Robert Durst Couldn't Elude Death

 For years he eluded justice, but in the end, Robert Durst couldn't elude death.  After years and years of health problems, including cancer, the multimillionaire convicted killer and one-time fugitive from justice finally died, age 78, in prison.  He had recently been charged in the disappearance and presumed murder of his first wife, Kathie McCormack Durst, back in 1982.  She had been a medical student set to graduate and become a pediatrician, but Durst  was mad she wanted a life independent of him, and he wasn't going to let her fulfill her dreams.  Her remains were never found.  With his death, it is likely they will never be found.

Susan Berman, a mobster's daughter who was a writer, was a longtime friend of Durst's and she was said to have had information about Kathie's disappearance she was going to go to authorities with.  Durst got wind of it, and he killed her in 2000 execution style.  Shortly thereafter, while he was on the run, he went to Galveston, Texas.  He rented a room at a dilapidated rooming house where he crossdressed and called himself a woman's name, using the name of a classmate who had never been anywhere near Galveston. Shortly after arriving, he got into an altercation with a fellow boarder, Morris Black, and killed him.  He dismembered Black and dumped his remains in Galveston Bay.  Durst was arrested for the killing and was tried, but because the defense made sure there were only two avenues for the jury to take--murder one or aquittal--they felt that had no choice but to acquit given the head was never found.  Durst's defense was he killed Black in self-defense and panicked, thus explaining the dismemberment.  There was no way the jury could determine premeditation, so they were forced to acquit.

During this time, Durst remarried, but a 2015 documentary, The Jinx, put him right back in the news and in the court system for murder when he admitted on camera he had "killed them all," meaning of course, his first wife Kathie, Susan Berman, and Morris Black.  This plus some handwriting evidence caused L.A. prosecutors to charge Durst with the death of Susan Berman.  By this time Durst was practically on death's door, but he was convicted and sentenced to life without parole.  Recently he was charged in connection with Kathie's disappearance, but it was clear he was never going to go to trial.

Snip from the Daily Mail:

Durst, born on April 12, 1943, was the eldest son of a prominent New York real estate dynasty. His grandfather, the family patriarch, Joseph Durst, was a tailor from Poland who immigrated to New Yok in 1902 with $3 sewn into his lapel.

...

Robert Durst's childhood was marred by tragedy when he witnessed his mother, Bernice, commit suicide by jumping off the roof of their family home. (Family members would later claim that it was an accident and dispute that Robert was anywhere present at the time). 

Robert's relationship with his brother, Douglas, only 18 months apart, was perennially fraught. 

As children, they underwent counseling for a violent sibling rivaling that often ended in physical fights. 

A psychiatrist's report in 1953 diagnosed 10-year-old Robert with 'personality decomposition and possibly even schizophrenia.' 

Needess to say "Bobby," as he was known,  was very screwed up. No wonder he was heavily into drugs by the time he met Kathie.

Oh, this is the kicker:

An appeal had been filed for Durst, but his death now vacates his conviction, Neama Rahmani, former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told The News. “If a criminal defendant dies before he can exhaust all appeals, the conviction is negated... The doctrine comes from common law and has been criticized by victims of crime, so some states have abandoned it. It remains the rule in California, though.”

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Better Late Than Never, I Guess

 (Finally) Convicted killer Robert Durst, 78, recently convicted in the 2000 execution-style murder of his longtime friend Susan Berman, has been sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

Berman and Durst

As I noted years ago when he went to trial for the murder of fellow boarder Morris Black, he had a knack of getting away with murder.   His acquittal in that case was almost as outrageous as the T. Cullen Davis case, but the jury in the Durst case in Galveston had no choice but to acquit thanks to the head never having been found and the fact they could only find for murder 1 or acquittal.  There was no way for the jury to know whether Durst killed Black in self-defense or it was premeditated in some way without the head.  The jury thought he did it, but there was no way given the narrow perimeters of conviction they could convict him.  So, what happened was he was a free man once again until he finally gave himself away thanks to an HBO documentary about his cases and crimes.

His mouth did him in.

The bad thing here is Durst is in terrible health, so the "life without parole" isn't going to be for very long.

I seriously doubt he will ever have a "deathbed" confession and tell authorities where his first wife Kathie's remains are.  He most likely killed her in early 1982, but the remains have never been found.

Guilty, Guilty, Guilty

 I wrote that word three times to denote the number of victims killer Robert Durst is known to have murdered over the years including his first wife Kathie and fellow Galveston boarder Morris Black.  The third time was the charm today when a Los Angeles jury found the previously lucky killer finally guilty, in this case of his friend from college Susan Berman, who was an author and a mobster's daughter.  He killed her in 1980, allegedly because she knew too much about the details of Durst murdering his ex-wife and had planned to go to authorities.  Durst shot her dead execution style.  Durst, however, has one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel being in terrible health at the age of 78.  

The HBO documentary The Jinx was credited for bringing his crimes to light and especially of reviving the Berman case thanks to new evidence.

"Life" in prison given Durst's age and health probably won't be that long.

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He did take the stand in his own defense, but it was for naught.

Will the "Jinx" Get Away With It Again?

Millionaire acquitted murderer Robert Durst, 76 and damned near on death's door, is expected to stand trial for the 2000 murder of writer and longtime friend Susan Berman early next year.  We will see if he gets away with murder yet again.

Durst, as most people know, is believed to have murdered his first wife, Kathie McCormack Durst, back in 1982 and either dumped or had somebody dump her body in an undisclosed location.  Her body was never found.  He was considered the prime suspect because he was very controlling of Kathie and did not at all support her ambition to become a pediatrician.  She was just months from getting her M.D. when she disappeared after a party in early 1982.  No doubt he wasn't going to let her have the life she wanted.  Reportedly Durst had been cheating on her with Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence, and had been involved with her for three years.  Durst had a separate apartment.     However, there was no evidence connecting him at all with Kathie's disappearance.

Years went by with Durst seemingly disappearing off the radar.   Then Durst was connected to the death of  mob daughter and writer Susan Berman.  They had been friends for many decades, since they attended college at U.C.L.A.  A paper trail, including car rentals, found him going from Eureka, California, (where he is allegedly linked to one or murders in the region) to L.A. at the time of Berman's death.  Most observers believe she knew too much about Kathie's murder and tipped off authorities.   Durst is alleged to have shot her in the back of the head to make sure she never talked again.  He is scheduled to go on trial for her murder on January 13, 2020.

I had followed his saga for years, especially during his trial and acquittal for the murder of Morris Black, who Durst shot, dismembered, and  dumped Black's body parts in Galveston Bay, Texas, back in 2001.    I made a bunch of posts and links to the case because it was so fascinating the same way the despicable T. Cullen Davis case was.  Durst admitted he killed Black, but he said it was in "self-defense."  Obviously it wasn't, but Black's head was never recovered in the search, and therefore the jury could not determine whether Black was indeed killed in a struggle or was shot in the head like Berman was, which would have indicated premeditation or at least a crime of passion.  The biggest problem with the Black case was the defense made sure the only options the jury had were either Murder One or acquittal.  This was in fact a second-degree murder case or manslaughter, with the added crime of abusing a corpse, and, if those options had been made available to the jury, Durst would no doubt have been convicted.  The jury felt without the head, they had no choice but to acquit this guilty man.  It was a slightly less outrageous acquittal than the cases of O.J. Simpson or T. Cullen Davis, but it was still an injustice regardless.

HBO's The Jinx covered all this in its excellent documentary of a couple of years ago and featured the added bonus of recording Durst muttering he "killed them all" while in the men's room.  This admission helped in getting Durst tried for the murder of Susan Berman.  It remains to be seen whether he gets away with this murder or if he finally gets convicted, assuming he is still alive in January.

Robert Durst Sued: Oh, I Love This

The family of the disappeared wife of the infamous crossdressing multimillonaire murderer has decided to file a $100 million lawsuit against him.

"Him," of course, is Robert Durst, the subject of a number of posts on this blog and of a number of documentaries, including the excellent The Jinx, the DVD of which I purchased and viewed a month ago. I had followed his murder trial a decade ago when he was acquitted of the murder of Morris Black. The jury felt that because Black's severed head was never found, they could not agree to the prosecution's contention he premeditated the killing. The only outcomes the jury could rule on was first-degree murder or acquittal--nothing else.

The jury was still stupid, and a couple of the members of the Durst jury interviewed in The Jinx proved they were cut from the same cloth as those idiots who acquitted T. Cullen Davis of murder back in the 1970s, despite there being witnesses.

Durst got a big cash payout from his terrified family a few years back, so this suit basically takes him for everything he has. However, it would not surprise me at all if Durst never goes to trial for the murder of his longtime friend Susan Berman, for his health has been terrible the past few years.

Details:

On Monday, Ms. Durst’s mother, Ann McCormack, who is 101, and three sisters — Carol Bamonte, Mary Hughes and Virginia McKeon — filed a $100 million lawsuit against the man they have long suspected of killing her: Robert A. Durst, her husband. The lawsuit contends that Mr. Durst violated the McCormack family’s right to sepulcher, a rarely used New York law granting family members the immediate right to possession of a body for burial.

“The family’s priority has been and continues to be to provide Kathleen with a proper and dignified burial,” Robert Abrams, a lawyer for the McCormack family, said.

I ain't holding my breath on this one.

Did Robert Durst Kill Even More People?

Last night on HLN that awful Dr. Drew Pinsky was making all kinds of excuses for serial killer Robert Durst because it appears Durst is on his final legs of his long journey of freedom from the authorities. That is because Durst in all likelihood will never serve much in the way of time for the murder of Susan Berman, should he be convicted. He may never even stand trial because, according to Durst's lawyer, he is suffering from esophageal cancer, one of the most lethal cancers out there. It is the cancer that killed Humphrey Bogart when he was just 57 years old back in 1957. Treatments haven't increased the cure rate much since.

This type of cancer happens mostly to men and smokers. Very few people survive it. Most victims die within a year of diagnosis.

Anyway, Pinsky was all upset because he felt the HBO special was solely responsible for the authorities finally getting on the case. He feels sorry for Durst because Durst is nuts. But he was always off his rocker, in large part because he was a pothead and a cokehead in addition to Asperger or whatever his lawyers said he had. Besides, the illnesses he is suffering now have no bearing on what he allegedly did 15 to 30-plus years ago.

Pinsky sure as hell didn't show any sympathy for Jodi Arias when it was clear she was a victim of domestic abuse and killed Travis Alexander in self-defense.

Once a sexist, always a sexist, I suppose.

Now, there are more allegations coming forth that Durst may have killed other people, with the latest allegation dating back 44 years.

I kind of have my doubts, but you never know with this guy.

In any case, he is never going to do much time for any killing because he has very little time left. He is extremely frail now. He likely "confessed" in the bathroom because he KNEW his time was short anyway.

That Texas Jury Certainly Lost Its Head When It Acquitted Robert Durst

I followed this outrageous case for many years, as can be seen by all of these posts I have made going clear back to 2003. I just can't believe he got away with killing somebody that he admitted killing, but as I recall, the jury acquitted Durst for two reasons. One reason was it was impossible to determine whether Durst indeed killed Morris Black in a premeditated fashion since the head was never recovered. The jury felt it had no choice but to let the killer go because its members felt the prosecutors couldn't make a case for first-degree murder without the head. Simple logic would tell you, though, that the reason Durst hid the head so it wouldn't be found was so that it would make it next to impossible to determine the exact cause of death. The second reason was that the jury was hamstrung. Most if not all of the jury didn't buy his story of self-defense, but they couldn't convict Durst of a lesser charge because of the fact the jury could only either acquit him or convict him of Murder One. They couldn't convict him of manslaughter, negligent homicide, or Murder Two. It was all or nothing. So, Durst walked.

Durst always stayed one step ahead of the game. Apparently he was planning to flee to Cuba at the time he got arrested a few days ago for the 2000 murder of close friend Susan Berman. At least there was no bail this time.

Given how frail this man is, even if he is convicted, and the handwriting samples are certainly as damning as anything that's ever come down the pike, he won't be around much longer. I heard old Dr. Drew Pinsky comment the other night, being almost an apologist for this serial killer while trashing domestic violence victims like Jodi Arias, that Durst appeared to have symptoms consistent with Parkinson's disease. Of course he didn't say Durst had the disease because that would be diagnosing somebody he didn't examine. He just gave his opinion about it. From the clips from the recent HBO documentary about the case, The Jinx, Durst looks like he has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.

In addition to the HBO documentary, which I haven't seen but intend to get the DVD if and when it comes out, there are a few others. Here are a couple of them:






Now I have heard he may be involved in the disappearance of two women in the northern California area in around the same time as the Berman/Black killings.

The Worst of Durst

For many years I have closely followed the saga of a acquitted killer Robert Durst. Now that he's been arrested for the 2000 murder of one-time friend Susan Berman, I will have to resume following the story once more.

Now if murder charges could again be filed against octogenarian acquitted killer T. Cullen Davis, I would die happy.

"Affluenza"

It's not the first time in American history a Texas court has been held up to ridicule and condemnation over its coddling of rich criminals.

Texas has always been infected with "affluenza," or rather infected with juries and judges feeling sorry for rich people who get themselves into trouble. If you are poor or middle class, well, you don't want to be in Texas because the state is all too willing to throw the book at you or even throw you on death row.

The case of Ethan Couch is pretty outrageous, and the judge no doubt made her decision as much because of his age as his wealth, but there are even more outrageous cases that have happened in Texas, and they involved juries.

The two biggest travesties in the history of American criminal justice happened in Texas and involved two murderers involved in two separate crimes some 25 or so years apart, T. Cullen Davis in the 1970s, and Robert Durst in the early 2000s, and they were both acquitted despite the overwhelming evidence they were both guilty of murder. Durst is likely to have killed two other people in addition to Morris Black including his first wife Kathie and a friend, Susan Berman, in two other states. He is one scary individual, but he continues to walk free. He also has many, many millions of dollars to live off of, so he doesn't have to work. Davis, who killed his 12-year-old stepdaughter and his ex-wife's boyfriend, Stan Farr, was actually richer than Durst going by 1970s dollars (Davis was said to have been the richest individual ever tried for murder in the United States), but despite eyewitnesses to the crime, got acquitted in the murder trial of his stepdaughter (he was never tried for the Stan Farr murder). From what I have read there was clear tampering with the legal process, but Davis got away with it. He even got away with charges he tried to arrange a hit on a judge and others and was caught on camera in a sting operation, yet he was acquitted of that. It appears juries in the Lone Star State worship wealth, and they will give murderers a pass if their bank accounts are large enough.

However, unlike Durst, Davis did eventually lose all of his fortune and was forced to work for modest pay as a minister or something related to it. He had to give up that ugly house he killed over because he couldn't afford to keep it. However, he should have been locked up for the rest of his life. Davis is 80 years old now. His ex-wife, Priscilla, was a broken woman who had to endure the indignity of having her reputation trashed in the murder trial when she should have had the utmost respect for having lost two loved ones. It was sickening. She died of breast cancer in 2001, aged only 59.

Given that kind of empathy for the rich, it's little wonder Ethan Couch got sympathy from a judge. It wouldn't have mattered if he had gone to trial. He probably would have gotten off with a jury there.