David Anthony Burke, 21, was charged with homicide, steady intercourse abuse of a minor and mutilating a corpse earlier this month after Los Angeles police stormed a Hollywood Hills dwelling and arrested him. He pleaded not responsible final week.
The singer has lengthy been linked to Hernandez’s disappearance and dying, after her badly decomposed physique was discovered within the trunk of a Tesla he owned at a Hollywood tow yard final September. Authorities stated Hernandez was final seen at Burke’s Hollywood residence on April 23, 2025.
Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman stated final week that Burke killed the 14-year-old as a result of she threatened to show the truth that he’d been sexually abusing her for almost a 12 months. An post-mortem report made public final week revealed Hernandez died from a pair of stab wounds. Her physique was dismembered when police discovered it within the trunk and two of her fingers had been amputated, the report stated.
Burke‘s lead protection lawyer, Blair Berk, stated she doesn’t consider the prosecution’s case can maintain as much as scrutiny and pushed for an instantaneous preliminary listening to throughout his preliminary court docket look.
Defendants have a proper to a preliminary listening to, by which a choose determines whether or not prosecutors have sufficient proof to convey a case to trial, inside 10 enterprise days. The usual for prosecutors to prevail at a preliminary listening to is merely possible trigger, far decrease than the “past an affordable doubt” wanted to win a conviction at trial.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Beth Silverman stated prosecutors have a trove of proof to show over, together with the outcomes of a wiretap and searches of Burke’s cellphone and iCloud accounts, which prosecutors allege turned up “a major quantity of kid pornography.”
Specialists have questioned Berk’s dashing ways. She has publicly grilled Silverman about needing entry to extra discovery supplies, and the medical expert’s report detailing how Hernandez died was not obtainable to her till final week. Prosecutors additionally convened three secret grand juries between November 2025 and February 2026 to gather proof towards Burke, in accordance with Silverman. Transcripts from these hearings have been underneath seal as of final week.
If Burke doesn’t comply with waive time necessities surrounding his preliminary listening to, it might begin this Friday. Silverman has stated a preliminary listening to within the case might last as long as 5 days.
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