Los Angeles — A jury concluded another day of deliberations without reaching a verdict in the case against Hollywood producer David Brian Pearce, who stands accused in the fatal drug overdoses of a young model and her friend. After about 7 1/2 hours of deliberation, following their receipt of the case last Friday, the jurors will reconvene on Tuesday morning to continue.
Prosecutors allege that Pearce, 42, provided fentanyl and gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) to 24-year-old Christy Giles and her friend, 26-year-old architect Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, with the intent of sexually assaulting them. His lawyer, however, has countered that Pearce did not administer any drugs to the women.
The tragic events unfolded when both women were dropped at separate hospitals in Southern California on November 13, 2021, approximately two hours apart. Giles was pronounced dead upon arrival at Southern California Hospital in Culver City, while Cabrales-Arzola was critically alive when left at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Hospital. She succumbed following her family’s decision to withdraw life support, a day shy of her 27th birthday.
Pearce faces charges including murder, forcible rape, sexual penetration by use of force, and sodomy — the result of a grand jury indictment in December 2022. The incidents span between 2007 and 2020 involving multiple women.
Brandt Walter Osborn, aged 45 and an associate of Pearce, is charged with two counts of being an accessory after the fact. According to Osborn’s legal representative, Michael Artan, his client deserves a verdict of not guilty based on questions around the credibility of key prosecution witnesses.
During the trial, Deputy District Attorney Seth Carmack pressed that Pierce premeditatedly drugged the victims to inhibit their ability to resist his advances, labeling him as both rapist and murderer. Conversely, defense for Pearce argued that there is insufficient evidence proving wilful drug administration or the intent to commit the alleged sexual assaults.
Key testimony came from Michael Ansbach, who was arrested with Pearce and Osborn but not charged. Ansbach shared a chilling remark allegedly made by Pearce: “Dead girls don’t talk.”
Further complicating the defense, toxicology reports cited by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner indicated the presence of multiple drugs, including cocaine, fentanyl, and ecstasy, in the victims’ systems. Forensic results showed Giles died from an amalgam of substances, while Cabrales-Arzola succumbed to multiple organ failure.
In his defense, Pearce denied all allegations of drugging and sexually assaulting the women, describing an evening that deviated dramatically from the prosecution’s depiction. He recounted innocuous events leading up to the women becoming unresponsive, suggesting drugs may have been ingested accidentally — mistaken for substances like cocaine.
The jury now faces the task of untangling a narrative filled with conflicting testimonies and complicated by forensic evidence, as two families grieve women whose lives were abruptly and tragically cut short.
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