LA film producer and party promoter, 39, arrested over drug deaths of model and her designer friend asks judge to lower his $3.4m bail while he fights separate rape charges: Accused of sexually assaulting four women between 2010 and 2020
- David Pearce, 37, arrested in November 2021 overdose deaths of Christy Giles, 24, Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26, but he has not been charged in that case
- Giles’ body was left outside one hospital, and Cabrales-Arzola was found outside another, where she died after two weeks in a coma
- Pearce, a producer and event promoter, faces unrelated charges of rape and sexual assault of four women from 2010 to 2020
- Pearce has been held in jail on $3.4million bail since his December arrest
- Pearce’s lawyer filed a motion seeking bail reduction and release from jail with GPS ankle monitor
A Los Angeles party promoter and producer suspected of playing a role in the deaths of a married model and her friend is asking a judge to lower his $3.4million bail stemming from unrelated rape charges spanning a decade.
David Pearce, 37, was arrested last month in connection with the drug overdose deaths of Christy Giles, 24, and her Mexican architect friend, Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26, but he has yet to be charged with any offense in that case.
The women were last seen alive in the company of the film producer during a warehouse party in November.
Giles’ lifeless body was left outside a hospital on November 13, while Cabrales-Arzola was found clinging to life at another hospital, where she died after two weeks in a coma.
A lawyer representing accused rapist David Pearce, 37 (left), is seeking to have his $3.4million bail reduced. Pearce was arrested in December in connection with the overdose deaths of Christy Giles, 24, Marcela Cabrales-Arzola, 26 (right), but he has not been charged in that case
Pearce, an event promoter, appears in LA Superior Court on December 23 for his arraignment on rape and sexual assault charges stemming from four incidents between 2010 and 2020
Following Pearce’s arrest in mid-December, he was separately charged with sexually assaulting four women from 2010 to 2020, and his bail was set at $3.4million.
Pearce currently faces two counts of forcible rape, one count of raping an unconscious or asleep person, and one count of sexual penetration with a foreign object related to incidents that allegedly took place in 2010, 2019, February 2020 and October 2020.
Earlier this week, Pearce’s defense attorney, Jacob Gluckman, filed a motion seeking to reduce his bail amount and have him released from jail with a GPS ankle monitor, reported the New York Post.
The lawyer stressed that Pearce has not been charged with causing Giles and Cabrales-Arzola’s deaths, and complained that prosecutors have ‘dusted off old’ sexual assault allegations as a pretext to keep him locked up while they gathered evidence in the deaths of the two women.
Gluckman conceded that prosecutors were well within their rights to do that, but he argued that his client’s bail should be proportionate to the charges he is currently facing ‘and not issues that, at this point, are pure speculation and media fodder.’
Gluckman sought to discredit the sexual assault charges against Pearce, saying that the earlier accusations were not reported until years later, while the later ones from 2020 have been rejected by the DA’s office due to a lack of evidence.
According to the defense lawyer, one of Pearce’s accusers said in a recent police interview that her recollection of the alleged assault were ‘hazy,’ while another admitted that she had consensual sex with the party promoter.
The motion goes on to claim that Pearce, being a freelance event planner, cannot afford to pay the bail, and also that his unspecified pre-existing medical conditions make him vulnerable to contract COVID in jail.
Gluckman also said that his client has been denied access to medication used to treat his multiple mental health disorders for a month.
Pearce is due back in court for a bail hearing on Monday.
Pearce, pictured left with Paris Hilton, is accused of sexually assault and raping four women in 2010, 2019 and February and October 2020. Pearce’s attorney argued that prosecutors have ‘dusted off old’ sexual assault allegations to keep him jailed
Meanwhile, Giles’ husband, photographer Jan Ciliers, expressed frustration that no one has been held accountable for the deaths of his wife and her friend, but he took comfort in knowing that Pearce ‘isn’t out in the streets and is still locked up where he can’t hurt anybody else.’
Giles and Cabrales-Arzola were last seen at an apartment in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood of LA, having left the warehouse party with Pearce in the early hours of November 13.
Cilliers – who was in San Francisco at the time – said he suspects the women were forced to take drugs, because neither would willingly take heroin, found in Cabrales-Arzola’s system.
Their bodies were dumped outside Southern California Hospital in Culver City and Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Hospital.
Giles was already dead when she was found outside the hospital, having been dumped from a car driven by a masked man.
Cabrales-Arzola was in critical condition and her family took her off life support after two weeks – a day before her 27th birthday.
Jan Cilliers, Giles’ husband (pictured together) has expressed frustration that no one has been held accountable for her death
‘It is believed that both women were given drugs and overdosed at a residence in the 8600 block of Olympic Boulevard in the city of Los Angeles,’ police said in a statement.
‘Three suspects were identified and arrested with the assistance of the LAPD-FBI Fugitive Task Force and Metropolitan Division.
Prosecutors have asked for further investigation involving the two other men, Michael Ansbach, 47, and Brandt Osborn, 42, whom police said were each booked on suspicion of being an accessory to manslaughter.
Osborn, a New York-born actor, was arrested on the set of NCIS: Los Angeles.
Anspach was released on $100,000 bond, while Osborn was freed without bond, his arrest converted to a detention.
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