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A Los Angeles man arrested in the death of a model and her friend has asked a judge to lessen his $3.4 million bail and let him remain free while he fights unrelated rape charges.
In court documents filed this week, defense attorney Jacob Glucksman said prosecutors filed “old” rape allegations against Pearce to keep his client in jail while investigators continue to gather information to connect Pearce to the overdose deaths of model Christy Giles and architect Hilda Marcela Cabrales-Arzola.
Pearce is asking the judge to decrease his bail to $100,000 and said he is willing to wear a GPS ankle monitor.
“This case attracted media attention because of the very unfortunate death of two women who appeared to have died of drug overdoses in or around November, 2021,” Glucksman wrote in the motion. “The descendants died after apparently being in contact with the Defendant. The Court should note, however, that Mr.Pearce is not charged with any offenses related to this unfortunate incident.
“The People appear to have ‘dusted off’ old files against Mr.Pearce and, in turn, filed very serious offenses against him that carry the possibility of life in prison in an effort to keep Mr.Pearce detained while they continue to investigate the deaths of the women.
“The defense does not argue that the People cannot do this, however, the bail should be commensurate to the alleged offenses and not issues that, at this point, are pure speculation and media fodder.”
Pearce, 37, was arrested in December for the deaths of the two women but was instead charged with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault two days later.
LAPD also arrested two other men, Brandt Osborn, 42, and Michael Ansbach, 47, who also were at a Los Angeles warehouse party on November 13 with Pearce and the two women.
Homicide detectives said two masked men driving a Toyota Prius without license plates dumped Giles’ lifeless body at a Culver City hospital. The men also dropped Cabrales-Arzola at Kaiser Permanente in West L.A. Cabrales-Arzola did not wake up from her coma and died on November 24.
In the bail motion, Glucksman said Pearce works as a freelance entertainment event planner and lives paycheck to paycheck, so he would not be able to afford the minimum to pay the $3.4 million bail related to the rape charges.
He also said keeping Pearce in jail during the COVID surge is dangerous because Pearce suffers from pre-existing health conditions. Glucksman added his client needs medication for his various mental health conditions and has not had access to them in over a month.
According to prosecutors, Pearce allegedly sexually assaulted a woman in 2010, raped another woman in 2019, and two more women in February and October 2020.
Glucksman addressed the rape allegations in the motion, and said the alleged 2010 incident was not reported until last year “when the complaining witness saw something on Instagram that triggered her memory,” while the 2019 allegation was made by a woman who does not live in the U.S. and was not reported until November.
“Counts 3 and 4 relate to offenses that allegedly occurred in 2020 and were rejected by the District Attorney’s Office for problems of proof,” Glucksman wrote in the motion.
“In fact, one complaining witness was recently interviewed and reiterated that her recollection of the alleged incident was ‘hazy.’ Moreover, there is little, if any, forensic evidence connecting the Defendant to these old alleged incidents, and on at least one alleged incident the complining witness admittedly engaged in consensual sex with the Defendant.”
Giles’ husband, Jan Chillers, told The Post said while it’s been difficult to remain patient, he was told detectives are continuing their investigation into the deaths of his wife and Cabrales-Arzola.
“Honestly, the biggest frustration is that they still haven’t put any charges against any of these guys for what happened to my wife and her friend,” Chillers said. “The only bit of consolation prize is that David isn’t out in the streets and is still locked up where he can’t hurt anybody else.”
Osborn and Ansbach, who were also arrested in December, were released. No charges have been filed against the two men.
Meanwhile, Pearce will present his motion to lessen his bail in front of a Los Angeles judge on Monday.
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