Latest / True Crime with Gavin Fish / D4vd Returns to Court as the Murder Case Moves Closer to Trial | Murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez

Transcript

D4vd Returns to Court as the Murder Case Moves Closer to Trial | Murder of Celeste Rivas Hernandez · True Crime with Gavin Fish

• 0:02
  Well, if you have been following the case of the murder of
• 0:06
  Celeste Rivas Hernandez, allegedly at the hand of
• 0:11
  musician Deforvida, thanks to Pascal for coining that one for
• 0:16
  us. David Anthony Burke.
• 0:18
  Mr. Burke had a hearing scheduled today where almost
• 0:24
  nothing happened except something that's really
• 0:27
  important that we're going to talk about.
• 0:30
  Dun Dun, Dun, cliffhanger. I don't know.
• 0:32
  I don't know. Is that a good tease?
• 0:34
  I don't know. I'm not.
• 0:35
  I'm not very good at this. But either way, just stick with
• 0:37
  me. We're going to get into it.
• 0:50
  This video contains mature themes and discussions intended
• 0:53
  only for adult audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.
• 0:59
  Hello there my friend. Welcome back to another true
• 1:01
  crime conversation Con migo Gavin Fish.
• 1:06
  Glad that you are here. I'm rearranging some windows
• 1:09
  last second here. Really glad you're here.
• 1:12
  Thanks for tuning in. Wherever you're tuning in from,
• 1:15
  please tell me in the chat. If you're live on YouTube right
• 1:18
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• 1:22
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  YouTube or on Spotify or on Facebook or wherever you get
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  your podcasts, be sure to put in the comments where you are
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  watching or listening from. I just, that's my favorite
• 1:39
  thing. I can't help it.
• 1:41
  It's my favorite thing. Hey, and yesterday, if you guys
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  will remember, I introduced you to a, a giveaway that we're
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  Let's see, there we go. So come over here.
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  collectible and that gives you an automatic entry into the
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  giveaway for the Omega Speedmaster and that supports my
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  is going through the 21st. So we're doing it for 10 days
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  started yesterday going through the 21st Thank you thank you
• 3:20
  thank you for the support and best of luck.
• 3:24
  I, I hope well, only one of you can win.
• 3:28
  Only one viewer can win, but I want you all to win.
• 3:33
  You're all winners in my book. How about that?
• 3:35
  You're all winners in my book and thank you for your continued
• 3:40
  support. It means the world to me, guys,
• 3:43
  today, this very day in the what is it the legal, what is the
• 3:53
  word or the phrase that I'm looking for?
• 3:57
  We, we, we got legal action happening in the case of the
• 4:01
  murder of this little girl, Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
• 4:05
  She was 13 years old when she went missing.
• 4:09
  Prosecutors allege that for about a year there was a
• 4:14
  continued essay of her by this guy.
• 4:19
  Here's his mug shot. Deformada, also known as David,
• 4:26
  Mr. David Anthony Burke got a couple other pictures of him.
• 4:30
  Non muggy mug shot pictures. This guy was a rising star in in
• 4:35
  the music scene and apparently or allegedly liked the little
• 4:42
  ones because prosecutors say not only did he SA Celeste over the
• 4:48
  course of at least a year from the time she was 13 years old,
• 4:55
  but his phone was chock full of C Sam as well.
• 4:59
  Now he had a hearing this day. It was it's a status conference.
• 5:04
  It's not not anything major. He showed up to the to the
• 5:09
  hearing. Let let's, let's put Celeste
• 5:11
  Pitcher on there and it was a brief hearing, but we've got a
• 5:14
  couple of reports that I want to want to read.
• 5:18
  And then what we're going to do, Let me just, I want to check,
• 5:22
  I've got my, my little agenda here.
• 5:27
  So we're going to, we're going to go over the status conference
• 5:30
  a little bit. And then I want to talk about
• 5:34
  the preliminary hearing, just in general, the preliminary hearing
• 5:38
  that was postponed today. Let's talk about the prelim,
• 5:42
  what the prelim is, whether it will actually happen or not.
• 5:49
  This is what the third or fourth time it's been postponed.
• 5:54
  We're of course, going to get into three questions.
• 5:56
  We've got some updates in the Nancy Guthrie case and we've got
• 6:00
  some good news. And I think I jumped the gun
• 6:04
  normally like in my tease, in my cold open, I do this, but I
• 6:08
  think I jumped the gun. That's OK.
• 6:10
  That's OK, I'm not a professional, I'm an amateur,
• 6:13
  and that's perfectly fine. So come with me, if you will,
• 6:16
  over here to Acrobat, where I have prepared a couple of
• 6:21
  articles, this one out of Rolling Stone.
• 6:25
  Let's see, written by whom? Doesn't say who it's written by,
• 6:29
  but published in Rolling Stone. There's a link in the
• 6:31
  description or the show notes depending on where you are
• 6:34
  listening or watching from. Headline Deformada hearing
• 6:37
  delayed again after DA drops chilling evidence claims.
• 6:41
  Of course they wrote that headline trying to get clicks.
• 6:45
  The evidence claim. There were no new evidence
• 6:47
  claims today. OK.
• 6:49
  Platinum selling musician Deformada appeared in a Los
• 6:53
  Angeles courtroom on Tuesday and had his upcoming evidentiary
• 6:57
  hearing in his murder case pushed out another month to June
• 7:01
  29th. It was scheduled for the end of
• 7:05
  this month. It is now scheduled for the end
• 7:07
  of next month. This this evidentiary take two
• 7:13
  evidentiary hearing is also known as the preliminary
• 7:18
  hearing. See, what's interesting here is
• 7:20
  that here in these United States of America, the fruited plain
• 7:24
  from sea to shining sea, we have a right that is enshrined in our
• 7:27
  Constitution to a speedy trial. I don't know what the definition
• 7:34
  our founders had in mind when they said speedy trial, but I
• 7:39
  doubt they had this in mind. Why is this taking so long?
• 7:43
  Well, it's taking so long because the defendant is
• 7:49
  effectively waving his right to a speedy trial.
• 7:52
  And why is he doing that? Well, let's read it.
• 7:55
  Let's let's keep going. His defense asked for the delay
• 7:59
  after prosecutors released a chilling evidence brief on April
• 8:02
  29th. Yeah, so they're saying the
• 8:05
  chilling evidence is the stuff we knew from a couple weeks ago
• 8:08
  that revealed for the first time their detailed theory of how the
• 8:12
  remains of 14 year old victim Celeste Rivas Hernandez ended up
• 8:16
  dismembered and severely decomposed in his towed Tesla.
• 8:21
  Prosecutors allege the musician born David Anthony Burke lured
• 8:25
  Rivas to his Los Angeles rental home, fatally stabbed her on
• 8:29
  April 23rd, 2025, dismembered her with a chainsaw and
• 8:34
  concealed her remains for months.
• 8:38
  Minutes before the explosive filing went public two weeks
• 8:41
  ago, De Forvida appeared in court on April 29th and nodded
• 8:44
  in agreement with his lawyer. As his lawyer, Blair Burke, said
• 8:48
  he was, quote, presumed innocent. close quote.
• 8:51
  At the time, his defense said he still wanted to fast track his
• 8:54
  preliminary hearing. Yeah, let's do this.
• 8:57
  I got a right to a speedy trial. Let's do this right.
• 9:00
  Burke fought to seal the explosive brief, saying her team
• 9:03
  had only received it that morning and then it might taint
• 9:06
  the future jury pool. The judge denied the request,
• 9:09
  thankfully on Tuesday. Today, Burke appeared in a
• 9:15
  similar orange jail uniform and spoke only to say he agreed to
• 9:20
  the new delay, a court source confirmed to Rolling Stone.
• 9:24
  The hearing was previously set to begin May 26th.
• 9:28
  Burke is now due back in court on June 17th for another status
• 9:31
  conference. So a little over a month from
• 9:33
  now there will there's a hearing on on the books that will be,
• 9:38
  I'm sure, another delay or cancellation of the preliminary
• 9:43
  hearing because I don't think that David Anthony Burke wants a
• 9:50
  preliminary hearing and of course he has a right to waive
• 9:53
  it. We're going to, we'll get into
• 9:55
  that. The romantic homicide singer,
• 9:59
  now 21, was charged last month and pleaded not guilty to 1st
• 10:02
  degree murder, continuous essay of a child under the age of 14
• 10:06
  and unlawful mutilation of human remains, prosecutors added.
• 10:10
  Special circumstances, I'm sorry, special circumstance
• 10:14
  allegations of murder of a witness, murder for financial
• 10:18
  gain and lying in wait, which actually makes him qualify for
• 10:27
  the the dreaded DP, though there's a moratorium on that in
• 10:33
  the state of California in their nine page evidence brief.
• 10:37
  I I'm not going to read this whole thing, but because we all
• 10:39
  know what what happened. We've talked about it at at
• 10:44
  nauseam ad nauseam. Not at nauseam ad nauseam.
• 10:49
  Have you got to you got to correct me on my Latin, man.
• 10:54
  Well, in in fairness to Javi, he did.
• 10:55
  He beeped me. Yeah, that's cool.
• 10:56
  Thank you. Ad nauseam.
• 11:01
  Let's see. I think I think that's it.
• 11:05
  If convicted as charged, Burke faces life in prison without
• 11:08
  parole or the DP. Now there's a little more a
• 11:14
  little more of a gossipy angle to this from TMZ today says
• 11:20
  Deformita appears in courtroom and jail jumpsuit and shackles
• 11:24
  this written by TMZ staff Deformita looked more like he
• 11:28
  was waiting on a delayed flight than fighting a criminal case
• 11:32
  Tuesday morning, casually slumping in his chair during a
• 11:36
  court hearing while his lawyers and prosecutors deliberated over
• 11:39
  the cases timeline. OK, I'm giving TMZ a little bit
• 11:43
  of a hard time on this, but this is a view that I have seen so
• 11:46
  many times when I, when I go to hearings for my day job.
• 11:51
  If you don't know, I'm a reporter out here in Western
• 11:54
  Pennsylvania and part of my job is to cover a crime.
• 11:57
  So I've gone to hundreds of these these hearings and when
• 12:04
  inmates who are who are incarcerated for whatever
• 12:07
  reason, they were denied bond, they can't get bond, whatever
• 12:11
  they, you know, they March in there.
• 12:13
  It's not in the presence of a jury.
• 12:14
  Of course, this is just a hearing.
• 12:16
  And slumping in a seat is exactly the description that I
• 12:21
  would give them. They just like here I am again.
• 12:26
  And it must be something that just happens to everybody in
• 12:30
  jail while they're waiting for the whole process to to make it
• 12:36
  through the process, right? It's just, yeah, he slumped
• 12:42
  over, OK. The artist, born David Burke,
• 12:46
  appeared in downtown LA for a status conference tied to his
• 12:50
  upcoming preliminary hearing, rocking an orange jail jumpsuit
• 12:54
  and appearing unusually relaxed throughout the proceedings.
• 12:57
  I think this is an indication that he may have just accepted
• 13:00
  what the rest of his life is going to be.
• 13:03
  We'll see. A sketch shows him entering the
• 13:05
  courtroom in restraints as he faces first degree murder and
• 13:08
  mutilation charges tied to the death of 14 year old Celeste
• 13:12
  Rivas Hernandez, whose dismembered remains were found
• 13:16
  inside a Tesla registered to the singer last year.
• 13:18
  He has pleaded not guilty to all charges after his April arrest.
• 13:23
  Inside the courtroom, the two sides sparred over discovery and
• 13:27
  the pace of evidence turnover ahead of the next phase of the
• 13:30
  case that will now roll on next month.
• 13:33
  The hearing focused largely on scheduling and readiness for the
• 13:37
  preliminary hearing, which is currently set for June 29th.
• 13:41
  Another status hearing is scheduled for June 17th, while
• 13:44
  the judge also noted the court would remain in session
• 13:47
  throughout the timeline. So again, I don't, I doubt the
• 13:53
  preliminary hearing is ever going to take place.
• 13:58
  I, I just don't think see a defendant has the right to waive
• 14:01
  it. And what do they get?
• 14:06
  Well, they get some things. We'll get into it.
• 14:08
  I'm getting ahead of myself. As the legal back and forth
• 14:12
  played around him, played out around him, Deformada mostly
• 14:14
  stayed quiet, lounging low in his chair rather than sitting
• 14:18
  upright at the defense table. To me, body language, while I
• 14:23
  don't completely subscribe to this whole idea that you can
• 14:26
  understand everything about anybody based on their body
• 14:28
  language, I'll give you an example.
• 14:31
  One of the most comfortable poses for me is to fold my arms.
• 14:35
  It's just comfortable. I grew up in church saying be
• 14:38
  reverent, fold your arms, right, that sort of thing.
• 14:41
  And people think that I am being what confrontational when, when
• 14:51
  I, you know, when I stand with my arms folded, but it's just
• 14:55
  completely relaxing to me. So anyway, I I think maybe he
• 15:01
  has has figured out that the rest of his unnatural days ahead
• 15:08
  of him are going to be what he has been experiencing.
• 15:12
  Let me real quick because I forgot.
• 15:14
  Let's bring Celeste's pitcher back up and let's go over to the
• 15:20
  live chat and see where you guys are coming in from.
• 15:24
  Shorty 4393, says Gavin. You remind me so much of my
• 15:27
  brother-in-law. Well, I hope your brother-in-law
• 15:30
  is awesome. I hope Sharky says Gavin,
• 15:35
  greetings from South Lake Tahoe. My friends and I are hiking the
• 15:39
  Tahoe Rim Trail again this year in sections.
• 15:41
  Have fun. I I have not done that.
• 15:45
  Not even sections of it. What do we got?
• 15:48
  We got Colorado in the house. We got Michigan, Michigan in the
• 15:52
  house. Not Michigan.
• 15:53
  Michigan. The Georgia mountains are here.
• 15:56
  Canada is here. What else?
• 16:00
  We got Nebraska's here, the Gulf Coast, Scotland, sunny Florida.
• 16:04
  You guys are helping me out by putting GF in your comment.
• 16:07
  I can see it so clearly now. Maine is here, North Carolina,
• 16:10
  Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Jersey, Erie, PA more or
• 16:16
  less or California or or or Cal or your nor Cal perhaps way up
• 16:25
  there. OK, pretty awesome.
• 16:26
  Suffolk, VA is here. Las Vegas is here.
• 16:30
  Cobbleskill, New York, Coboskill.
• 16:32
  I don't know how to pronounce that.
• 16:33
  Thank you very much, John says greetings from the location of
• 16:36
  the 19 O 4 Louisiana Purchase Exposition.
• 16:39
  Awesome. Sarasota, FL is here.
• 16:42
  It was Norcal. Sheila, I'm glad we got that one
• 16:45
  figured out. Azle, TX or Azle, Salisbury,
• 16:48
  Tennessee, you guys are awesome. And Blue Ridge Hiker, thank you
• 16:53
  very much for joining the channel, for being a new member.
• 16:58
  Austin, Florida, Glasgow, thank you for being here.
• 17:02
  Georgia's here, you guys. Awesome, awesome, awesome,
• 17:06
  awesome, Ivan One love says greeting to you and everyone
• 17:10
  from East LA. You guys.
• 17:12
  Thank you very much. Miss Chivo's dragon is calling
• 17:15
  this the speedy trial tango. Oh, I like the I like the little
• 17:19
  dancing emojis. Miss Drag Miss.
• 17:22
  Not Miss. Miss Dragon.
• 17:25
  Yeah. Thank you very much for that.
• 17:27
  OK, let's get into just a bit of a conversation if we can.
• 17:31
  I'm going to keep Celeste's photo up here.
• 17:33
  Maybe, maybe go through them a little bit.
• 17:37
  You know, it just occurred to me.
• 17:38
  Is that the same? That looks like that's the same
• 17:42
  day. Is that possible that is the
• 17:45
  same day? I don't know.
• 17:47
  Can't tell. Anyway, let's I need to bring up
• 17:54
  a my notes. OK, let's let's just briefly
• 17:59
  talk about what a preliminary hearing is.
• 18:03
  OK? Preliminary hearing.
• 18:05
  Sometimes you hear it called a prelim, sometimes you hear it
• 18:08
  called an evidentiary hearing. Happens in almost every felony
• 18:13
  case in almost every state. I mean, I, I can't think of a
• 18:17
  state where this doesn't happen. It is not a trial.
• 18:20
  There is no jury. The purpose of the prelim is
• 18:24
  simply to convince a judge. This is from the prosecution's
• 18:30
  point of view, to convince a judge that it is likely that the
• 18:35
  that there is enough evidence that shows that there that, that
• 18:40
  there's probable cause. There's that.
• 18:44
  This should move on through the judicial system.
• 18:50
  They do not have to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
• 18:55
  They only need to show a couple of things.
• 18:59
  It's really only two things. The first is that the crime
• 19:01
  occurred, and they don't even have to prove the crime
• 19:05
  occurred. They just have to prove that the
• 19:06
  crime likely occurred and that the defendant is probably
• 19:12
  connected to it, and that's pretty much it.
• 19:14
  It's a very, very low bar That is called probable cause.
• 19:19
  OK. If the judge finds that the
• 19:23
  defendant is well, that there is probable cause, then the
• 19:29
  defendant is held to answer or held over for court.
• 19:34
  So from there, there's a formal arraignment, there are motions,
• 19:38
  there are plea negotiations. And eventually if negotiations
• 19:42
  breakdown, it heads to a trial. If there's a guilty verdict,
• 19:46
  then it heads to a sentencing and then it heads to appeals in
• 19:51
  the whole thing, right. But it all starts at the prelim.
• 19:56
  So far, I think he has been, he's had his initial
• 20:00
  arraignment, but. If the prelim shows that there
• 20:04
  is probable cause, then it goes right into the higher court
• 20:09
  process, right? Formal arraignment in the higher
• 20:12
  court, all the legal mumbo jumbo, all the everything.
• 20:18
  Now, if the judge goes, there's not probable cause here, which I
• 20:25
  would find difficult for a judge to say no probable cause exists.
• 20:30
  But if that were to happen, then the charges may be dismissed or
• 20:34
  reduced or, or, you know, the DA's office might go, OK, well,
• 20:39
  we can't get them on these ones. But are, are there any other
• 20:41
  charges that we can, that we can file, they can refile, and then
• 20:46
  it starts all over again, right. But in major murder cases where
• 20:52
  we've got mountains of evidence, it's pretty uncommon that one
• 20:57
  would be dismissed at this early stage.
• 21:01
  Now you may be asking yourself why, why, why does the prelim
• 21:08
  exist? Well, it, it is a protective
• 21:15
  mechanism. It is there to protect us, the
• 21:18
  citizenry from them. The government right in the
• 21:23
  United and this was this was based on English common law.
• 21:29
  They're unlike English common law.
• 21:31
  We actually wrote down a constitution, but it's based on
• 21:35
  English common law. But the idea that the founding
• 21:37
  fathers had was that they had been living through as
• 21:41
  colonists, what they believed were unfair practices by the
• 21:47
  government of England, by the king of England through his
• 21:52
  government, right. And so they put into our
• 21:55
  Constitution protections because, you know, when people
• 22:01
  get power, they, they tend to exercise that power.
• 22:07
  And this is sad, but they when people get power, the natural
• 22:15
  tendency is to exercise that power unrighteously.
• 22:20
  And the Founding fathers knew that and created this system.
• 22:29
  OK, now it, and it is, it is adapted over the years, right?
• 22:34
  It, it wasn't just one thing. Here is the what we're going to
• 22:36
  do is adapted over the years, of course.
• 22:38
  But anyway, the prelim exists to prevent completely baseless
• 22:44
  charges. They don't we don't want
• 22:48
  innocent people dragged into full felony trials, right, with
• 22:55
  no evidence. And so the prelim acts as an
• 22:58
  early screening process. It's done publicly and you know,
• 23:03
  some states allow cameras in there, some states do not.
• 23:07
  But the but it's a public meeting.
• 23:09
  So they're always reporters there.
• 23:12
  The other reason, another good reason that I thought for why
• 23:17
  prelims exist is maybe to preserve judicial resources,
• 23:21
  right? Running a trial is an expensive
• 23:24
  thing. You've got all the staff, you've
• 23:26
  got all the buildings, you've got all the investigators.
• 23:28
  It's an expensive thing, so, and it's not only expensive in
• 23:32
  treasure, but also in time. So prelims help determine
• 23:36
  whether a case is strong enough to even continue.
• 23:40
  It also gives both sides a preview of witnesses, evidence
• 23:49
  and legal theories. Again, this is a protection for
• 23:52
  the defendant. Now we, we may look at this guy
• 23:56
  and say he is not deserving of such protections, but we need to
• 24:01
  fight against those impulses, each and every one of us,
• 24:05
  because if he is not worthy of these kinds of protections, then
• 24:08
  I am not worthy of these kinds of protections.
• 24:10
  We want to protect everybody. And so the system is extremely
• 24:16
  important. OK, let me just let me just
• 24:23
  check in to see what you guys are saying.
• 24:25
  Make sure that I am caught up on anything that you want me to to
• 24:29
  check in on. Ah, here, here's a good comment.
• 24:34
  This is a good comment. This is from Ivan One Love
• 24:39
  saying Gavin. His actions in court reflect his
• 24:41
  cockiness. Also, you read the body language
• 24:43
  differently than me. OK.
• 24:45
  In the end, I feel it's going to work against him.
• 24:48
  It's him showing he's uninterested.
• 24:52
  Yeah. So maybe, maybe I don't fully
• 24:58
  disagree with you, but I don't fully agree with you either.
• 25:05
  I I honestly, I see this happen over and over and over again.
• 25:10
  And I think that it's an indication of hopelessness.
• 25:17
  And I've got oh, sneeze button. Excuse me.
• 25:25
  Yeah, maybe it's a little cockiness.
• 25:27
  Maybe. It could be, it's probably, it's
• 25:30
  probably not exactly what I think, but it it reads as almost
• 25:36
  despair when when they come into court like that.
• 25:40
  But it also could be just like whatever, whatever.
• 25:45
  Yeah. Missouri in the house.
• 25:47
  England in the house. North Dakota in the house.
• 25:49
  Thank you very much for checking in.
• 25:51
  Listershire, England. Thank you very much for being
• 25:54
  here. I I was about to say I had fish
• 25:58
  and chips in Lister, but I didn't because I don't like
• 26:00
  fish, but I did have chips. I had a had a burger there one
• 26:04
  time and I said, hey, I know it's not pronounced ly sister.
• 26:09
  How do you pronounce this place Lister?
• 26:12
  All right, welcome. Glad you're here.
• 26:15
  Norway is in the house. I got a little respect from
• 26:19
  Ontario. We'll respect right back at you.
• 26:21
  Music to my ears. Thank you very much.
• 26:24
  And three doxies. Thank you.
• 26:26
  I that sneeze. I'm a person who enjoys
• 26:30
  sneezing. Feels good.
• 26:31
  Feels good. Okie, dokie, Let's, let's bring
• 26:35
  Celeste's pitcher back up here. And.
• 26:40
  OK, what happens at a prelim? What are we waiting for?
• 26:43
  Right? We're waiting for this prelim.
• 26:45
  I'm salivating for it, though I know it's not likely to happen.
• 26:49
  OK, This is what happens. It kind of feels like a trial.
• 26:54
  Prosecutors present evidence. They they do so through
• 26:58
  witnesses. So usually the detectives that
• 27:01
  work on the case, forensics experts, medical examiners,
• 27:05
  other witnesses will get up and they will testify.
• 27:08
  The defense can cross examine these witnesses, right?
• 27:13
  So they can challenge things like their credibility
• 27:17
  timelines, if they note any inconsistencies, they can
• 27:23
  challenge investigative procedures, they can challenge
• 27:27
  conclusions that are made, forensic conclusions or opinions
• 27:30
  that medical examiner's might make.
• 27:33
  And, and it's all on the record. So later at trial they might
• 27:39
  bring back, well, you testified then that this happened.
• 27:43
  Now you're saying this happened, that that's the kind of thing
• 27:45
  that, that, that the defense can do.
• 27:49
  Rules are typically more relaxed.
• 27:51
  For example, in California, I understand hearsay evidence is
• 27:55
  often allowed. So rather than calling in
• 28:00
  witnesses, they will allow detectives to say this witness
• 28:04
  told me what happened, which is not allowed in a trial, Right.
• 28:09
  So that means that prelims happen pretty quickly.
• 28:12
  The longest prelim I've ever been in was 10 hours.
• 28:16
  The shortest prelim I've ever been in was like, oh, witness,
• 28:21
  you know, it was really, really fast.
• 28:24
  The advantages for the prosecution, I think first of
• 28:30
  all, they get to make a public presentation of their case and
• 28:35
  and I think this works in the prosecution's favor, right?
• 28:40
  For example, say, say it's not this case, but it's some other
• 28:43
  case where here here's an idea. Maybe it was St. violence, maybe
• 28:49
  it was a drive by shooting and they've they they've got one
• 28:55
  guy, but they think that there were others right.
• 29:00
  Well, doing a public prelim where they show, hey, we've got
• 29:05
  this guy dead to rights might inspire some other witness to
• 29:09
  come forward. So that really helps them, right
• 29:15
  it the same way it locks in testimony for the defense, it
• 29:19
  locks in testimony for the prosecution.
• 29:23
  Contradictions can be, can be addressed at trial.
• 29:28
  It puts pressure on the defense, right?
• 29:31
  The pressure of influencing public opinion, increasing plea
• 29:35
  pressure. Like, you're going to want to
• 29:37
  negotiate this one out. You do not want this to go to
• 29:41
  trial because look what we did just in this prelim.
• 29:44
  And it can, yeah, it can basically just showcase their
• 29:49
  strength. Now for the defense, they get to
• 29:53
  hear prosecution witnesses testifying underoath that can
• 29:58
  reveal weaknesses and inconsistencies and uncertainty
• 30:02
  and gaps in the investigation. Of course, they're they're given
• 30:07
  full discovery later on. But actually standing in front
• 30:11
  of investigators, detectives, witnesses and so forth, it you
• 30:19
  know it, it can, it can reveal holes in the prosecution's
• 30:24
  story. Of course, Locke's witness into
• 30:28
  a story. There is the potential if, if a,
• 30:34
  if the state has a weak case, there's a potential to damage
• 30:37
  that, that narrative. So while if the, if the
• 30:42
  prosecution has a strong case, they can put pressure on for a
• 30:46
  plea bargain, the inverse is true as well.
• 30:50
  If they've got a weak case, the defense can go like, what are
• 30:53
  you doing here? And they can put pressure on the
• 30:57
  prosecution. So yeah, it's a, it's a useful
• 31:01
  tool. Now here's the thing.
• 31:08
  A preliminary hearing isn't mandatory.
• 31:12
  A In fact, I, I don't know what the stats are, but my guess is
• 31:19
  on felony cases, the vast majority of the time prelims are
• 31:26
  waived. The, the defense is like, this
• 31:30
  isn't helping us any prosecution.
• 31:32
  Prosecution doesn't get a choice in it, but it's the defense's
• 31:35
  choice, right? Prosecution has to prepare for a
• 31:39
  preliminary hearing and the defense gets to waive it.
• 31:44
  So why would they do that? Well, maybe the defense just is
• 31:51
  like they're going to clear probable cause.
• 31:52
  There's no question about this, right?
• 31:55
  They've talked to their client, they've seen, you know, they've,
• 31:59
  they've talked to the prosecution.
• 32:01
  They have began, they have begun those those negotiations and
• 32:05
  they're like, this hurdle of probable cause is so low and the
• 32:12
  mountain of evidence off of which the prosecution may leap
• 32:16
  is so high. They're going to clear it.
• 32:18
  It's not even going to be an issue.
• 32:21
  This doesn't help me unless there are witnesses that I want
• 32:26
  to that I want to cross examine early on, which in discovery
• 32:31
  they get to do that anyway. Why?
• 32:35
  Why else maybe they would they get to take away the opportunity
• 32:41
  from prosecutors to make a public showcase, especially in
• 32:45
  high profile or viral cases like this one is every witness
• 32:50
  statement becomes a headline. It becomes discussion, fodder
• 32:56
  for discussions like you and I are having right now.
• 33:00
  You know, it goes all over social media.
• 33:03
  They might waive it to avoid graphic or emotional testimony
• 33:07
  early on, like autopsy testimony, crime scene photos,
• 33:12
  disturbing digital evidence, right?
• 33:14
  Things like, and actually I think that's I, I think that the
• 33:19
  prosecution filing that brief of this is what we plan to present
• 33:24
  is their first pre emptive shot. Because I think the prosecution
• 33:31
  also thinks the defense is going to waive the the prelim.
• 33:37
  Let's see if witnesses testify to prelim and become unavailable
• 33:41
  later. Prior testimony can sometimes be
• 33:44
  used later. So if they don't give those
• 33:46
  witnesses the opportunity to testify, then that testimony
• 33:51
  isn't there right now. They might not waive it in order
• 33:57
  to test the case, right? Let's see, maybe there are
• 34:00
  weaknesses in the timeline, in the evidence, in the forensics,
• 34:04
  in the digital evidence, in the witnesses, in the credibility.
• 34:09
  Let's, let's see what they have. Let's, let's see what weaknesses
• 34:13
  they have. And sometimes, you know,
• 34:16
  discovery sounds way stronger if if if a prosecutor goes, we have
• 34:21
  40 terabytes of data that sounds, that sounds like a butt
• 34:27
  ton of evidence, right? But maybe it's weak, maybe it's
• 34:31
  super weak. And so maybe we want to do the
• 34:34
  prelim to show the world that they've got a weak case.
• 34:37
  Maybe they want to generate favorable publicity, right?
• 34:41
  Maybe they want to taint the jury pool in their favor, right?
• 34:48
  Plus, testimony to prelim can later support suppression
• 34:52
  motions, impeachment, evidentiary challenges, so
• 34:56
  forth. OK, Why does this matter though
• 35:01
  in this conversation talking about Mr. Vada, Mr. Burke,
• 35:05
  Defore Vada Burke, I think, I think that he is going to wave.
• 35:16
  That's basically what it comes down.
• 35:18
  I think he's going to wave. I think that they've got a
• 35:21
  massive amount of discovery that has already been turned over and
• 35:25
  they're like publicly, they're my client is presumed innocent.
• 35:32
  We are going to prove in a court of law that he is innocent of
• 35:35
  these spurious charges. These accusations are unfounded.
• 35:38
  And then in the their little room with with Mr. Burke,
• 35:43
  they're like, dude, you got to play.
• 35:45
  They got so much on here. I think that's what's happening.
• 35:49
  I don't think that the high media attention helps him in
• 35:53
  this case. There are cases where media
• 35:55
  attention helps, right? Karen Reed, that media attention
• 36:01
  helped her case so much. Mr. Burke.
• 36:04
  No, he is a accused murderer. And what do we say on YouTube
• 36:15
  PDF file, right? That's what that's what he's
• 36:19
  accused of being. Having more people know about
• 36:24
  it, more people talk about it. I think, I think that makes him,
• 36:29
  I think that makes him a target where he is staying right now.
• 36:33
  And I don't think they want to put a target on his back.
• 36:38
  Of course, I think the probable cause of burden is super low on
• 36:41
  this. I think the prosecutors have so
• 36:42
  much evidence from what we read in those nine pages all the way
• 36:47
  down to buying chainsaws and an incinerator and a kiddie pool
• 36:54
  and finding the the pieces of plastic in Celeste's body, being
• 36:59
  able to determine that there were puncture wounds.
• 37:02
  They're just there's just so all the digital evidence, the C Sam
• 37:07
  they say they have, but the digital evidence, their
• 37:09
  conversations, they've got so much that they're going to be
• 37:14
  able to clear the the probable cause burden reasons he might
• 37:19
  not wave. I don't know.
• 37:25
  She was she was badly decomposed, right?
• 37:29
  Badly decomposed. So maybe they can poke holes in
• 37:33
  the and Sorry, I did not, I did not mean to use that.
• 37:37
  Those are that was a poor choice of words.
• 37:39
  But maybe they can challenge some of the forensics because of
• 37:45
  the delta between when Celeste was murdered and when her body
• 37:49
  was discovered. Maybe.
• 37:51
  But is that enough to say, yeah, we definitely want to go forward
• 37:55
  or, you know, want to want to make sure that this detective is
• 37:58
  unimpeachable, check the credibility of the witness.
• 38:01
  I mean, what what witnesses are they going to bring?
• 38:04
  They're going to bring investigators, they're going to
• 38:06
  bring detectives. They're going to bring maybe the
• 38:10
  tow yard people, maybe some neighbors, you know, saying that
• 38:16
  they saw the the car parked there.
• 38:19
  But they don't have to bring everything.
• 38:21
  That's the thing. They don't have to bring their
• 38:23
  whole case. They just need to bring enough
• 38:25
  to, to clear probable cause. And I think it's going to be so
• 38:28
  easy. I think his lawyers are going to
• 38:32
  be like no probable cause hearing, which sucks for us
• 38:36
  because I like to, I like the, I like the conversation.
• 38:42
  I like to be able to talk about this stuff.
• 38:44
  We we get to learn so much about the process about about the
• 38:48
  legal system. We get to memorialize and
• 38:52
  remember our victim. There's there's so many reasons
• 38:57
  why I want there to be a preliminary hearing, but for all
• 39:02
  the reasons that I just stated, I just don't think there will be
• 39:04
  one that's that I'd love to hear your opinion.
• 39:09
  Let me let's go over see what you guys are saying over here.
• 39:13
  If there's anything you want me. Oh, this is awesome, Miss Chivos
• 39:18
  dragon in the big building. Let's see.
• 39:24
  The big building behind Celeste is the National Library of El
• 39:28
  Salvador, La Biblioteca Nacional del Salvador, abbreviated as
• 39:34
  Binais in San Salvador. Is it the same in both photos?
• 39:40
  It actually doesn't look like it does it so, but she does look
• 39:45
  like she's wearing the same thing.
• 39:48
  I'm looking for the arches behind her, but this picture
• 39:51
  that is be nice very cool. Thanks, Miss Chivos dragon,
• 39:58
  that's really cool. It's fun to fun to learn that
• 40:05
  Monica Oliver asking are they going to bring Neo as a witness?
• 40:09
  I if he is a witness, I doubt it will be at the prelim.
• 40:15
  I I just don't think that it's necessary.
• 40:18
  In a preliminary hearing, I just, I just don't.
• 40:23
  Let's see, Panda Ann says. He said it himself.
• 40:28
  He trained himself to disassociate, not show emotion
• 40:31
  to the wrong people. He did say that.
• 40:34
  OK, Kokomo IN is here. Thank you for being here, Debbie
• 40:39
  says. I think David was never told no
• 40:42
  by anyone. I think he feels he will walk
• 40:45
  out of jail. His attorneys can blame his
• 40:47
  friends. What do you what do you think,
• 40:48
  guys? I think the way he describes
• 40:52
  being raised is it was a very conservative, very religious
• 40:57
  home. Interesting.
• 41:02
  I don't know. I think, I don't know.
• 41:04
  I don't know. Monica.
• 41:07
  Are they going to question the families and a prelim?
• 41:11
  I don't think they need it. I don't, I don't think they need
• 41:14
  it at all. 3 doxies, 1 prints. Wow.
• 41:18
  Gavin is global indeed. That's one of the reasons why I
• 41:21
  love you guys telling me where you're from.
• 41:23
  It makes me feel like I'm I've accomplished something.
• 41:27
  It it, it strokes my ego. It's funny.
• 41:31
  Lauren Conlon from LA magazine posted a link to an article on
• 41:34
  their site. The author of the article who
• 41:36
  was in the courtroom today said deform of it a winked at
• 41:39
  Blairburg while leaving the courtroom today.
• 41:41
  Interesting, interesting. Jennifer says she is here but
• 41:48
  got sidelined by the needs of her month old grand puppy.
• 41:52
  A Bernese Mountain dog cannot handle the cuteness.
• 41:55
  Oh my goodness, I do love those dogs.
• 41:58
  New Hampshire in the house. Thank you very, very much.
• 42:06
  Let's see, just think 2000 Nancy Grace just finished her live.
• 42:08
  They were listening to a video with someone saying he and
• 42:11
  Deforeivate killed her. She also said Celeste best
• 42:14
  friend said she was pregnant. Yeah, I've, I need to track down
• 42:19
  the, the pregnancy part of things.
• 42:21
  I need to track that down. And if there is somebody else
• 42:24
  saying that they were involved, I, I don't know.
• 42:28
  I don't know if she, if Nancy Grace, which she always does
• 42:33
  responsibly, reported that somebody is saying that, then
• 42:36
  great. I I haven't been comfortable
• 42:38
  talking about that quite yet. Yeah.
• 42:44
  OK. Thank you very much for those
• 42:46
  comments, guys. We've still got a few minutes to
• 42:49
  go, but I am going to end this live stream a little bit early
• 42:53
  because this very night our two younger kids have a concert up
• 42:58
  at the school. So I need to run out.
• 43:00
  But before I do, let's real quick do some three questions,
• 43:06
  shall we? It's three questions with Gavin
• 43:09
  Finn. Hey guys, you know the rules.
• 43:16
  In this segment, I answer 3 questions that you send in to me
• 43:20
  at threequestions@gavinfish.com. It's spelled out three questions
• 43:23
  at gavinfish.com. I answer all questions.
• 43:27
  Nothing's off the table. You can ask me anything.
• 43:30
  I will do my best to answer completely and honestly.
• 43:34
  I try not to pre prepare. Pre prepare.
• 43:38
  Did I just say pre? I try not to prepare.
• 43:43
  Yeah. You wouldn't say prepare ahead
• 43:45
  of time. That's what preparation is,
• 43:47
  right? I try not to prepare my answers.
• 43:50
  Bonus points to those who ask questions that you can you
• 43:54
  yourselves can answer in the live chat.
• 43:55
  OK. Number one comes from La Donna.
• 43:59
  Have you ever been so happy you cried?
• 44:02
  Yes, La Donna, I am my father's son.
• 44:05
  I cry at the drop of a hat. I joke with my old friends that
• 44:10
  my metamorphosis into my father is so complete that just talking
• 44:15
  about a memory older than four hours ago causes my little lower
• 44:19
  lip to quiver. That's Yes, I have been so happy
• 44:25
  that I have cried for sure, maybe most especially the day
• 44:31
  that I was wed to my snuggly, my snuggly bear, my sweetie pie, my
• 44:37
  one and only Kimberly and at the birth of our five children, each
• 44:43
  of our five children was actually, I cried at the at the
• 44:47
  5th for a different reason. That was a tough one.
• 44:50
  But anyway, yes, thank you. Thank you for that question.
• 44:54
  Question #2 from Kelly, favorite Star Wars character.
• 45:00
  I mean, I got to go with Jar Jar Binks, right?
• 45:02
  Jar Jar is maybe the the best Star Wars character in the
• 45:06
  history of the Star Wars universe.
• 45:09
  No, of course not. No, I'm boring.
• 45:14
  I'm going to say Leia is my favorite.
• 45:18
  She's just so feisty. I like feisty girls.
• 45:22
  I think they're awesome. And question #3 what from Diane
• 45:26
  Gee, what is a dream you're currently working toward?
• 45:30
  Well, I mean, the most public dream that I'm working toward
• 45:32
  right now is to be able to do YouTube content creation full
• 45:36
  time. Definitely working toward that.
• 45:39
  There are other things, You know, I'm working toward
• 45:41
  retirement. I'm, I'm 50 now, so retirement
• 45:44
  is, I mean, it's not like right around the corner, but, but it's
• 45:47
  there. And I and I've got to be
• 45:48
  prepared for that. But, you know, Kimberly and I
• 45:54
  have lived a life where we've got to live out a lot of our
• 45:56
  dreams. And so, yeah, I, I don't have
• 46:01
  any like, like, I guess parabolic.
• 46:07
  No, that's not the right word for it.
• 46:09
  Proverbial mountains to summit. I, I, I'm pretty darn content
• 46:13
  with the way life is and has been.
• 46:17
  But but there are things. Yeah, I I would say working
• 46:20
  toward having YouTube be our only source of income.
• 46:27
  That would be delightful. Thank you for those questions.
• 46:30
  Now, you guys, I want you to answer the questions.
• 46:32
  What's a dream you're working on?
• 46:33
  What's your favorite Star Wars character?
• 46:35
  And have you ever been so happy you cried And and what made you
• 46:38
  that happy? And while you are typing those
• 46:41
  in, don't forget to put GF in your comment.
• 46:44
  Let us switch on over to headline, shall we?
• 46:54
  True crime headlines. You know what I just realized I
• 46:58
  don't have my my good news up and ready to go.
• 47:02
  Oh, there we go. OK, I got it now.
• 47:03
  Got it now. All right, join me over on
• 47:05
  Acrobat. This in the Nancy Guthrie case
• 47:10
  on ew.com. Nancy Guthrie's neighborhood
• 47:12
  reports disrespectful behaviour near her home as a disappearance
• 47:17
  case hits 100 days. I won't read this whole thing
• 47:22
  but but the link is in the description.
• 47:25
  As the search for Nancy Guthrie hits 100 days, her Neighborhood
• 47:28
  Association is asking both the public and residents to be
• 47:31
  respectful of her Arizona home. The president of the Catalina
• 47:35
  Foothills Association, Will Pugh, wrote in a newsletter sent
• 47:39
  Monday that the association shares quote, collective shock,
• 47:43
  sadness and disbelief. Close quote over the
• 47:46
  disappearance of today's show, anchor Savannah Guthrie's
• 47:50
  mother, Nancy Pew noted that while there have been, quote,
• 47:54
  gestures and kindness and compassion from neighbors, such
• 47:58
  as tying yellow ribbons in front of their homes to honor Nancy,
• 48:01
  there have also been reports of disrespectful behavior from
• 48:06
  nonresidents. Quote, we realize that neighbors
• 48:09
  in close proximity to Nancy's house have been particularly
• 48:12
  affected and left feeling on edge by this horrific event.
• 48:17
  And as a result of the large numbers of people from outside
• 48:20
  our area who descended on Nancy St. and surrounding roads, we
• 48:24
  have received numerous reports of behavior from non residents
• 48:27
  that is disrespectful of neighbors and the surrounding
• 48:31
  area, Pew wrote. Pew added that while residents
• 48:34
  leaving flowers at Nancy's home has been fueled by good
• 48:37
  intentions, the association is asking for well wishers to
• 48:40
  instead make a donation to World Vision and organization Nancy
• 48:45
  was fond of. So yeah, if you are a, if you
• 48:52
  are from out of town and you are in the Catalina Foothills
• 48:55
  neighborhood, please be super respectful of everybody.
• 48:59
  And I think making a donation to World Vision is appropriate,
• 49:05
  probably more so than than leaving a flower, which is is
• 49:11
  delightful and nice. But but it's probably time for
• 49:15
  us to make that transition. And Wanda, you can just relax
• 49:18
  because I'm in a hurry. Let's just go into the good
• 49:20
  news, guys. This one is a crime related good
• 49:28
  news from Good News Network written by Andy Corbley.
• 49:32
  This is awesome. I mean 1 murder is too many, but
• 49:36
  this is this is good movement. Jamaica celebrates 40% drop in
• 49:40
  murders driven by 94% increase in police tip offs After a major
• 49:47
  drop in violent crime, Jamaicans should be set to earn something
• 49:52
  of a peace dividend, said the island's Minister of National
• 49:55
  Security and Peace, Doctor Horace Chong Or Chang.
• 49:59
  I'm not sure. The drop was much of the
• 50:02
  island's own making as it was characterized by record numbers
• 50:06
  of police tips, many of which were submitted without request
• 50:09
  for posted rewards. Tips increased by 94% last year,
• 50:13
  while homicides fell 40%. Jamaica is famously violent and
• 50:18
  2024 saw over 1100 murders. The 2025 total of 673 is the
• 50:24
  first time since 1993 that total annual murders came in at below
• 50:30
  700. Doctor Chong said addressing or
• 50:36
  was addressing the 2026 sectoral debate in Parliament and said
• 50:40
  that the flood of tips shows that Islanders are standing up
• 50:43
  for their communities, leaving the tip reward money on the
• 50:46
  table for reasons of patriotism. Quote, this shows that it is not
• 50:51
  about money but it it is about patriotism, it is about trust,
• 50:54
  it is about citizens taking a stand for their communities.
• 50:57
  This is something we must celebrate.
• 50:59
  Sichong who is also Deputy Prime Minister and that really is
• 51:04
  something to be proud of. I hope that that trend continues
• 51:07
  in in the island nation and that the, you know, that that murder
• 51:15
  rate continues to drop And you guys can tell I'm kind of in a
• 51:18
  hurry, right? But I do want to check in to see
• 51:21
  what you guys are are saying. Debbie asks if Celeste was
• 51:30
  pregnant, would that be another murder charge?
• 51:32
  I'm actually not sure in California.
• 51:35
  I don't know, but I I would hope so.
• 51:44
  What is it? Jadzia Dax.
• 51:47
  I'm 12 miles South of Lister in a small town where the Bible was
• 51:50
  first translated into English and where Sir Frank Whittle
• 51:54
  tested the first jet engine. Some homework for you.
• 51:56
  Thank you very much for the for the homework.
• 51:59
  Ivan. One love says.
• 52:00
  Have you heard of the Darth Jar Jar theory?
• 52:02
  Yes, I have. Scotch's mom.
• 52:05
  I cried when my grandson was born.
• 52:08
  Princess Leia is your favorite Star Wars character.
• 52:11
  And finding a job and increasing my income.
• 52:13
  That those are good. Those are all good, Sherry says.
• 52:18
  Las Vegas, NV Thank you for all you do.
• 52:20
  Thank you. Julie Reagan says.
• 52:23
  I was so happy I cried on my wedding day.
• 52:25
  I'm yes, I did too. Oh, let's see, your grand puppy
• 52:31
  is four months old, 42 lbs. That is a big no, Elizabeth
• 52:38
  Mcmasters, Esquire, says. That is good news.
• 52:40
  I love Jamaica so much, but such a poor country indeed.
• 52:44
  I, I love good news and I'm glad that we ended on that good news
• 52:48
  note guys. I, let's see, I want to do a
• 52:51
  quick, one more quick plug for the giveaway.
• 52:56
  If you guys, you guys support me so many different ways.
• 52:59
  I was looking for a way to be able to give back.
• 53:03
  This is a way where you can go and you can enter by going to
• 53:07
  fanofthem.com/gavin Fish. There's always a link down in
• 53:10
  the description and you can win an Omega Speedmaster.
• 53:14
  It's about a, it's about a $5000 watch right around in there.
• 53:20
  So I really want this watch, I really do.
• 53:24
  But I want one of you to get it more than I want it for myself.
• 53:28
  So please head over to fanofthem.com/gavin Fish and buy
• 53:33
  some some merch and that gives you an automatic entry into the
• 53:37
  giveaway. The giveaway is going to happen
• 53:40
  on well, that's going to end on May 21st.
• 53:44
  So we've got about 9 days left and hopefully like I'm crossing
• 53:50
  my fingers for all of you. Don't forget you can always find
• 53:55
  me on my website, gavinfish.com. Please go to the support me tab
• 53:59
  and you can Scroll down and you can see ways that you can
• 54:02
  support my lead moderator by buying her coffee.
• 54:05
  And then remember that we're all over social media, including in
• 54:08
  the fish tank on Facebook. Check us out there.
• 54:11
  Without any further ado, I bid you goodbye.
• 54:18
  Thank you very much for being here and I will see you on the
• 54:21
  next one. Thank you very much for watching
• 54:25
  this video. If you liked what you saw,
• 54:27
  please consider subscribing. And if you have any questions or
• 54:30
  comments, please leave them below.