LOS ANGELES — Hollywood producer David Pearce was discovered responsible of homicide Tuesday within the drug overdose deaths of mannequin Christy Giles and her pal — whose lifeless our bodies have been callously dumped exterior Los Angeles hospitals in 2021.
A jury convicted him on all fees, together with the rapes of seven ladies who got here ahead after he was charged within the overdose deaths.
Pearce, 42, was charged with homicide for luring Giles, 24, and her good friend Hilda Marcela Cabrales Arzola, 26, to his condominium in November 2021, plying them with fentanyl-laced cocaine and drugging their drinks. Prosecutors alleged that he refused to name for assist after discovering them unconscious.
Pearce was additionally charged with counts of rape towards seven victims who got here ahead after his arrest.
LA prosecutor Catherine Ann Mariano informed the 12-member jury that Pearce is a calculating serial rapist who lured ladies to his residence by posing as a Hollywood bigshot and promising to assist them break into the leisure enterprise.
Pearce met Giles and Arzola in 2021 at a warehouse rave social gathering in LA.
In response to courtroom testimony, he and a wingman, Michael Ansbach, introduced the women again to Pearce’s condominium.
Ansbach testified that Pearce pushed all three visitors to snort his cocaine. He allegedly served wine to the ladies and handed Ansbach a foul-tasting cocktail that made him really feel dizzy, go out and change into violently sick when he awakened.
The ladies additionally handed out however by no means awakened, Ansbach testified. He additionally informed jurors that when he begged Pearce to name 911, his pal allegedly refused, saying, “Useless women don’t speak.”
After Ansbach left, Pearce and his roommate Brandt Osborn, who’s being charged as an adjunct, allegedly shoved the ladies’s lifeless our bodies into his automotive, drove them to 2 totally different hospitals and dumped them on the curbs earlier than driving away.
A toxicology check discovered fentanyl and the date rape drug GHB in Giles’ physique. Prosecutors informed the jurors that the fentanyl was deadly, and that Pearce knew his cocaine had been laced with it.
However Pearce claimed he had no thought the 2 ladies have been in peril till it was too late.
Taking the stand towards the recommendation of his attorneys, Pearce testified that he put the ladies in a visitor bed room earlier than going to sleep in his personal room. When the ladies had been unconscious for 12 hours, Pearce claimed that he administered CPR and drove them to hospitals, as a result of he thought it will be sooner than calling an ambulance.
However Mariano urged the jurors to not fall for Pearce’s story.
“The defendant is a man that will get off in energy and management,” she informed the jury. “Exerting energy and management over susceptible ladies.”
Pearce faces 128 years to life in jail with out the opportunity of parole.
Since his arrest, different ladies have come ahead and claimed Pearce drugged and raped them.
Along with two homicide counts, Pearce was charged with sexual assaulting seven victims over a 13-year interval.
Pearce met his victims — who weren’t recognized in courtroom — at events or on courting apps, served them drugged drinks after which pressured himself on them, Mariano mentioned.
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