A prosecutor told jurors Thursday that a man charged with murder in connection with the drug overdose deaths of a model and her friend is “nothing short of a sexual predator” who is also accused of sexually assaulting seven other women in crimes dating back almost two decades, while the man’s attorney maintained that his client was not responsible for the deaths of the two women and should be acquitted of all of the charges against him.
David Brian Pearce, 45, is charged in the deaths of Christy Giles, a 24-year-old model and aspiring actress, and her friend, Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26, who were left outside separate Southland hospitals about two hours apart on Nov. 13, 2021.
The grand jury indictment returned against Pearce in December 2022 also charges 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 — with those charges involving alleged crimes against seven women between 2007 and 2020.
Co-defendant Brandt Walter Osborn, now 45, is charged with two counts of being an accessory after the fact in connection with the deaths of Giles and Cabrales-Arzola.
Giles was already dead when she was found outside Southern California Hospital, while Cabrales-Arzola, an architect, was alive outside Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Hospital but in critical condition. Her family took her off life support later that month, a day before her 27th birthday.
The deaths of the two women were classified as homicides by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner, with toxicology reports finding multiple drugs present in both victims’ systems, according to the department.
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.
Deputy District Attorney Catherine Mariano told the downtown Los Angeles jury that Pearce “didn’t care if they (the two women) lived or died,” and that jurors are expected to hear testimony that Pearce allegedly told Osborn, “Dead girls don’t talk.”
The prosecutor said she will ask the panel to find Pearce guilty for what she called “reprehensible actions.”
Mariano told jurors that the two “waited and waited” and then opted against taking the women to the closest hospital and instead drove them separately in a Toyota Prius that didn’t have license plates to two separate hospitals.
The prosecutor said the men didn’t call police and opted instead to “cover their tracks.”
“Defendant Pearce is nothing short of a sexual predator,” the prosecutor told the jury, noting that the panel is expected to hear from five additional women who allege they were sexually assaulted by him in addition to the seven alleged victims named in the charges.
The deputy district attorney said one of the alleged sexual assault victims described starting to immediately feel sick after Pearce offered her a drink and that others described blacking out after being offered a drink and waking up as they were being sexually assaulted.
Pearce’s attorney, Jeff Voll, acknowledged that Giles and Cabrales-Arzola “sadly passed away,” but told jurors that the evidence would show that the two women were drinking alcohol and ingesting drugs before they even met Pearce and his friends at a “rave.”
“Someone made a mistake. Someone made a tragic mistake,” Voll said.
Pearce’s attorney suggested that the women had ingested fentanyl while assuming it was cocaine, but maintained that it was “not at the hands” of his client.
The defense lawyer said the sex assault charges mostly involve alleged victims who waited to contact police until after the hearing on TV about the deaths of the two women.
Osborn’s attorney, Michael Artan, told jurors that his client — whom he described as an actor at the time — had heard the two women talking about using ketamine and that Osborn went “straight to bed” and “didn’t know what if anything was going on with respect to drugs” after arriving home early that morning.
“It appeared that they were passed out — not inconsistent with using illicit drugs the night before,” Artan said, telling jurors that the two men first took Giles to the hospital when it became clear that she needed medical attention and that they returned to find that Cabrales-Arzola was not recovering from being passed out and took her to a separate hospital.
He said there was nothing to indicate that Osborn knew the license plates were not on the Prius that was used to transport the women to the hospitals.
Artan told jurors that he will also ask them to acquit his client of the two accessory charges against him.
Giles’ mother, Dusty, wrote on Facebook that she hoped the coroner’s findings would lead to criminal charges being filed over the women’s deaths.
“While we her family all along knew and felt strongly our baby was murdered, it is now officially listed as her cause of death!” Dusty Giles posted earlier. “With this our prayers are the L.A. County D.A.’s Office will move quickly and swiftly on re-arresting ALL parties involved and this time PRESS THE CHARGES! Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.”
Pearce was initially charged in December 2021 with sexually assaulting four women, with prosecutors subsequently adding sexual assault charges involving three other women. The District Attorney’s Office subsequently filed the murder and drug charges before taking the case to the grand jury, which returned the indictment.
Pearce remains jailed, while Osborn is free on bond.