Fugitive Heir Found Innocent of Murder
By JUAN A. LOZANO, AP
(Nov. 11) -- Eccentric New York millionaire Robert Durst, who said he accidentally killed a hot-tempered neighbor in self-defense and then dismembered the body in a panic, was found innocent Tuesday of murder.
AP
Surrounded by his attorneys, Robert Durst reacts to the verdict.
Jurors deliberated over five days, following nearly six weeks of testimony, before deciding that the real estate heir did not murder 71-year-old Morris Black, who lived across the hall from him in a low-rent apartment building.
Durst, 60, who is under suspicion in two other killings and who posed for a time as a mute woman, testified in his own defense for nearly four days. He insisted that Black was shot accidentally during a struggle over a gun, and said he used two saws and an ax to cut up the body. The victim's head has never been found.
Durst appeared stunned when he heard the verdict from state District Judge Susan Criss, standing with his mouth slightly open and his eyes filling with tears. He hugged his attorneys afterward, saying: ''Thank you so much.''
After the killing in late September 2001, Durst was a fugitive for six weeks until he was caught in Pennsylvania when he tried to shoplift a $5 sandwich even though he had $500 in his pocket.
At defense attorneys' request, jurors considered only a murder charge. They could have asked that jurors consider a lesser charge, such as manslaughter, in addition to murder, but opted for an all-or-nothing strategy.
If he had been convicted, Durst could have been sentenced to five to 99 years in prison and been fined up to $10,000.
Prosecutors called Durst a calculating, cold-blooded killer who shot Black to steal his identity. They said all his actions afterward, including cutting up the body and twice fleeing Galveston, were part of an elaborate plan to hide his guilt.
But defense attorneys contended Black was shot accidentally while the two men struggled for a gun after Durst found his neighbor illegally in his apartment. The defense said prosecutors failed to show jurors any motive for the killing or disprove self-defense.
''Whatever (Durst) did after Morris Black was dead cannot change how Morris Black died,'' defense attorney Dick DeGuerin said in his closing statement. ''You can't convict Bob Durst simply because of that.''
After the verdict was read, DeGuerin praised jurors for ''their ability to look at this case for what the charge was.''
District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said Durst cut up Black's body without hesitation, meticulously cleaned the crime scene, reserved a flight to leave the area and dumped the body but later returned to retrieve the head because it could identify his victim.
''Is it well planned and calculated? You bet it is,'' Sistrunk said.
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Durst Found Not Guilty
Durst moved to Galveston in November 2000 disguised as a woman to escape scrutiny in New York after an investigation was reopened into the 1982 disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen. He used the name Dorothy Ciner, a childhood friend.
After he jumped bail in Black's killing, Galveston authorities learned he was wanted for questioning in his first wife's disappearance and in the Christmas Eve 2000 shooting death in Los Angeles of a friend, writer Susan Berman, who was set to be questioned about his missing wife.
He met Black while wearing his disguise but later dropped the masquerade and they became friends.
Durst's attorneys said the friendship soured because of the elderly man's increasingly aggressive behavior. Durst and other witnesses testified Black often got into fights and arguments.
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Neighbors ''could hear Morris Black two blocks down the road when he was in his rages,'' said Debra Monogan, who once lived upstairs from Black in South Carolina.
Prosecutors said Black was abrasive but not violent.
Durst testified that he found Black in his apartment on Sept. 28, 2001, and that Black armed himself with a gun Durst had hidden. During a struggle, the weapon fired, hitting Black in the face, he said.
Durst testified he did not recall details about dismembering the body, but when pressed by a prosecutor he said he remembered ''a nightmare with blood everywhere.''
''I remember like I was looking down on something and I was swimming in blood and I kept spitting up and spitting up and I don't know what is real and I don't know what is not real,'' Durst said.
He said he preferred not to use the term ''murder'' to describe Black's death.
''I like dying better. Killed implies like I killed him. I did not kill him,'' Durst said.
''It was self-defense and an accident,'' he said.
When he learned police had found some of Black's remains, Durst said he fled to New Orleans with five pounds of marijuana and more than $500,000 in cash.
He returned to Galveston and was arrested. He posted bail and fled, and was captured six weeks later in Pennsylvania when he was caught trying to steal a $5 sandwich and bandages while he had $500 in his pocket.
Durst is the son of the late Seymour Durst, patriarch of the Durst Organization, a privately held, billion-dollar real estate company that owns several New York City skyscrapers. Robert Durst has been estranged from the family since the early 1990s.
The company declined to comment on the verdict.
11-11-03 1255EST
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
By JUAN A. LOZANO, AP
(Nov. 11) -- Eccentric New York millionaire Robert Durst, who said he accidentally killed a hot-tempered neighbor in self-defense and then dismembered the body in a panic, was found innocent Tuesday of murder.
AP
Surrounded by his attorneys, Robert Durst reacts to the verdict.
Jurors deliberated over five days, following nearly six weeks of testimony, before deciding that the real estate heir did not murder 71-year-old Morris Black, who lived across the hall from him in a low-rent apartment building.
Durst, 60, who is under suspicion in two other killings and who posed for a time as a mute woman, testified in his own defense for nearly four days. He insisted that Black was shot accidentally during a struggle over a gun, and said he used two saws and an ax to cut up the body. The victim's head has never been found.
Durst appeared stunned when he heard the verdict from state District Judge Susan Criss, standing with his mouth slightly open and his eyes filling with tears. He hugged his attorneys afterward, saying: ''Thank you so much.''
After the killing in late September 2001, Durst was a fugitive for six weeks until he was caught in Pennsylvania when he tried to shoplift a $5 sandwich even though he had $500 in his pocket.
At defense attorneys' request, jurors considered only a murder charge. They could have asked that jurors consider a lesser charge, such as manslaughter, in addition to murder, but opted for an all-or-nothing strategy.
If he had been convicted, Durst could have been sentenced to five to 99 years in prison and been fined up to $10,000.
Prosecutors called Durst a calculating, cold-blooded killer who shot Black to steal his identity. They said all his actions afterward, including cutting up the body and twice fleeing Galveston, were part of an elaborate plan to hide his guilt.
But defense attorneys contended Black was shot accidentally while the two men struggled for a gun after Durst found his neighbor illegally in his apartment. The defense said prosecutors failed to show jurors any motive for the killing or disprove self-defense.
''Whatever (Durst) did after Morris Black was dead cannot change how Morris Black died,'' defense attorney Dick DeGuerin said in his closing statement. ''You can't convict Bob Durst simply because of that.''
After the verdict was read, DeGuerin praised jurors for ''their ability to look at this case for what the charge was.''
District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said Durst cut up Black's body without hesitation, meticulously cleaned the crime scene, reserved a flight to leave the area and dumped the body but later returned to retrieve the head because it could identify his victim.
''Is it well planned and calculated? You bet it is,'' Sistrunk said.
Watch Video
Broadband Only
Durst Found Not Guilty
Durst moved to Galveston in November 2000 disguised as a woman to escape scrutiny in New York after an investigation was reopened into the 1982 disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen. He used the name Dorothy Ciner, a childhood friend.
After he jumped bail in Black's killing, Galveston authorities learned he was wanted for questioning in his first wife's disappearance and in the Christmas Eve 2000 shooting death in Los Angeles of a friend, writer Susan Berman, who was set to be questioned about his missing wife.
He met Black while wearing his disguise but later dropped the masquerade and they became friends.
Durst's attorneys said the friendship soured because of the elderly man's increasingly aggressive behavior. Durst and other witnesses testified Black often got into fights and arguments.
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ยท Post a Message
Neighbors ''could hear Morris Black two blocks down the road when he was in his rages,'' said Debra Monogan, who once lived upstairs from Black in South Carolina.
Prosecutors said Black was abrasive but not violent.
Durst testified that he found Black in his apartment on Sept. 28, 2001, and that Black armed himself with a gun Durst had hidden. During a struggle, the weapon fired, hitting Black in the face, he said.
Durst testified he did not recall details about dismembering the body, but when pressed by a prosecutor he said he remembered ''a nightmare with blood everywhere.''
''I remember like I was looking down on something and I was swimming in blood and I kept spitting up and spitting up and I don't know what is real and I don't know what is not real,'' Durst said.
He said he preferred not to use the term ''murder'' to describe Black's death.
''I like dying better. Killed implies like I killed him. I did not kill him,'' Durst said.
''It was self-defense and an accident,'' he said.
When he learned police had found some of Black's remains, Durst said he fled to New Orleans with five pounds of marijuana and more than $500,000 in cash.
He returned to Galveston and was arrested. He posted bail and fled, and was captured six weeks later in Pennsylvania when he was caught trying to steal a $5 sandwich and bandages while he had $500 in his pocket.
Durst is the son of the late Seymour Durst, patriarch of the Durst Organization, a privately held, billion-dollar real estate company that owns several New York City skyscrapers. Robert Durst has been estranged from the family since the early 1990s.
The company declined to comment on the verdict.
11-11-03 1255EST
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.