The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office looked like it got hit with a bucket of cold water when legendary Hollywood defense shark Blair Berk came in swinging, demanding discovery and an immediate preliminary hearing. That little move apparently caught somebody flat-footed. Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman says she is sitting on terabytes of discovery. Terabytes. Wonderful. The question is whether she can actually produce it in a form and on a timetable that matters, instead of waving around digital bulk like a magician’s scarf. Count me skeptical. What the defense appears to be running here is a classic squeeze play. Tight. Aggressive. Nasty. Exactly the kind of pressure move that forces prosecutors to stop posing and start performing. If Berk can lock the case into the 10-day rule for a preliminary hearing, the prosecution could find itself in a very uncomfortable position. In plain English, they may have to either put up or shut up. And if they cannot present a cohe...

Burke, Berk, and the Dirty Work of Real Celebrity Criminal Defense David Anthony Burke, better known as D4vd, is accused of killing teen runaway Celeste Rivas Hernandez and leaving her dismembered remains in the trunk of his impounded Tesla. Those allegations are monstrous. But as always, the public is being fed the version police and prosecutors want released, in the order they want it released, with all the usual chest-thumping about how overwhelming their case supposedly is. At this point, nobody outside the courtroom should pretend to know exactly what happened. What we do know is that the accusation alone creates a mountain of poison for the defense, and even the best lawyers in California do not wave a wand and make poison disappear. This case against Burke may still be bound for trial through a grand jury indictment, which would eliminate the need for a preliminary hearing altogether. In other words, prosecutors may decide they would rather do their heavy lifting behind close...