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Robert Durst sentenced to life in prison without parole for murder of friend in 2000 – National


New York actual property inheritor Robert Durst was sentenced Thursday to life in jail with out likelihood of parole for the homicide of his greatest pal extra that 20 years in the past.

Durst, 78, was convicted in Los Angeles Superior Courtroom final month of first-degree homicide for capturing Susan Berman point-blank at the back of the top at her house in December 2000.

The killing had been a thriller that haunted household and associates for 15 years earlier than Durst was arrested in 2015 following his ill-considered resolution to take part in a documentary that unearthed new proof and caught him in a shocking confession.

Berman’s demise left a everlasting gap within the lives of members of the family who remembered her Thursday for her adventurousness, her creativity, and her deep and dependable love.

“It has been a day by day, soul consuming and crushing expertise,” mentioned Sareb Kaufman, who thought-about Berman his mom after his father dated her. “I’ve misplaced every little thing many instances over due to him.”

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Learn extra:
Real estate heir Robert Durst found guilty of murdering friend Susan Berman

Durst, who has quite a few medical points and sat in a wheelchair carrying brown jail scrubs, mentioned nothing. His eyes had been broad open and he had a catatonic stare when he entered the courtroom and barely seemed over at Kaufman and three of Berman’s cousins after they spoke.

Durst silenced Berman to forestall her from incriminating him within the reopened investigation of his spouse’s 1982 disappearance in New York, prosecutors mentioned.

Berman supplied a phony alibi for Durst when Kathie Durst vanished, prosecutors mentioned.

Durst testified that he didn’t kill both lady, however mentioned on cross-examination that he would lie if he had.

Prosecutors additionally offered proof that he deliberately killed a neighbor in Galveston, Texas, in 2001, although he had been acquitted of homicide in that case after testifying that he shot the person in self-defense.

Durst’s lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, mentioned they plan to enchantment and avoided making different remarks throughout sentencing.

Learn extra:
Robert Durst of ‘The Jinx’ struck fear in his wife before she disappeared in the ’80s: witness

Decide Mark Windham denied a movement for a brand new trial, rejecting arguments there was inadequate proof or that he had erred 15 other ways in prior rulings.

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“You mentioned the courtroom erred so many instances it made me really feel self-conscious,” Windham joked.

He mentioned prosecutors had overwhelming proof that proved Durst’s guilt past an inexpensive doubt not less than 5 methods, together with a devastating cross-examination of Durst on the witness stand and an admission Durst made within the climax of the six-part documentary, “The Jinx: The Life and Crimes of Robert Durst.”

After being caught in a lie a few word he penned directing police to Berman’s “cadaver,” Durst went into a toilet and muttered to himself on a dwell microphone, “Killed all of them, after all.”

Durst testified that he regretted taking part within the documentary.

Learn extra:
Robert Durst says ‘I was on meth’ during HBO series ‘The Jinx’

The trial started in March 2020 and was adjourned for 14 months because the coronavirus pandemic swept the U.S. and courts had been closed. It resumed in Could with the jury that reached its verdict Sept. 17.

Seven of the jurors returned to courtroom to witness the sentencing and had been seated within the jury field.

Berman, the daughter of a Las Vegas mobster and a author, was Durst’s longtime confidante. She instructed associates and Durst she was making ready to talk with police about his spouse’s disappearance shortly earlier than she was killed.

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Kathie Durst has by no means been discovered. Robert Durst has by no means been charged with against the law associated to her disappearance.

However following his conviction in Berman’s demise, which relied on proof that he killed his spouse, a New York prosecutor is ready now to hunt prices in opposition to him in her demise, an individual accustomed to the matter instructed The Related Press on situation of anonymity.

Kathie McCormack Durst’s household had hoped to current statements to the courtroom Thursday about their loss, however prosecutors denied the request, in accordance with emails despatched to their lawyer.

Learn extra:
Robert Durst, subject of ‘The Jinx’, pleads not guilty to murder in LA

Legal professional Robert Abrams, who confirmed up on the listening to. mentioned the McCormack household was disenchanted, and he was outraged.

“The household just isn’t going to go journey 3,000 miles to be a prop in some Hollywood manufacturing and sit there and never be capable to make their sufferer affect statements,” Abrams mentioned. “This isn’t some film the place it’s gross spectacle. That is their lives, they usually’ve suffered for 40 years.”

Deputy District Legal professional John Lewin, Kaufman and others pleaded with Durst now that he’s unlikely to be freed to inform the McCormack household the place she was buried.

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“I hope in your remaining days and hours you’ll … give the McCormacks what little they’re asking for: to search out Kathie, to put her to relaxation appropriately, lastly and in the end,” Kaufman mentioned. “That is crucial query that also haunts us.”

Durst is the grandson of Joseph Durst, who based the Durst Group, one in every of Manhattan’s largest industrial actual property corporations. His father, Seymour, took the reins of the corporate and later handed management of it to a youthful brother, Douglas.

Robert Durst settled his share of the household fortune that was estimated by prosecutors to have $100 million.

Berman’s cousin, Davy Berman, who she lived with in Idaho as a teen after her father died, mentioned he had gone to see her grave on the Dwelling of Peace Memorial Park in East Los Angeles earlier than the sentencing.

“I visited her and instructed her she might relaxation simple,” he mentioned as his voice cracked. “That justice has been completed.”

Related Press writers Christopher Weber and Stefanie Dazio in Los Angeles and Michael R. Sisak in New York contributed to this report.




© 2021 The Canadian Press





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