s murder case, according to the attorney representing the family of alleged teenage victim Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
Speaking with reporters outside a Los Angeles courtroom on Monday (July 27), attorney Patrick Steinfeld, who represents Rivas Hernandez’s family, said his clients are “grateful” for the continued media attention surrounding the case but are “horrified” by what he described as the defense’s attempt to shape the narrative.
“The defense attorneys brought up some evidence that was deemed inadmissible at this preliminary hearing,” Steinfeld said Monday, according to video shared by the Associated Press. “They made allegations that didn’t have any evidentiary basis, including the assertion that Celeste may have committed suicide or that Celeste was violent. I personally found that very disturbing. It seems that the defense attorneys are stopping at nothing in an attempt to discredit the prosecution’s evidence.”
Steinfeld went on to say: “The family was horrified that the defense attorneys brought up evidence to put the blame on a 14-year-old child. I want you to remember February 17th, 2024. That is when a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy did a welfare check on the home of David Anthony Burke [D4vd], and informed David that Celeste Rivas was 13 years old. David Anthony Burke has taken the position that Celeste said she was 18 [and] he didn’t know she was a child. But he knew because he was told in February of 2024 that Celeste was only 13 years old.”
According to Steinfeld, the case — which involves the Withered artist facing charges of murder, continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14, and unlawful mutilation of human remains — centers around what he describes as a “strict liability” argument.
“He does not have a defense,” Steinfeld said. “However, he had direct knowledge of Celeste’s age and continued in their sexual relationship. So, I find it abhorrent that the defense attorneys are trying to put any blame whatsoever on this young child.”
Steinfeld also pointed to D4vd’s 2022 song “Romantic Homicide,” which reached No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
“Only a sick, disturbed mind like David Anthony Burke would think that a homicide is romantic,” he said.
After a five-day preliminary hearing, D4vd was ordered to proceed to trial. The next step is a post-preliminary arraignment scheduled for Aug. 31. In comments shared with the media on Monday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said the evidence presented during the preliminary hearing was only a “small but illustrative” portion of a much larger collection of evidence.
“This has been a parent’s worst nightmare, hearing the ghoulish details of how their child was killed, dismembered, and left as trash,” Hochman added.
