D4VD Morgue Leak Torpedoes Celeste Probe, Case Dropped?
Will leaks at the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Department derail the investigation into Celeste Rivas' murder? More than 12 investigators and office staff members are being question about whether or not they reviewed files without authorization. The revelation came after some media reports included graphic details of the Celeste's death before the official autopsy had been made public.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Neama Rahmani - Former federal prosecutor turned trial attorney, President of West Coast Trial Lawyers, Author: “Harvard to Hashtag”, WestCoastTrialLawyers.com, INSTAGRAM: @Neamarahmani, TWITTER: @NeamaRahmani
- Dr. Bethany Marshall (Beverly Hills, CA) Psychoanalyst, Author: "Deal Breaker: When to work on a relationship and when to walk away". She's on the hit show: "Paris in Love" on Peacock and "The Valley, Persian Style" on Bravo. You can also catch her on Netflix and Hulu as well. Host of "On The Couch with Dr. Bethany Marshall," Website: drbethanymarshall.com, Instagram FB & TikTok: drbethanymarshall, Twitter:@DrBethanyLive
- Dan Murphy - Former NYPD Detective-Sergeant, Joint Terrorism Task Force, Former Chief Security Officer, US Bancorp, Co-Host of "Gold Shields" Podcast Author: “Workplace Safety: Establishing an Effective Violence Prevention Program”
- Joseph Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Host: "Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan", @JoScottForensic
- Lauren Conlin - Reporter, LA Magazine - Podcaster/Reporter/Host- Co-Host of "PopCrimeTV" on YouTube, Website: www.popcrime.tv and primetimecrimeshow.com, X- @Conlin_Lauren, Instagram: @LaurenEmilyConlin, YouTube: @PopCrimeTV
- Dave Mack - Investigative Reporter, "Crime Stories"
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2: Bombshell tonight in the case against D four v D
Speaker 2: aka David Anthony Burke a Morgue leak. That's right, the
Speaker 2: Medical Examiner's Office leak has torpedoed the case against Burke
Speaker 2: and the Celeste Rivas homicide probe. Tonight, Will the entire
Speaker 2: case be dropped because of this good evening? I'm Nancy Grace,
Speaker 2: this is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for
Speaker 2: being with us.
Speaker 3: He has ripped her apart and there she sits in
Speaker 3: this house.
Speaker 2: He blames the smell of this child's decomposing body on
Speaker 2: his bathroom.
Speaker 3: Hell, yet stains this is human remains that are decomposing,
Speaker 3: a true child, a human be He had.
Speaker 4: His beard going in his pants, were you know, kind
Speaker 4: of he was doing that? Look where his pants were
Speaker 4: dragging below his bum you could say his orange prison pants.
Speaker 4: He again just seems way more comfortable in court and
Speaker 4: in this setting now in his prison outfit.
Speaker 2: Let me understand, does David Anthony Burt aka D four
Speaker 2: VD actually show his rear end in court? That's from
Speaker 2: Delight a True Crime on TikTok with me an all
Speaker 2: star panel very quickly to that Lauren Collins, joining US
Speaker 2: investigative reporter LA Magazine Star Pop Crime TV. Lauren, you've
Speaker 2: been covering this extensively. Did he actually show up to
Speaker 2: court showing his rear end? Well?
Speaker 5: Per the LA magazine source inside, she did say David
Speaker 5: appeared very quote relaxed, Nancy, so you can kind of
Speaker 5: use your imagination there a bit. But his hair was
Speaker 5: a bit unkempt, he was shackled, and also our reporter
Speaker 5: said that Blair Burke appeared to be rubbing his back
Speaker 5: a bit as they kind of laughed and talked, and
Speaker 5: he even greeted.
Speaker 2: I appreciate that, and I'll circle back to that. But
Speaker 2: my question is does he literally show his in court?
Speaker 4: He had his beard going in his pants, were you know,
Speaker 4: kind of he was doing that look where his pants
Speaker 4: were dragging below his bum, you could say his orange
Speaker 4: prison pants. He again just seems way more comfortable in
Speaker 4: court and in this setting now in his prison outfit.
Speaker 2: Again the like True Crime on TikTok, I've got a
Speaker 2: lot bigger problems with this case than D four VD.
Speaker 2: David Anthony Berg literally showing his rear end in court,
Speaker 2: but very quickly to an esteemed expert trial lawyer Nima Romani,
Speaker 2: former federal prosecutor turned trial lawyer, former president of the
Speaker 2: West Coast Trial Lawyers, author of Harvard to hashtag Nima,
Speaker 2: thank you for being with us tonight. I've got bigger
Speaker 2: legal issues, very complex legal issues to discuss with you.
Speaker 2: But really, showing your ass in court? Really, what are
Speaker 2: the defense lawyers for? For Pete's sake? Can't they say
Speaker 2: pull up your pants, idiot?
Speaker 6: Well they should because your parents in court matters a lot.
Speaker 6: So I think this is probably going to be the
Speaker 6: end of it, Nancy. I think David's going to have
Speaker 6: to understand that if you're going to appare in court,
Speaker 6: everything matters. There's a reason everyone from Luigi Mangoni to
Speaker 6: Sean Diddy Combs they wear the same, those sweater vests,
Speaker 6: those neutral cutters. You don't want to be showing your
Speaker 6: rear in court for the jurors. It's disrespectful of the
Speaker 6: court in a surefire way to get yourself convicted pretty quickly.
Speaker 2: Let me see Nima RMANI please, Nima, we have a
Speaker 2: very serious and complex legal issue that has just reared
Speaker 2: its ugly head for the state. Bombshell tonight torpedo directly
Speaker 2: into the state's homicide case. And who's going to suffer
Speaker 2: for this? Celeste, fourteen year old Celeste found decomposing in
Speaker 2: the trunk of D four VD David Anthony Burks Tesla. Okay,
Speaker 2: her her, here's the problem. In the last days, we
Speaker 2: now learn why the LAPD insisted the Morgue be slapped
Speaker 2: with a gag order. A gag order on the Morgan.
Speaker 2: I gotta tell you, Nima, I have deep respect for
Speaker 2: the Medical Examiner's office. They are some of the best
Speaker 2: witnesses ever. Jury's love a medical doctor on the stand.
Speaker 2: They know what they're talking about. And when you get
Speaker 2: the chief of the eme's office up there on the stand,
Speaker 2: the prosecutor can just sit down and twiddle their thumbs
Speaker 2: because they will run with the ball. They're brilliant. I
Speaker 2: think we can all agree with that. So I naturally
Speaker 2: sided with the Morgue with the mme's office when I
Speaker 2: heard LAPD wants to slap them with a gag order.
Speaker 2: And now we know why, hold Nima. For those of
Speaker 2: you that don't know what's happening, the giant stink bomb
Speaker 2: in the courtroom out to Dave Matt Crime Stori's investigative reporter,
Speaker 2: Dave A.
Speaker 7: Morgue leak what As we were covering this story in
Speaker 7: the beginning, there was certain information that was coming out
Speaker 7: that was very specific about the condition of celestrevas remains,
Speaker 7: and talking on and off the air, we were wondering,
Speaker 7: where is this information coming from. They're not releasing official information,
Speaker 7: so it has to be somebody is making it up
Speaker 7: or somebody's leaking it.
Speaker 1: And now we've.
Speaker 7: Got official notification that employees of the office are now
Speaker 7: going to be required. We're talking twelve different employees Nancy
Speaker 7: being required to sit for recorded interviews as the department
Speaker 7: investigates itself to determine who in this office is and
Speaker 7: was leaking information about this fourteen year old child and
Speaker 7: her remains to somebody in the public.
Speaker 2: Okay, you know, think back, think back. Nima Ramani one
Speaker 2: of the best in the business. By the way, remember
Speaker 2: at the beginning, we kept getting information that all these
Speaker 2: horrible things had been done to her body. You know,
Speaker 2: I'm talking about rendering, disarticulating a kiddy pool in the
Speaker 2: garage used for that very purpose. It was horrific. And
Speaker 2: then we were told, well that's not true. That didn't happen.
Speaker 2: She was not rendered, she was not disarticulated. That's all
Speaker 2: a lie. Okay, So there was a lot of confusion.
Speaker 2: Now we know what was happening. According to reports, the
Speaker 2: Medical Examiner's Office was leaking information, and then the LAPD
Speaker 2: was quickly saying that's not true, that's not true. It's
Speaker 2: all true according to the state. Here's the problem. This
Speaker 2: is not for prurient interest to read in the National
Speaker 2: Inquirer or or in a tabloid. This is a murder
Speaker 2: case of a young girl. The Medical Examiner's Office equals
Speaker 2: the state, and when the state is proven to have
Speaker 2: done prejudicial wrongdoing to the defendant, the whole case conceivably
Speaker 2: can be dropped.
Speaker 6: Nima Nancy. It's a huge problem. And Blair Birk and
Speaker 6: the defense are going to take this and they're going
Speaker 6: to run with it. And it's not only a problem
Speaker 6: from a leak or discovery perspective, it's a violation of
Speaker 6: a court order. So months and months ago, LAPD went
Speaker 6: to the judge to get an order, a non dissemination order,
Speaker 6: so that members of the media they couldn't get this
Speaker 6: report subject to a Public Records Act request and the
Speaker 6: judge sided with LAPD and said that this report should
Speaker 6: not be made public. So, now, if you have members
Speaker 6: of the government, and even though it's not the prosecution,
Speaker 6: the prosecution is responsible for these employees disseminating information unlawfully
Speaker 6: in violation of a court order to the media and
Speaker 6: other members of the public. Believe me, the defense is
Speaker 6: going to have a field date with this. They're going
Speaker 6: to file an outrageous government conduct motion. They're going to
Speaker 6: do everything they can to get this case dismissed. There
Speaker 6: can be terminating sanctions, they can be other types of
Speaker 6: sanctions for the DA's office. Now, all of a sudden,
Speaker 6: instead of being on offense, they're in a defensive position
Speaker 6: having to explain all of this in open court.
Speaker 2: Nima, I'm want to tell you a true story. Okay,
Speaker 2: I was working on a death penalty case and suddenly
Speaker 2: I got subpoena to testify in court. Okay, it hadn't
Speaker 2: gone a trial, obviously, I was stunned. Why would the
Speaker 2: prosecutor get subpoena? But of course I showed up. I
Speaker 2: had no files with me, nothing, I just went god
Speaker 2: and see and the entire defense fleet was there, and
Speaker 2: the judge was looking at me accusing them. I'm like what,
Speaker 2: And they said, have you withheld evidence? And I said no.
Speaker 2: I handed over my entire file everything I had, which
Speaker 2: of course you need to do in a death penalty
Speaker 2: case because if you do get a conviction, there's going
Speaker 2: to be all sorts of appeals. Well, then they handed
Speaker 2: me some papers I had never seen before. And I've
Speaker 2: never seen these. Where did they come from? They came
Speaker 2: out of the homicide file down at APD Homicide. They
Speaker 2: had unwittingly left out about twenty thirty pages in what
Speaker 2: they gave me. So when I handed over the whole file,
Speaker 2: I didn't have those thirty pages. Well, we immediately handed
Speaker 2: it over and there was, you know, well over a year.
Speaker 2: I had already left the office in Gone Too Court
Speaker 2: TV before the case went to trial, so they have
Speaker 2: plenty of time to digest those thirty or so pages.
Speaker 2: The point is, even though the investigator truly inadvertently, because
Speaker 2: the papers really were not that probative, inadvertently left out
Speaker 2: those pages, it was still my fault. See, and even
Speaker 2: though the medical Examiner's office leaked, and that's horrific, that's deadly,
Speaker 2: it's still the prosecutor's fault eir go. Therefore, prosecution misconduct
Speaker 2: cases can be dropped for that NEMA dropped, never to
Speaker 2: be brought back again. It is dropped with prejudice. Now, please,
Speaker 2: regular people talk, explain what I'm talking about with prejudice.
Speaker 6: With prejudice means that it can't be refiled. And Nancy,
Speaker 6: this happens all the time. It's not just you as prosecutors.
Speaker 6: We are responsible for the government's conduct. And there was
Speaker 6: a huge case recently where this was a big issue,
Speaker 6: Louri Valo Dabel in Idaho because of some discovery violations.
Speaker 6: Guess what. The judge struck the death penalty in that case,
Speaker 6: Chad Dabel. He's on death row. Louri Valo is going
Speaker 6: to spend the rest of her life in prison because
Speaker 6: of some discovery violations there in Idaho. So this is
Speaker 6: a huge deal. And when you have good defense attorneys,
Speaker 6: they're gonna use every advantage that they can. So if
Speaker 6: there was a violation here, and I'm saying if, then
Speaker 6: the DA's office is going to be in a world
Speaker 6: of word. Obviously, look, not a death penalty case, but
Speaker 6: that doesn't mean that this case can't be dismissed. There
Speaker 6: can't be all sorts of other sanctions here. Like you said,
Speaker 6: the prosecution is always responsible for the conduct of government employees,
Speaker 6: so they're the ones that are going to be paying
Speaker 6: the price. And of course it all comes down to
Speaker 6: Celestevas and her family. I hope they're not the ones
Speaker 6: who suffer because of some misconduct of some government employees.
Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2: Joining us now and I met him when he was
Speaker 2: at the Folding County Medical Examiner's office, which has a
Speaker 2: huge crush of a case load with me for now.
Speaker 2: Forensic expert Joseph Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University.
Speaker 2: He's the author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon.
Speaker 2: He is the star of hit podcast Body Bags with
Speaker 2: Joseph Scott Morgan. But for our purposes, Joe Scott is
Speaker 2: a death investigator with over ten thousand investigations under his belt.
Speaker 2: I don't know how to explain the reverberations that will
Speaker 2: occur because of the medical Examiner's legal term. You may
Speaker 2: not be familiar with this f up. It's worse than
Speaker 2: an ef up because an ef P suggests ooh, I
Speaker 2: screwed up. Sorry, No, this was an intentional leak providing lurid,
Speaker 2: upsetting information about a little girl's rendering of her body,
Speaker 2: the disarticulation of her body in a kiddie pool. A
Speaker 2: leak of that volatile, incendiary upsetting information for what That
Speaker 2: leads me to the specter. Did they get paid for
Speaker 2: the leak? Are they like the anonymous tipsters to the
Speaker 2: Daily Mail? I mean people get paid for information. Hey guys,
Speaker 2: right here, look at this thank you control room. Here's
Speaker 2: shots from our friends at TMZ. That is the garage
Speaker 2: where we believe the kiddie pool was placed for the
Speaker 2: rendering of Celeste. And I'm putting it as euphemistically as
Speaker 2: I possibly can right there in his home. So thank
Speaker 2: you TMZ for that. But think about it, Where does
Speaker 2: this go? What if they were paid for the information
Speaker 2: to leak those very sensitive documents. Joe Scott, you worked
Speaker 2: in the medical Examiner's office. It could be anybody. It
Speaker 2: could be one of the doctors. It could be an assistant,
Speaker 2: It could be a secretary, It could be cleaning lady.
Speaker 2: It could be an intern that quickly xerox defial zone
Speaker 2: or emailed them to someone. This is going to be
Speaker 2: a full blown thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it is. And one of the things that I'm hearing, Nancy,
Speaker 3: is that they use the term plural investigators, which they
Speaker 3: have a huge staff of investigators at the m's office
Speaker 3: Emmy Slash Corner in LA and also other personnel. So
Speaker 3: you've got a huge, huge section of individuals that have
Speaker 3: Nancy nothing to do with this case that are looking
Speaker 3: through these files and Lord only knows what happened to
Speaker 3: them and where their photocopies made, where there are actual
Speaker 3: snaps of individual images that people were taking with their phones.
Speaker 3: Is this stuff been disseminated, Because when you're working with
Speaker 3: a medical examiner, Nancy, there will be one investigator assigned
Speaker 3: to this case from the NEO, okay, and that is
Speaker 3: the only person along with along with the pathologists that
Speaker 3: is working the case, the forensic pathologists that did the examination,
Speaker 3: those are the only people that really need to know
Speaker 3: at this point in time. This is like a sacred
Speaker 3: trust within our community. And what's so very disturbing about this, Nancy,
Speaker 3: and this goes beyond this case right now. Right now,
Speaker 3: the trust has been so eroded between LAPD and between
Speaker 3: the MOO that this is one of these things that
Speaker 3: it will take forever to repair, not to mention all
Speaker 3: of the criminal and civil repercussions, because Nancy, this is
Speaker 3: what it comes down to. This child. This child, as
Speaker 3: if the family hasn't had enough on them, is now
Speaker 3: being drugged before people putting eyes on this case that
Speaker 3: have no business in it, and they are seeing this
Speaker 3: over and over again. It becomes a side show. And
Speaker 3: that's something that we take very very seriously.
Speaker 2: Well, I got to tell you something, Nima Romani. If
Speaker 2: I were the prosecutor in this case, it would be
Speaker 2: like my hair was on fire getting into that medical
Speaker 2: examiner and finding out what happened. Because they are this
Speaker 2: close to getting the case thrown out because of miss
Speaker 2: conduct for which somebody may have been paid, no question.
Speaker 6: So obviously there's going to be an investigation here. Now.
Speaker 6: I wouldn't be surprised if there's criminal charges, because that's
Speaker 6: how serious this is. But even shorter misconduct, I mean,
Speaker 6: this is fodder for cross examination. When the Emmy takes
Speaker 6: a stand. This will probably be discussed. When we're talking
Speaker 6: about jury selection. You're talking about prejudicial information, information that
Speaker 6: might not be admissible, that's already been leaked so this
Speaker 6: affects waw Deer as well.
Speaker 2: Name I look at your screen, Look at her, look
Speaker 2: at her. She is a little girl. She is dead.
Speaker 2: She has had her body rendered down left in two
Speaker 2: plastic bags and the fronk the front trunk a D
Speaker 2: four VD, David Anthony's burt tesla, and her body rotted.
Speaker 2: There's no nice way to say it. That is what
Speaker 2: is at stake. You mentioned cross exam. Okay, that's a
Speaker 2: potential remedy for what has happened. But I've made out
Speaker 2: a list of what I think are possible remedies. Number One,
Speaker 2: change a venue. They may want to change a venue
Speaker 2: so people that have heard about this won't be on
Speaker 2: the jury. But wouldn't you agree that's going to be
Speaker 2: a bad move for D four VD. They don't want
Speaker 2: to change a venue. They're in one of the most
Speaker 2: lenient jurisdictions in California. You get a change of venue
Speaker 2: and you hike up to northern California, you will get
Speaker 2: convicted up there. Yeah, forget it. I doubt they want
Speaker 2: to change a venue. They could try to get the
Speaker 2: prosecution thrown off. Won't work. They may try to get
Speaker 2: the Medical Examiner's office recused unlikely because they're the ones
Speaker 2: that did the autopsy. The medical examiner is going to
Speaker 2: be reprimanded. That for sure. There will be a Seerian
Speaker 2: cross examination. That's a given. Here's a concern. Remember what
Speaker 2: happened in OJ. Simpson, right, Furman and others on the
Speaker 2: force made the jury so upset about their personal behavior
Speaker 2: that it ended in a jury nullification. And we've seen
Speaker 2: it many, many times. The jury says, you know what,
Speaker 2: he probably did it, but screw it. The state was horrible.
Speaker 2: We're not convicting. It's a punishment for the state. Of course,
Speaker 2: you could ask each individual juror on voysire do they
Speaker 2: know about this? And if they say no, and they
Speaker 2: can keep an open mind, the case moves forward. What
Speaker 2: do you think is going to happen.
Speaker 6: I think they're going to try all those things. Accept
Speaker 6: the change of venue, like you said, and La County
Speaker 6: is by far and away one of the best venues
Speaker 6: for defense lawyers. And like you said, the defense is
Speaker 6: going to put law enforcement on trial. This is defense
Speaker 6: lawyering one on one. It started from the OJ case.
Speaker 6: But there are a lot of people here in La
Speaker 6: County where I'm sitting that don't trust law enforcement, don't
Speaker 6: trust our government, and this is going to feed into that.
Speaker 6: But disqualification motion for the Das Office. Absolutely. We saw
Speaker 6: this in the Tyler Robinson Kids for Charlie Kirk. This
Speaker 6: is something the defense is going to do. Try to
Speaker 6: get the whole prosecution team kicked off and again bring
Speaker 6: this in every possible stage of the case. They can
Speaker 6: jury selection ask the potential jurors have you heard about
Speaker 6: this league? Do you have any views about the La
Speaker 6: County Emmy and the misconduct allegations here that are going
Speaker 6: to affect your ability?
Speaker 2: And they have a complete right to do that. Dear
Speaker 2: questioning wa Dyer French for to speak the truth. It's
Speaker 2: known to us as jury selection. You know, I got
Speaker 2: another question to doctor Bethany Marshall joining us renowned psychoanalysts.
Speaker 2: She's the author of deal Breaker. She of course has
Speaker 2: her own psychoanalysis client hile she has a full on practice.
Speaker 2: You can see her not only on Peacock, you can
Speaker 2: see her on Hulu, you can see her on Bravo,
Speaker 2: you can see her on Netflix. Now she's the star
Speaker 2: of a new podcast On the Couch with doctor Bethany Marshall. Okay,
Speaker 2: all that said, doctor Bethy, Why why would you leak
Speaker 2: sensitive information? Is so clandestine setting it up, providing the information?
Speaker 8: Why, you know, Nancy, this is their job. They see
Speaker 8: bodies on a daily basis, and yet they go home
Speaker 8: and brag to their family and friends. They call TMZ.
Speaker 8: Whatever they did. This reminds me of your friend Joan Rivers.
Speaker 8: Right when there was the wrongful death lawsuit. What came
Speaker 8: out is that her E and T took selfies of
Speaker 8: her while she was under anesthesia, and the wish for
Speaker 8: the notoriety to gossip took precedence over ethics and there
Speaker 8: are just such wide spread ramifications for this. Unfortunately, that
Speaker 8: not the least of which is that her family now
Speaker 8: knows about the disarticulating the rendering, what happened in that garage,
Speaker 8: So it's trauma upon trauma for them. You know, Nowncie,
Speaker 8: I have to go back to something. If his ac
Speaker 8: was showing in court, if he is sending the message
Speaker 8: kiss my to the judge, how did he treat an
Speaker 8: eleven year old little girl, What kind of power did
Speaker 8: he have over her? And what did the MEC when
Speaker 8: they were investigating this, What did get leaked it probably
Speaker 8: is a lot worse than we even know.
Speaker 2: Dan Murphy joining US, former NYPD detective, sergeant, Joint Terrorism
Speaker 2: Task Force, former chief security officer, and co star of
Speaker 2: gold Shields podcast, author of a Workplace Safety so much more, Dan,
Speaker 2: how deflating is it that you work your rear in
Speaker 2: off literally blood, sweat and tears to create a case.
Speaker 2: Because when they got this case, all they had was
Speaker 2: a decomposing body in a trunk. That's it. You bill
Speaker 2: the case like the LAPD did, and then the whole
Speaker 2: case can be thrown out because of someone leaking information
Speaker 2: out of all places, the Medical Examiner's.
Speaker 3: Office, disgraceful.
Speaker 9: LAPD robbery homicide has a great reputation that's been hard
Speaker 9: earned by doing some incredible work over the years. Anybody
Speaker 9: around the country who works as detective knows about them
Speaker 9: and knows about their professionalism. They put their heart and soul.
Speaker 9: I can guarantee those detectives focused on nothing but this case.
Speaker 9: From the minute they found that little girl in the car.
Speaker 9: They built a great case. They followed all the bread
Speaker 9: crumbs of evidence. They didn't just say he had to
Speaker 9: have done it. They are proving it. Their evidence is
Speaker 9: substantial significant, and they should be proud of it. And
Speaker 9: they're going into court prepared to testify to what they
Speaker 9: have learned and convince a jury, and they feel good
Speaker 9: about that, and then this happens. I would be furious.
Speaker 9: I would be beyond livid, And as you mentioned earlier,
Speaker 9: it would are my relationship with the M's office for
Speaker 9: the rest of my career. You cannot trust them, you
Speaker 9: cannot work with them.
Speaker 3: It's that simple.
Speaker 2: It's horrible because they're one of the most respective arms
Speaker 2: of the state. Back to investigative reporter who is publishing
Speaker 2: one article after the next regarding D four VD David
Speaker 2: Anthony Berg in the LA magazine. She is the star
Speaker 2: of Pop Crime TV. Lauren Conlin has been on this
Speaker 2: case from the very beginning. Lauren, we just came out
Speaker 2: of court.
Speaker 5: What happened, Yes, Nancy, So everything, finally, after many many delays,
Speaker 5: is ready to go for July twenty. First, we are
Speaker 5: going to begin what they believe is a five day
Speaker 5: preliminary hearing where the prosecution is going to present all
Speaker 5: of the evidence that they deem relevant to get this
Speaker 5: piece to the point where David can stand trial for murder. Now,
Speaker 5: the other thing I noticed is that blair Burke was
Speaker 5: very very adamant about not having David shackled during these proceedings,
Speaker 5: and the judge did not make a decision at the bench.
Speaker 5: She just pulled blair Birk to file emotion about it.
Speaker 2: Lauren Colin, You're right. Everybody's just getting out of that
Speaker 2: California courtroom where it was determined this case is going forward.
Speaker 2: No more weighty Katie, no whining, no complaining. Both sides
Speaker 2: claim we're ready to go forward with the preliminary hearing
Speaker 2: and that time evidence will be revealed. It has to
Speaker 2: be by the state. But you brought up correctly again
Speaker 2: Lauren Colin, somebody was whining.
Speaker 4: The defense brought up a shackling issue that they wanted
Speaker 4: to talk about when it came to David and the.
Speaker 2: Guards.
Speaker 4: So basically the judge, you know, there was an emotion
Speaker 4: brought up or ready, so the judge said to bring
Speaker 4: up the motion and she will address it. My assumption
Speaker 4: is they may want to maybe limit some of the
Speaker 4: shackling that he has, maybe when he comes in or something.
Speaker 2: Okay, that's from our new friend at Delight True Crime
Speaker 2: on TikTok. Just Scott Morgan before I go to Nina
Speaker 2: Romani on this legal issue. D four VD aka David
Speaker 2: Anthony Burke is in court whining that he shackled number one,
Speaker 2: there's not a jury. You can't have somebody shackled in
Speaker 2: front of a jury. Constitution. Could you just give us
Speaker 2: a little reality check in regular people talk. Okay, no
Speaker 2: big medical examiner words. Please gotcha? Yeah, what happened to
Speaker 2: little Celeste age fourteen? What happened? And he's whining about shackles.
Speaker 2: Go ahead.
Speaker 3: She has a sharp force injury on the right aspect
Speaker 3: of her ribs, okay, and it passes through there, doesn't
Speaker 3: touch the lung. It just goes over the top of
Speaker 3: that rib. However, if we go to the right side,
Speaker 3: and all of our friends out there, if you will
Speaker 3: take your right hand, your fingertips and find the base
Speaker 3: of your ribs on the right hand side, Okay, that's
Speaker 3: where your liver is. This sharp force injury passed into
Speaker 3: the liver. And a lot of people think that if
Speaker 3: you sustain an injury to the liver that perhaps you
Speaker 3: would die suddenly. Nancy, this was a long and languishing death.
Speaker 3: I've worked multiple cases involving trauma to the liver. It's
Speaker 3: a slow bleed. I find that very interesting, considering some
Speaker 3: of the language we've heard in the past about this case.
Speaker 3: To watch her bleed out and this would have not
Speaker 3: been immediate. Okay. Then after that, then after that, he
Speaker 3: disrespects her remains after she is dead and begins to
Speaker 3: render them down. How does he do that, Well, we've
Speaker 3: heard the term saw chainsaw, We've heard all of these
Speaker 3: different things. And then if that's not bad enough, Nancy,
Speaker 3: he takes her body and allegedly and places it into
Speaker 3: this trunk of this vehicle, drives it around, and Nancy,
Speaker 3: what we have heard is that they have used the
Speaker 3: term they've used the term liquefied. So she's been in
Speaker 3: this vehicle her remains until literally all of the soft
Speaker 3: tissue has liquefied to the point where it's she's the
Speaker 3: remains that are still intact. She's floating. She's actually floating
Speaker 3: in her own liquefied tissue. So that's how horrific this is.
Speaker 3: That's what he did. I don't give a damn about
Speaker 3: your shackles.
Speaker 2: I don't think I could put it any better from
Speaker 2: our friends. In parts eleven.
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2: Nimo Romani. Jumping from Joe Scott's accurate and heartfelt explanation,
Speaker 2: what is the law on whether a defendant can be shackled?
Speaker 2: Where prison attire you name it? In a court room?
Speaker 6: So a criminal offendant can be shackled, certainly, and can
Speaker 6: wear prison attire, but generally speaking, when a jury is present,
Speaker 6: they are going to be allowed to wear civilian clothes.
Speaker 6: It's just too prejudicial when it comes to the shackles.
Speaker 6: Generally speaking, again it's up to the judge. When a
Speaker 6: jury is present, they will not be shackled. It is
Speaker 6: too prejudicial. And of course here in LA we have
Speaker 6: cameras in the courtroom. Those camera men and women, they
Speaker 6: are instructed to film a criminal defendant shackle So oftentimes
Speaker 6: you won't see them coming into the courtroom because they
Speaker 6: will be shackled, those shackles will be undone. You'll see
Speaker 6: La County sheriffs behind the defendant. And only when the
Speaker 6: shackles are undone will that defendant be allowed to be recorded.
Speaker 6: Because again we're talking about appellate issues, prejudice to the
Speaker 6: potential jurors, and this is why the defense.
Speaker 2: Is play stop place place play stop are you looking
Speaker 2: at your monitor? Can I see that?
Speaker 6: Yes?
Speaker 2: Oh? Talk about worried about how he looks. Here's a
Speaker 2: guy quote dating a little girl he quote met at
Speaker 2: age eleven wearing I love boobs. Let me see, Nima Romani.
Speaker 2: So this little girl is ordered up like a pizza
Speaker 2: by him on an uber to his house. It's just
Speaker 2: like ordering Chinese food. She comes over. I love boobs. Really,
Speaker 2: and now he's worried about how he looks his clothing.
Speaker 2: He must not be that worried. He's showing he's a
Speaker 2: SS in court where his pants pulled down in the bat.
Speaker 2: But yet they're whining that his shackles a is bad.
Speaker 2: That's a bad look. Really, do you not see the
Speaker 2: irony here? Can I spay clearly for you? NeiMa?
Speaker 6: I do, Nancy. But these are criminal defense lawyers and
Speaker 6: they're gonna push every advantage they have, and one of
Speaker 6: them is pre trial publicity. That's why this emy leak
Speaker 6: is a big deal. That's why being filmed in prison,
Speaker 6: guarb and shackles is a big deal. And that's why
Speaker 6: judges do everything they can to protect their rights.
Speaker 2: She's rubbing oil on him. Oh my goodness, he's got
Speaker 2: somebody to rub oil on you know what? Okay, just okay,
Speaker 2: Lauren Colin. The case is going forward. The defense claims
Speaker 2: they're ready with much of bravado. Then they give a
Speaker 2: little well they say something about but we haven't gotten
Speaker 2: all the discovery yet. There you go, there's an opening
Speaker 2: for them right there. Come show time, go time. They're
Speaker 2: going to say we didn't get all the discovery. They
Speaker 2: want to appear as if they're ready to go forward,
Speaker 2: but they're giving themselves an out. Did you hear that?
Speaker 5: Yes, I mean I definitely think if you listen sort
Speaker 5: of between the lines, you can pick that up. However,
Speaker 5: the prosecution stated at the status conference that the defense
Speaker 5: has everything relevant as to what they would need to
Speaker 5: make this into a case so they could defend it.
Speaker 5: They said everything that they need digitally, even all of
Speaker 5: the written police and detective reports. So I have no
Speaker 5: doubt here, Nancy, that they are ready to go. They
Speaker 5: cannot delay this any longer.
Speaker 2: Okay, we'll see what happens. And in the last days,
Speaker 2: new video has emerged of David Anthony Burke apparently driving
Speaker 2: home quote straight up after killing someone who's videoing himself.
Speaker 10: POV that drive home after straight up killing someone, and
Speaker 10: as you can see, David reposted it, but shortly after
Speaker 10: she was actually found he went and unreposted it. And
Speaker 10: I mean, who is this target audience even for for
Speaker 10: the original post and the fact that he reposted it
Speaker 10: and then what he's being accused of doing is just crazy.
Speaker 2: That from nehimiwham nine q on TikTok okay, Dave Matt
Speaker 2: what are they talking about?
Speaker 6: Nancy?
Speaker 7: What they're actually dealing with here is not a video
Speaker 7: created by d four VD, but it is a repost,
Speaker 7: meaning he saw this and he thought it was really
Speaker 7: great and so he reposted it, which I mean, think
Speaker 7: about the deliberate nature of that of seeing something somebody
Speaker 7: else has done and he going, I identify with that,
Speaker 7: I need to share this with all my peeps, which.
Speaker 3: Is exactly what he did.
Speaker 7: And I would imagine at some point one of his
Speaker 7: inner circleing, hey, dude, probably not a good look for you,
Speaker 7: you know, pull that down, which Burt did, but he
Speaker 7: reposted it. It's just in thin, I mean, capable of
Speaker 7: understanding what's going through a man's head that thinks it's
Speaker 7: okay to do this at any level. But he did it,
Speaker 7: and then, like everything on the internet, it stays forever.
Speaker 6: Nancy.
Speaker 2: Okay, let me understand. Am I seeing Matthew McConaughey. I'm
Speaker 2: sure he's so happy that he has been made a
Speaker 2: part of this part of the D four VD David
Speaker 2: Anthony Burg murder case. So let me see it again.
Speaker 2: So the night we believe Celeste is killed, fourteen year
Speaker 2: old Celeste, his mind is way past that. According to
Speaker 2: the State, he is dve FORBD is identifying with Matthew McConaughey,
Speaker 2: the guy who's worked his rear Randolph to be a
Speaker 2: Hollywood star, and he is identifying with McConaughey driving a
Speaker 2: luxury car. Okay, fine, But the point is this is
Speaker 2: right after, according to the State, hours after Celesti has
Speaker 2: been killed. What is this telling you? Help me, Bethany, Nancy.
Speaker 8: This is glorification and the death of another person. This
Speaker 8: is triumphing over the love object, triumphing over the victim.
Speaker 8: This is total disdain and disrespect towards her, just like
Speaker 8: he showed towards the judge in court today. And what
Speaker 8: I would be interested in is his digital footprint in
Speaker 8: terms of how he represented Celeste to his fans did
Speaker 8: he put her down, did he degrade her, did he
Speaker 8: beat her? But how did he represent her to the public.
Speaker 8: It seems like she was somebody that he routinely degraded
Speaker 8: in multiple, multiple ways, and this is the ultimate degradation,
Speaker 8: is to show that he just doesn't really care after
Speaker 8: her death, he just doesn't care. In fact, what we
Speaker 8: do know about domestic homicide is often after a victim
Speaker 8: is killed, the perpetrator feels a great sense of relief.
Speaker 8: And I think that's going to be a part of
Speaker 8: the court case is what happened in the hours after
Speaker 8: her death, and how relieved and glorified and delighted he
Speaker 8: was that she was no longer around so he could
Speaker 8: continue with his career.
Speaker 2: I mean, help me out. Dan Murphy, former Detective Sergeant NYPD,
Speaker 2: according to the state D four VD, has just killed
Speaker 2: Celeste and he's posting luxury car videos. I mean he's
Speaker 2: barely according to this day, barely wiped the blood off
Speaker 2: his hands. He's gone to a pr event. Now he's
Speaker 2: posting online. Then he gets the sense to unpost it
Speaker 2: and then later reposts it.
Speaker 9: This is not a criminal mastermind. This is somebody who
Speaker 9: is so wrapped up and self absorbed in themselves that
Speaker 9: everything revolves around them. And she was just as you
Speaker 9: alluded to before. She was just something in his life
Speaker 9: that was expendable, and when she became problematic, she had
Speaker 9: to go. He is so wrapped up in his image.
Speaker 9: You mentioned earlier about wearing the orange suit prison jumpsuit
Speaker 9: down below his ass as you say, that's a prison
Speaker 9: yard thing, but it's worked its way onto the street
Speaker 9: to become part of the street culture. Him doing that,
Speaker 9: in my opinion, is his way of saying to anybody
Speaker 9: he's going to be in prison with, because he knows
Speaker 9: he's going to be in prison, I'm like you, stret
Speaker 9: I'm a tough guy, I'm a rapper, I'm this, I'm
Speaker 9: not I'm not some soft spoiled thing.
Speaker 2: I'm willing my stars, Dan Murphy, this defendant was born
Speaker 2: with a silver spoon in his mouth. He is not
Speaker 2: gaining street cred to me by literally showing his ass
Speaker 2: in court. That said, the plot thickens, the deception intensifies.
Speaker 2: I want you to see something that we've just found.
Speaker 2: This is Deforvid with Celeste in the back of an uber.
Speaker 2: Watch keep looking, keep watching. Watch Celeste once again, she's
Speaker 2: covering her face. I mean, keep it up to Lauren
Speaker 2: Colin and control room. That is from our nie friend
Speaker 2: inoperative Ordon. You on TikTok while Lauren is talking. I
Speaker 2: want to see that. I want to see the other pictures,
Speaker 2: very calculated, where she's always hiding her face in pictures,
Speaker 2: Lauren Colin, why would she be hiding her face other
Speaker 2: than to hide the fact she's under age.
Speaker 5: Well, I think you nailed it right there. And Nancy,
Speaker 5: I had never seen that video of her in the
Speaker 5: back of the uber and my heart is broken. Her hands,
Speaker 5: her little hands, they just look so small. She looks
Speaker 5: like a child to me. And I, oh, it's just
Speaker 5: it's breaking my heart even more, especially amid all of
Speaker 5: these issues, these procedural issues that are going on right now.
Speaker 5: And I also want to point out, Nancy, that video
Speaker 5: of Matthew McConaughey that David reposted. It's giving me the
Speaker 5: chills because David went back and forth to Santa Barbara,
Speaker 5: the alleged dump area where her idea was found. I'm
Speaker 5: seeing all of these parallels between other notorious killers.
Speaker 2: Doctor Bethany Marshall, what about.
Speaker 8: It, Well, it shows consciousness of guilt premeditation. Preparing for
Speaker 8: a dump site is one of the things that we
Speaker 8: assess for when we try to determine how premeditated was
Speaker 8: a crime, and usually that involves a lot of driving
Speaker 8: looking for just the right spot. I'm going to guess
Speaker 8: he drove to Santa Barbara, drove back, couldn't find an
Speaker 8: appropriate dumb site, and that's when allegedly he bought the
Speaker 8: kittie pool the chainsaws. As Dan said, he's not exactly
Speaker 8: a mastermind. He ordered those off of Amazon. But when
Speaker 8: one plan failed, he went to the next. That was
Speaker 8: Plan B, that disarticulating of her body.
Speaker 2: Reminder to all, David Anthony Burke is presumed innocent until
Speaker 2: improven guilty in a court of law. That presumption remains
Speaker 2: with him, shrouding him unless and until the state pierces
Speaker 2: the presumption with evidence sufficient to prove him guilty beyond
Speaker 2: a reasonable doubt. We will be in the courtroom when
Speaker 2: the preliminary hearing starts. If you know or think you
Speaker 2: know anything about this case, please dial two one, three
Speaker 2: four eight six six' eight nine. Zero we Remember american
Speaker 2: Hero Officer Trevor howard Of Marked, TREE, Pd, arkansas just
Speaker 2: twenty five years old when killed in the line of,
Speaker 2: duty leaving behind grieving Parents don And. Joni american Hero
Speaker 2: Officer Trevor. Howard thank you to our guests for being with,
Speaker 2: us but especially to you for being with us tonight
Speaker 2: and every night as we seek justice in our own
Speaker 2: way For celeste Rev Us Nancy grace signing off for,
Speaker 2: tonight But i'll see you tomorrow, night and until, then
Speaker 2: good night.
Speaker 7: Friend m hmm