LOS ANGELES (AP) – A Los Angeles jury began deliberating Tuesday on the lengthy trial of the murder of New York real estate heir Robert Durst after a prosecutor described him as a “narcissistic psychopath” who must be responsible.
District Assistant Attorney John Lewin told jurors at the Los Angeles County Superior Court that Durst, a billionaire, had lived a privileged life in which he played by his own rules and cared only for himself. Lewin said he didn’t kill for pleasure, but to solve problems when he turned the corner.
“Bob Durst is not crazy. He’s not a serial killer working to kill for emotion, “Lewin said.” Don’t let this narcissistic psychopath escape what he’s done. “
Durst, 78, who was crouched in a wheelchair in a light blue sports coat, has pleaded guilty to a first-degree murder charge in the uninterrupted shooting of his confidant Susan Berman.
The jurors deliberated about three hours before taking a break for the day. They began hearing evidence in March 2020 before taking a 14-month hiatus during the pandemic. The case was resumed in May.
Prosecutors say Durst killed Berman in his home in December 2000 as he planned to talk to police about a false alibi he provided when his wife disappeared in New York in 1982.
Lewin said Berman was killed because she was a witness. Prosecutors presented evidence of the alleged murder of Kathie Durst to provide their motive and also introduced evidence from a trial in Galveston, Texas, where he was acquitted of the murder due to the shooting death of a neighbor.
Durst had been hiding in Texas in late 2000 to avoid what he believed were imminent charges in New York when authorities reopened the investigation into his wife’s disappearance. He testified that Morris Black fired a gun at Durst’s apartment and was shot in the head during a gun fight.
The defense challenged the strength of the evidence presented by prosecutors, arguing that there was no evidence of Kathie Durst’s death and, in general, the lack of forensic and direct evidence in the case.
Prosecutors said evidence did not prove Berman impersonated Kathie Durst by calling a patient at the medical school she attended the day after her husband last saw her. The call revealed that she was still alive after Robert Durst saw her.
“Everything has been this theory, but no meat to the bone, no evidence,” defense attorney David Chesnoff said. “You know what I’m telling you is real.”
Kathie Durst has never been found and no one has been charged with her disappearance.
Durst faces a life sentence if convicted.
The defense claimed that prosecutors beat up a defenseless “old and sick” man for nine days of brutal interrogation in which Durst admitted to lying under oath and made numerous convictions.
Among other things, Durst stated that he did not kill Kathie Durst or Berman, but said he would lie if he had.
“I just hope that when that’s over, you let Mr. Durst be in a hospital that he chooses to live the time he has left,” Chesnoff said.
Lewin replied that Durst was only old and weak because he had been able to live a full life, unlike his victims.
“He’s up here, he’s old and he’s sick. He came to live to be old, ”Lewin said. “Kathie never reached 30. Susan Berman, her close friend, was horribly executed. Morris Black was murdered and dismembered. … He is lucky to have lived to be 78 to have the health problems he does. Because their victims and their families do not have the same peace of mind.