Could D4vd face the death penalty for alleged murder?

(NewsNation) — Prosecutors say they will consider several factors before determining whether they will seek the death penalty for singer D4vd, who is charged with killing 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.

The singer, whose real name is David Burke, is charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances, lewd and lascivious acts with an individual under 14 and mutilating a body.

Burke has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman told NewsNation local affiliate KTLA the decision will be made after prosecutors weigh aggravating and mitigating factors and consult with Burke’s attorneys, the victim’s family and senior prosecutors experienced in capital cases.

“We will evaluate the death penalty as we would in any eligible case. We will look at the aggravating and mitigating factors,” Hochman told the outlet. “After that entire process, we will notify the court and the defendant whether we will seek the death penalty.”

Prosecutors to lay out evidence against D4vd

Prosecutors are expected to present evidence during a preliminary hearing that begins Tuesday in an effort to convince the judge there is enough probable cause to send Burke to trial.

They allege Burke killed Rivas Hernandez to protect his music career.

“The evidence that’s going to be presented is going to be very thorough. It will track Celeste’s movements on that particular night back in April 2025, all the way through September 2025, when her body was found dismembered in multiple bags in the front trunk of a Tesla,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman told KTLA.

Defense attorneys for Burke said this week that “evidence in this case will show that David Burke did not murder Celeste Rivas Hernandez and he was not the cause of her death.”

Rivas Hernandez’s decomposing body was found Sept. 8, 2025, inside the trunk of an impounded Tesla registered to Burke. She was positively identified eight days later by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.

Investigators say Burke met Rivas Hernandez when she was 11 and began a sexual relationship with her when she was 13 and he was 18.

Burke was on tour when Rivas Hernandez’s body was identified in September 2025, but the tour was suspended. He was arrested in April.

Source: newsnationnow.com, Safia Samee Ali, July 20, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde

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