Jurors have started deliberations in the trial of a Hollywood producer charged with murder in connection with the drug overdose deaths of a model and her friend.
Forty-two-year-old David Brian Pearce was arrested in December 2021, but wasn't initially charged in the deaths of Christy Giles, a 24-year-old model and aspiring actress, and her friend, Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26.
A grand jury charged Pearce with murder in connection with the deaths of the two women a year later in December of 2022. The jury also charged him with three counts of forcible rape, two counts of sexual penetration by use of force and one count each of rape of an unconscious person and sodomy by use of force.
Three men were initially arrested in connection with the deaths after the LAPD began investigating claims from the family of Giles that she and her friend were drugged during a night of partying in Los Angeles on Nov. 12, 2021.
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At the time, LAPD reported three masked men dropped the women off at hospitals in Culver City and Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles hospital. They were in a black Toyota Prius without license plates.
Those three men were later identified as David Pearce, 42; Michael Ansbach, 51; and Brandt Osborn, 46. Osborn also faces charges. Ansbach was questioned by police and prosecutors, but never charged.
He did testify that Pearce told him, “Dead girls don't talk.''
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Giles died of a mixture of cocaine, fentanyl, gamma-hydroxybutyric acid and ketamine, while Cabrales-Arzola died of multiple organ failure with cocaine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy) and other undetermined drugs found in her system.
When questioned by his lawyer, Pearce denied sexually assaulting either of the women. He also denied sexually assaulting the five other women who also testified against him.
Pearce further denied doing internet searches for topics including “Ukraine and non-extradition,'' after dropping off the women at the hospital, and having plans to put his dog up for adoption.
Pearce remains behind bars, while Osborn is free on bond.
