Robert Durst takes position in murder trial, says he didn’t kill his best friend

Real estate scion Robert Durst testified in his murder trial on Monday, testifying in a Southern California courtroom that he did not kill his close friend Susan Berman.

Asked by his lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, if he knew who had done it, Durst replied: “No, I don’t know.”

Durst, 78, is accused of killing Berman in 2000. She was found shot dead in her Los Angeles area home, and prosecutors alleged that Durst had killed her because of what she knew of. the disappearance and death in 1982 of Durst’s wife, Kathleen. McCormack Durst.

Durst, who has never been charged with his wife’s disappearance, was arrested in 2001 and charged with killing and dismembering a former landlord and neighbor, Morris Black. He was acquitted of Black’s death in 2005 after claiming self-defense, although he appeared to confess to the murders of the 2015 HBO documentary series “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst”.

Authorities had already built a case against him and he was arrested in connection with Berman’s murder in May 2015, on the eve of the show’s last episode.

In court, Durst – a member of one of New York’s wealthiest real estate families, valued at $ 100 million – was in a wheelchair and appeared frail. He spent several minutes cataloging medical conditions, including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, osteoporosis and kidney disease.

In a sweeping, sometimes meandering testimony, Durst testified to his mother’s death as a child, the opening of a health food store in Middlebury, Vt., And meeting with Berman – whose father was a well-known Las Vegas Mafia boss – in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s.

They became best friends, he said, adding: “We were both rich.”

Kathleen McCormack Durst’s disappearance has drawn close media scrutiny and Berman has defended Robert Durst against claims he may have been involved in her death. But prosecutors alleged that in 2000, Berman likely changed his mind and was ready to speak to authorities about the disappearance.

Durst’s testimony is scheduled to continue on Wednesday in State Superior Court in Inglewood.