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A California jury found multi-millionaire real estate heir Robert Durst guilty of murdering his longtime friend Susan Berman in 2000, the first homicide conviction against a man suspected of killing three people in three states during the Last 39 years.
Durst, 78 years old and fragile, will likely die in prison, as the jury also found him guilty on Friday of the special circumstances of waiting and murdering a witness, carrying a mandatory life sentence. Superior Court Judge Mark Windham, who oversaw the trial, has set a sentencing hearing for October 18.
The trial took place six years after Durst’s apparent confession aired in the HBO television documentary series The Jinx, in which Durst was surprised by a burning microphone in the toilet as he thought, “What the hell is this?” that I did ? … Killed them all, of course.
The jury of nine women and three men had deliberated for seven and a half hours over three days for Friday’s decision. Durst, who has been in jail for the duration of the trial, was not present for the verdict being read because he was in solitary confinement after being exposed to someone with COVID-19.
Windham decided to have the verdict read in Durst’s absence. Speaking later to lawyers for both sides, he called the case “the most extraordinary trial I have ever seen or even heard of”.
Senior prosecutor John Lewin, who pursued Durst for years, credited The Jinx filmmakers Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling for their revealing interviews with Durst, telling reporters after the verdict: “Without them we would not have led the interviews, we wouldn’t be where we are. “
In his closing arguments, Lewin called Durst a “narcissistic psychopath” who killed Berman in an attempt to cover up the disappearance of his wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst, in New York City in 1982.
Judge Windham receives bailiff’s verdict before convicting Durst of murder [Genaro Molina/Pool via Reuters]Durst was only on trial for Berman’s murder in California, but prosecutors argued he murdered three people: his missing wife, Berman and a neighbor in Texas who discovered his identity when Durst was in hiding from the law.
Although he has long been a suspect in the disappearance of his wife, a 29-year-old medical student, Durst has never been charged. Prosecutors said he killed her, then decided to kill Berman 18 years later because she told others she helped Durst cover up the crime. Berman, 55, was shot in the back of the neck at his Beverly Hills home.
Shortly after the verdict, the McCormack family released a statement urging prosecutors in Westchester County, New York, to prosecute Durst.
“The Los Angeles justice system has finally served the Berman family. Now is the time for Westchester to do the same for the McCormack family, ”the statement said.
Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah reopened the case in May, shortly after taking office.
His office issued a statement on Friday congratulating those involved in securing the conviction, but a spokesperson said the Westchester investigation “remains ongoing and we will have no further comment at this time.”
“Sick old man”
Defense attorneys described Durst, a cancer survivor who testified from a wheelchair wearing a baggy prison uniform, as a “sick old man.” But he resisted 15 days as a witness, nine of which were under cross-examination.
During a 58-day trial spanning a year and a half, including a one-year delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, Durst testified to discovering Berman’s murdered body when he went to visit him but did not call the police.
The prosecution also looked into the 2001 death and dismemberment of Morris Black, who was Durst’s neighbor in Galveston, Texas. A Galveston jury acquitted Durst of the murder, although Durst admitted he cut up Black’s body and dumped it in Galveston Bay.
Durst said Black fired a gun at him and was accidentally shot when the two fought over the gun.
Black’s death marked the second time Durst had a corpse at his feet, according to his testimony.
In both cases, Durst said he first tried calling the 911 emergency number, but then decided not to, fearing that no one would believe he was not guilty.
Besides the audio from The Jinx, two other pieces of evidence appeared to damage Durst’s defense. One was the recorded testimony in 2017 of Nick Chavin, a mutual friend who said Durst confessed to him in 2014 that he killed Berman.
“It was her or me. I had no choice, ”Chavin told Durst.
Durst also admitted that he wrote a handwritten letter to Beverly Hills Police with the word “corpse” and Berman’s address, directing them to his undiscovered body. Durst had denied writing the note for 20 years.
Durst is the grandson of the founder of The Durst Organization, one of New York’s leading real estate companies.
A long time ago, he left the company, now run by his ex-brother Douglas Durst, who testified at the trial and said about his brother: “He would like to murder me.
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