D4vd is being represented by a public defender after parting ways with the high-profile legal team previously handling his defense in the murder case involving 14-year-old Celeste Rivas.
Attorneys Blair Berk, Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter appeared in court Monday and informed the judge overseeing the case that they were no longer able to represent the 21-year-old singer, whose real name is David Anthony Burke.
‘This morning the court granted our request to withdraw as counsel and appointed the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, after it was determined David qualified for appointed counsel,’ the lawyers said in a statement to TMZ.
The attorneys added that they still stand behind Burke as he fights the allegations. ‘We continue to support David and his defense against these serious charges,’ they said. ‘We are grateful that the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office has taken over the representation and that David has a highly capable and committed team of attorneys and investigators behind him.’
During the same hearing, Burke entered not guilty pleas to Rivas’s murder, along with charges of child sex abuse and mutilation tied to her death.
Our News Outlet has contacted D4vd’s representatives for comment, but no response has been received so far.
D4vd’s attorneys told the court Monday that they would no longer represent him, with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office now taking over his case; pictured in March 2025 in Paris
At the hearing, Burke pleaded not guilty to the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas and to charges of child sex abuse and mutilation connected to her death
In taking over D4vd’s case, the public defender reportedly said the singer was indigent, raising questions about his finances.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Berk said in court that D4vd had asked the public defender’s office to replace his counsel.
Berk and the other attorneys didn’t share a reason for why their client was no longer requesting their services, and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo quickly agreed to the change in representation.
According to the LA Times, a spokesperson for the LA County Public Defender’s Office said they were not able to share D4vd’s ‘financial information,’ but they confirmed that a look at his finances indicated that he was eligible to be represented by a public defender.
It’s unclear how the performer is now unable to pay for his high-powered defense team, as it was previously shown in court that he had already earned millions from a lucrative recording contract prior to going on trial.
In a statement to the LA Times, LA County Deputy Public Defender Walid Kandeel said: ‘We recognize the loss of life underlying the allegations and extend our sympathies to those who are grieving. At the same time, David Burke is entitled to a defense that takes his circumstances seriously and carefully examines the evidence. We are committed to providing him with that defense.’
The latest shakeup in D4vd’s case comes after prosecutors revealed that Rivas was not pregnant at the time of her death in April 2025.
Sources close to the Los Angeles County District Attorney told Our News Outlet in late July that prosecutors ‘don’t believe she was pregnant at the time she was killed,’ adding that ‘her body’ had been in ‘a state of decomposition.’
The public defender taking over D4vd’s case said in court that he was eligible for their defense, and the LA County Public Defender’s Office said a revue of his finances indicated that D4vd was eligible; pictured in court in April in LA
The latest shakeup in D4vd’s case comes after prosecutors revealed that Rivas was not pregnant at the time of her death in April 2025. Prosecutors said in a news release in late July that the singer had murdered Rivas on April 23, 2025, ‘because he feared their illicit sexual relationship would ruin his aspiring career’
The reveal came after an April 2026 addendum in the death certificate stated it had been ‘unknown’ whether Rivas had been expecting a child in the year before she was killed, People reported. The area of the death certificate had previously said ‘no’ prior to the adjustment.
Prosecutors alleged in a news release that the musical artist had murdered Rivas on April 23, 2025 ‘because he feared their illicit sexual relationship would ruin his aspiring career.’
D4vd is accused of fatally stabbing Rivas, then using a chainsaw to dismember her remains in an inflatable pool he had in a garage of a home in the Hollywood Hills he had been living at, according to prosecutors.
The remains of Rivas had been found in a Tesla that had been registered to Burke on September 8, 2025, prosecutors said, adding that ‘small, blue plastic fragments’ from the inflatable pool had been found embedded in the victim’s remains.
The latest in the case comes after D4vd had been ordered to stand trial in Rivas’ murder following a preliminary hearing in which prosecutors presented text messages that alluded to Rivas being pregnant and getting an abortion a year prior to her killing.
Los Angeles Police Department Detective Corey Farell said that records from D4vd’s phone alluded to a 2023 pregnancy and January 2024 abortion, with Rivas telling him, ‘Of course it’s yours David.’
Farell told the court that D4vd subsequently inquired with Rivas about her medical appointment and commented that he felt as if he’d been ‘waiting for test results.’
The detective said that the phone also contained images of child sexual abuse material involving Rivas that prosecutors did not present in the hearing, due to their graphic nature.
D4vd is accused of fatally stabbing Rivas, then using a chainsaw to dismember her remains in an inflatable pool he had in a garage of a home in the Hollywood Hills he had been living at, according to prosecutors; he’s seen in his mugshot from the LA County District Attorney’s Office
The remains of Rivas had been found in a Tesla that had been registered to Burke on September 8, 2025, prosecutors said, adding that ‘small, blue plastic fragments’ from the inflatable pool had been found embedded in the victim’s remains; he’s pictured in Japan in May 2025
Amid testimony from Farell, Rivas’ mother Mercedes Martinez wept as she walked out of the courtroom with the slain teen’s father Jesus Rivas.
Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said: ‘This is too much, I know how hard this is.’
Testimony presented from Farell in the preliminary hearing Monday indicated that Rivas’ parents had signed a form on September 23, 2024 granting consent for Rivas to go to London with D4vd from September 24 to October 5, 2024, People reported.
D4vd had bought plane tickets via United Airlines for a trip to London, followed by a trip to Texas, where members of his family reside, Farell said.
Farell said that Rivas’ family knew about her link to the musician, and that in 2024, they had traveled to Las Vegas as well as Houston.
Patrick Steinfeld, an attorney for Rivas Hernandez’s family, said after the hearing that they were ‘horrified that the defense attorneys brought up evidence to put the blame on a 14-year-old girl,’ according to the AP.
Los Angeles Judge Charlaine Olmedo subsequently said that enough evidence had been presented to proceed to trial. The judge ordered that D4vd remain in custody with no bail, with an arraignment slated for August 31.
Prosecutors argued that the evidence to proceed to a trial was overwhelming.
‘Based on the mountains of evidence presented,’ Silverman said, ‘all of the allegations have been proved way beyond the standard required.’
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman said outside court that prosecutors presented only a ‘small fraction’ of the evidence they have.
They are still weighing whether to seek the death penalty. D4vd is eligible for it after Judge Olmedo also found probable cause for lying in wait, killing for financial gain and killing a potential witness. These are special circumstances in a crime that would allow prosecutors to pursue the death sentence, if D4vd is found guilty.
