Robert Durst
Robert Durst agreed to be extradited from Louisiana to Los Angeles, where he will face a first-degree murder trial in the death of Susan Berman.
The Durst family scion will be in California by Aug. 18, his lawyers said.
He’s being held in Louisiana on an unrelated gun possession charge. His lawyers have said he plans to plead guilty to that offense.
Durst is accused of killing Susan Berman, a friend and confidant, back in 2000. He’s also suspected of involvement in the death of his ex-wife, Kathleen McCormack, around the same time. Berman defended Durst at that time, and acted as his unofficial spokesperson in the press. Authorities believe Durst killed Berman to prevent her from speaking about McCormack’s disappearance.
Douglas Durst, head of the Durst Organization, is expected to be a witness in the trial.
McCormack’s family is pursuing a wrongful death civil case against him, seeking $100 million.
Durst, whose family controls one of the largest real estate empires in New York, was also acquitted for yet another murder, of a neighbor named Morris Black, despite having admitted to dismembering the man in Galveston, Texas.
Durst was the subject of the HBO docu-drama, “The Jinx.”
“Bob Durst didn’t kill Susan Berman and doesn’t know who did,” Durst’s lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, told the Times. “He is eager to go to trial and prove his innocence.” [AP] – Ariel Stulberg