Robert Durst is an estranged member of considered one of New York’s strongest actual property dynasties. (File)
Los Angeles:
US actual property scion Robert Durst was sentenced Thursday to life in jail with no chance of parole for the killing of his finest buddy.
Durst, a multi-millionaire who was the topic of an explosive HBO documentary entitled “The Jinx,” has at all times denied fees that he shot that buddy, Susan Berman, behind the top in 2000 at her Beverly Hills dwelling to maintain her from speaking to police concerning the disappearance of his spouse 20 years earlier.
But final month, a jury in Los Angeles took simply eight hours to search out the 78-year-old responsible of the execution-style slaying of Berman.
“This crime was a witness killing,” Judge Mark Windham stated earlier than studying out the life sentence. “That circumstance… tremendously aggravated this awful, disturbing crime.”
Windham rejected the protection’s request for a brand new trial, saying, “There is sufficient, in fact, overwhelming evidence of guilt.”
The courtroom additionally heard from Sareb Kaufman, a son of Berman who stated he has questioned what his life would have been like had Durst not killed his mom.
“Every plan was completely swept away,” a crying Kaufman stated. “You also murdered me, the person I was.”
Durst sat immobile in a wheelchair throughout Thursday’s courtroom session.
Prosecutors say he murdered crime author Berman to forestall her from being questioned by New York police over the disappearance of his spouse Kathleen.
Berman, the daughter of a Las Vegas mobster, had acted as a spokeswoman for Durst after he grew to become a suspect within the spouse’s disappearance.
‘Killed all of them’
Durst, an estranged member of considered one of New York’s wealthiest and strongest actual property dynasties, was by no means charged in his spouse’s case.
He was arrested in March 2015 in a New Orleans resort room in reference to Berman’s homicide, hours earlier than the ultimate episode aired within the HBO documentary “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.”
In its gorgeous finale, Durst is heard muttering to himself, “There it is, you’re caught” and “Killed them all, of course” — apparently unaware {that a} microphone he was sporting throughout the recording of that episode remained switched on whereas he used the restroom throughout a break within the session.
In Thursday’s proceedings, Berman’s family members urged him to say the place his spouse’s physique is.
The docuseries additionally delved into the 2001 dying of Durst’s neighbor in Texas, Morris Black, who was discovered dismembered.
Durst admitted to the dismemberment however claimed the killing was self-defense. He was acquitted.
He repeatedly denied any involvement in Berman’s dying, however acknowledged he had written an nameless letter to police telling them that her physique lay in her Beverly Hills dwelling.
Last month, prosecutor John Lewin instructed the jury there was a “mountain of evidence” that Durst had killed all three individuals with whose deaths he had been related.
He stated a buddy of Durst had testified that the true property magnate had instructed him of Berman, “It was her or me. I had no choice.”
“He has never been held accountable for his domestic abuse of (wife) Kathie. He was never held accountable for her death. The last 20 years, he’s gotten away with murdering Susan,” Lewin instructed the jury.
“For the last 20 years, he’s avoided responsibility for Morris Black. Durst is not jinxed. He’s a three-time killer who has managed to escape accountability until this very moment.”
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