A musician charged with murder has changed legal representation amid ongoing trial proceedings in Los Angeles. The defendant, who was signed to a multimillion-dollar recording contract with Interscope Records at the time of the alleged crime, parted ways with attorneys Steven Bednarski and Todd Berk following an accelerated preliminary hearing earlier this year.
The victim, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, was found dead in April 2025. Prosecutors allege that the musician engaged in a sexually abusive relationship with the teenager, who had become pregnant before undergoing an abortion. Evidence presented during the preliminary hearing included extensive text messages detailing the illegal relationship, receipts for items prosecutors say could be used to dispose of a body, and forensic analysis revealing blood in the defendant’s garage.
Authorities suspect the musician used a chainsaw to dismember the victim in the garage and attempted to collect blood in a kiddie pool. Prosecutors also contend that two of the victim’s fingers were amputated to conceal matching tattoos that linked her to the defendant. The night before the killing, text exchanges reportedly showed an argument during which the victim threatened to ruin the musician’s career and life.
The preliminary hearing, held just months after the arrest, set a swift pace compared to typical homicide cases that often take years to reach that stage. In Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s office, the case remains active and is scheduled for the next hearing on October 19. Hochman indicated no decision has been made regarding whether to seek the death penalty, though the charges carry potential sentences of life imprisonment without parole or capital punishment.
Bednarski and Berk, well-known for defending high-profile clients such as Harvey Weinstein and labor leader David Huerta, highlighted gaps in the prosecution’s case during the hearing. No tools alleged to be used in the dismemberment were recovered by investigators, and there are no eyewitnesses to the murder. Defense questioning of the medical examiner introduced the possibility that the victim could have inflicted injuries on herself or held the weapon at the time of death, though these points remain subject to dispute.
District Attorney Hochman emphasized that the change in defense attorneys will not affect the prosecution’s approach, stating that his office is prepared to move forward to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
The switch in representation is the second this year involving high-profile defense attorneys stepping away from celebrity murder trials in Los Angeles. Earlier in 2024, former prosecutor Alan Jackson withdrew from representing Nick Reiner, charged with killing his parents, amid financial disputes linked to Reiner’s inability to access family trust funds. No reasons have been publicly disclosed for the musician’s attorney change.