Celeste Rivas Hernandez‘s parents have lobbied for the death penalty if D4vd is found guilty of the murder of their daughter, who would have turned 16 on Monday.
In a rare public statement since criminal proceedings against the singer began, the Rivas Hernandez family asked Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman to pursue the death penalty against D4vd as opposed to a life sentence if convicted.
“If the death penalty were activated, it would be perfect for this kind of human being, devoid of feelings and emptiness inside, and without conscience, who only caused pain to our daughter, our family, and the world that supports our precious daughter,” the family said in a statement to the California Post. “But that’s not in our hands, but rather in God’s, and the California justice system.”
Any decision to pursue the death penalty has been delayed in part because the singer born David Burke decided to drop his legal team last week and instead employ a public defender; Hochman told the press at the time he was awaiting a mitigation packet from the public defender arguing why Burke shouldn’t face the death penalty.
While California hasn’t executed anyone since 2006, and Governor Gavin Newsom announced a reprieve on all executions in 2019, Hochman opened the possibility of once again handing out capital punishment in extreme murder trials.
“Effective immediately, the prior administration’s extreme and categorical policy forbidding prosecutors from seeking the death penalty in any case is rescinded,” Hochman said in a statement. “In its place, the new murder with special circumstances policy will consider pursuing the death penalty only after an extensive and comprehensive review and only in exceedingly rare cases.”
At his rearraignment last week, Burke pleaded not guilty on charges he sexually abused 14-year-old Rivas Hernandez before killing and dismembering her and concealing her remains in the front trunk of his Tesla.
