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Post by Graveyardbride on Jun 14, 2021 14:53:32 GMT -5
Trial Continues, Durst Appears with Catheter Attached to WheelchairThis morning (June 14), Judge Mark E. Windham ordered that testimony continue in Robert Durst’s trial for the murder of Susan Burnam, despite defense efforts to delay the proceedings because of the Defendant’s ill health and disability. The lawyers argued their client was suffering from a urinary tract infection related to his bladder cancer, was too frail to stand in order to dress in street clothes and would be forced to appear in jail-issued garb.
“I understand he’s in a good amount of pain because of the catheter,” Windham conceded. “It’s not just the catheter, your honor,” Dick DeGuerin replied. “He’s in chest pain, he’s unable to breathe completely,” adding that Durst was also suffering from undiagnosed health problems and the jail hospital had denied his attorneys information and access to their client.
Unmoved by the lawyer’s claims, Windham ordered the Defendant to appear and Durst was wheeled into court with a catheter attached to his wheelchair.
Noting the Defendant’s pitiable appearance, the judge had a blanket placed over Durst to cover his jail attire and to “maintain his dignity to some degree,” admitting “one doesn’t ordinarily meet with the public with a catheter bag in full view.”
Deputy District Attorney John Lewin then argued that if anything, Durst’s appearance hurt the prosecution. “This doesn’t look like someone who’s murdered three people,” he declared.Sources: Fox News and The Associated Press.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Jun 17, 2021 12:09:17 GMT -5
Berman Friend Testifies Concerning ‘Accident on the Stairs’
On Monday (June 14) after Judge Mark E. Windham ordered the trial to continue in spite of Robert Durst’s illness and apparent disabilities, Susan Harmon, a friend with whom Susan Berman had attended boarding school, was called to the stand.
According to Ms. Harmon, when Kathleen “Kathie” McCormick Durst went missing in 1982, Berman called her. “She said that her friend Bobby had had a fight with his wife,” the witness testified. “She didn’t know what she was going to do. He’d had a fight, there was an accident on the stairs and that she had to do something.”
Earlier in the trial, the jury had heard testimony by Fadwa Najamy, sister of real estate mogul Gilberte Najamy, who is believed to have been the last person who saw Kathie Durst alive, other than her killer. Ms. Najamy told the jury she heard McCormack on the phone and “it was clear she was not happy, not content and had something to talk about.” Najamy recalled that her sister “was hysterical” and that her state of hysteria lingered for years. “Emotionally it tore her apart,” Najamy added. “She was a very loyal friend and she felt that no one else was giving a care whether or not Kathie was found.”
It is the prosecution’s contention that Durst visited his longtime friend Susan Berman in December 2000 and shot her in the head, execution-style, because he feared she was about to reveal information concerning the death of his wife.
Sources: Robert Pelaez, The Island Now, June 16, 2021; Pilar Melendez, The Daily Beast, June 14, 2021; Daniel Goldblatt, The Wrap, June 14, 2021; and Adam Klasfeld, Law & Crime, May 24, 2021.
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Post by pat on Jun 17, 2021 20:42:37 GMT -5
If "there was an accident on the stairs," that would mean he didn't intend to kill her. I wouldn't be surprised if that old criminal got by with killing his wife, just like he got by with killing the man in Texas. Of course, he still shot the woman in California in the head and that's what he's on trial for.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Jun 26, 2021 11:36:53 GMT -5
Former ‘Saturday Night Live’ Cast Member Testifies at Trial of Robert DustLaraine Newman, one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live, testified Wednesday, June 23, concerning a conversation she had with her friend, Susan Berman, about the events surrounding the 1982 disappearance of Katherine “Kathie” McCormack Durst. “Susan told me that she had provided an alibi for him, for Bobby, in relation to the disappearance,” Newman said. “I remember her saying that she made a phone call.”
Prosecutors claim Berman posed as Kathie Durst and made a phone call on Durst’s behalf. In detailing the fatal encounter between Berman and her longtime “friend” [Durst] John Lewin presented graphic images of Berman’s lifeless body to the jury. “He basically blew her brains out. That’s what he did,” Lewin declared, as he described the killing and crime scene that revealed no evidence of robbery or burglary. “He killed out of survival. He believed that ‘In the end, it was her or me. I have no choice.’”
On cross-examination by defense attorney David Chesnoff, Newman admitted “there were times” she was confused as to whether Berman was telling the truth. He also questioned her regarding comments she made in September 2015, to wit: “I felt like I’m not sure it’s true,” and “I don’t want to, you know, put forth something that could just be nonsense,” and why she had not gone to the police in 2001.
According to Newman, she didn’t tell the police about her conversation with Berman because she did not remember it at the time and was embarrassed when she realized the significance of what Berman had told her. “Well, I was ashamed that … I didn’t appreciate the gravity of what she was saying to me and that I blithely accepted her back-tracking and rescinding …,” Newman testified. She added that she felt Berman sensed that she had “told me something that I didn’t approve of and wanted to back-pedal because she didn’t want to get in trouble. ... If you’re trying to drive a point to the idea that I would say something that didn’t happen, that’s not true,” Newman insisted.
The jury also viewed a video of the recorded testimony of Dr. Peter Wilk, one of Kathie Durst’s professors at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “She was very emotional, she was shaking, she was traumatized,” Wilk recalled. “She said she was going through a divorce . . . there was violence involved . . . her life was a mess.”Sources: Noah Sheidlower, The New York Post, June 24, 2021; Bruce Haring, Deadline, June 24, 2021; and The Los Angeles Daily News, June 24, 2021.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Jun 28, 2021 17:56:26 GMT -5
Durst Speaks During Trial, Brother Testifies for ProsecutionAfter the prosecution accused Robert Durst (above) of shaving his head in order to gain sympathy, the Defendant arose from his wheelchair and spoke for the first time since the trial began. “I’m not seeking sympathy from the jury,” he said, addressing Judge Mark E. Windham. “My head is shaved because this is the only haircut I’m able to get in the jail.” Additionally, the 78-year-old defendant said he’d like his catheter bag removed and claimed he wasn’t sure why he had one in the first place.
Douglas Durst, the defendant’s younger brother, was called to the stand by the prosecution. “He’d like to murder me,” he bluntly told the jury, explaining he had not seen his brother in 20 years and the two had not spoken since 1999 because Robert Durst was angry and bitter over an inheritance settlement that amounted to tens of millions of dollars.
Douglas Durst, who is chairman of the Durst Organization, which owns some of Manhattan’s prime real estate, added that he and his brother had fought since they were children. “He treated me miserably,” the younger Durst charged. “He would fight with me at every chance. He would embarrass me.”
When questioned about Kathie Durst, Douglas Durst said she told him she planned to divorce Durst. Later, his brother told him the two had been at their lakeside home in Westchester County and the last time he saw her was when he put her on a train to New York City. “His tone was very neutral,” Douglas Durst recalled. “There was no great anxiety in his tone. It seemed a little strange.”
Despite the bad blood between the brothers, Douglas Durst informed the jury he wasn’t happy to appear at the trial, but cooperated with prosecutors, realizing if he refused, he would have been subpoenaed to testify. “There are other places I’d much rather be,” he admitted. Sources: Lawrence Ukenye, The Daily Beast, June 28, 2021; Brian Melley, The Associated Press, June 28, 2021; and The Los Angeles Daily News, June 28, 2021.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Jul 13, 2021 21:13:30 GMT -5
Is First Lady Jill Biden’s Ex the ‘Missing Link’ in Kathie Durst’s Disappearance?
In an interview last week, First Lady Jill Biden’s ex-husband, Bill Stevenson, said he may be the “the missing link” in the 1982 disappearance of Kathleen MacCormack “Kathie” Durst. Stevenson, who owns a concert hall in Delaware, met the Dursts in the Poconos, where their families were vacationing in the 1960s.
Stevenson, who was married to Jill from 1970 until 1975, told reporter Tara Rosenblum he and his wife hosted the Dursts at their home during a three-day weekend in 1974. “Both students. Both very smart,” he said of Jill and Kathie Durst. “They’re similar people at that age. It was hard not to hit it off.”
It was years later in the 1980s after he and Jill divorced that Stevenson allegedly met Kathie Durst at least five times in New York City and discussed her problematic marriage. “I think at that point she really couldn’t trust anybody around her who knew Robert, I guess,” he continued. “I don’t know why she picked me, but I’m glad she did.” However, he admitted he feels as though he “let her down” during the two months prior to her disappearance.
Then Stevenson described an alleged one-night stand with Kathie in her apartment, which he described as “beautiful” until the following morning when Bobby Durst arrived. “The next thing I realize, there is pounding at the door at 7:30 a.m.,” he recalled. “She runs out of the bedroom, and then runs back in and says, ‘It’s Bob.’ I jump up. I ran out. And then all of a sudden, he screams something. He had a wad of cash rolled up and hit her right in the face with it, and it was so crazy, and he started yelling, ‘Kathleen, this isn’t going to happen!’” Kathie Durst vanished 10 days later.
When he learned Kathie was missing, Stevenson claimed he got into his car and drove straight to the 19th Precinct. “He killed her!” Stevenson claimed he told an officer. “He [the officer] wrote a couple of things down. He goes, ‘We’ll get back to you.’ I never heard another word from them.”
He went on to say he “absolutely” believes his affair had something to do with the disappearance of Kathie Durst, but he did not regret his night with Kathie because “he [Bob Durst] was abusing her and she wanted out. I feel if something was wonderful at the end of her life, I hope this was it. I just hope she had the same thoughts at the end there.”
Sources: Tara Rosenblum, TV12 Westchester, July 8, 2021; Audrey Conklin, Fox News, July 9, 2021; and The Associated Press.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Jul 13, 2021 21:17:05 GMT -5
Defendant’s Diarrhea Delays Proceedings
At some point before he arrived at the courthouse this morning (July 13) Defendant Robert Durst suffered a debilitating episode of diarrhea. “It was awful – foul,” Dick DeGuerin, one of his lawyers, told the court. “I’m concerned because it shows further deterioration of Mr. Durst’s physical condition. As the court knows, we’re going to have him examined tomorrow.”
A short time later, Judge Mark E. Windham returned to the bench. “He had diarrhea, and that’s unfortunate, and it’s happened before,” the judge told DeGuerin. “He had to go back to jail to be cleaned up. We did that, I was able to make some phone calls to get him cleaned up and brought back here today so we don’t lose court time.”
But DeGuerin wasn’t satisfied. “As a layman, I know diarrhea often causes dehydration and that’s a serious condition, particularly given Mr. Durst’s myriad of other conditions,” he said.
“Luckily we don’t need to depend on laymen,” Deputy District Attorney John Lewin shot back. “The county has demonstrated that they can take proper care of Mr. Durst.”
Windham assured the defense team he was happy to make accommodations so that Durst could attend the trial and remain as comfortable as possible, but “the trial has to go forward. For everyone’s sake and for everyone’s health, the sooner we finish the better,” he added.
Source: Nancy Dillon, The New York Daily News, July 13, 2021.
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Post by catherine on Jul 13, 2021 23:59:59 GMT -5
This is one of the sickest things I've ever heard. From what I've read, there was nothing "wonderful" at the end of Kathie Durst's life, but if there was, it damned sure wasn't a roll in the hay with some self-centered schmuck who obviously considers himself God's gift to women. What kind of man would brag about something like that? Jill Biden is obviously attracted to assholes since she divorced one and married another.
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Post by Kate on Jul 14, 2021 10:51:30 GMT -5
What a pompous ASS!
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Post by Graveyardbride on Jul 20, 2021 17:17:38 GMT -5
Police Officer Testifies Regarding Disappearance of Kathie DurstThe probe into the 1982 disappearance of Kathleen “Kathie” MacCormack Durst was reopened two decades ago and Joseph Becerra, one of the investigators, testified Monday (July 19) that he had wanted to interview Susan Berman. Mrs. Durst was last seen January 31 and Berman had long been suspected of impersonating Kathie Durst on the phone the following morning, he told the jury.
In 1982, Becerra was a high school student and had never heard of Kathie Durst until November 1999 when Timothy Martin, whom Becerra arrested for public lewdness, proposed trading information about Mrs. Durst’s disappearance for a lenient sentence. Although the information Martin provided did not lead anywhere, Becerra became interested in the case and discussed it with his supervisor, who did remember the missing person’s case, which had been investigated by a different precinct.
A year after the case was reopened, state police searched a crawlspace in the Durst Cottage in South Salem, N.Y., and divers conducted a grid search of Lake Truesdale, however, no evidence was discovered. “It’s kind of a needle in a haystack,” Becerra testified, “but you have to [investigate] and hope for the best.”
While Becerra interviewed dozens of people, he avoided Robert Durst’s associates and family, so as not to tip off the prime suspect. Unfortunately, on November 11, 2000, newspapers in New York City reported Durst was being investigated. “It disappointed me, I was trying to keep the case quiet,” Becerra admitted.
When the news broke, Durst went on the run, assuming the identity of a mute woman, and renting a cheap apartment in Galveston, Texas, under the name Dorothy Ciner, the name of a former Scarsdale High School classmate. Shortly thereafter, he traveled to California, where he visited – and is accused of killing – his longtime friend, Susan Berman.
All went well until September 2001, when he shot and killed his neighbor, Morris Black, dismembered the body, placed the parts in black plastic garbage bags and disposed of them in Galveston Bay. Apparently, Durst was unaware plastic bags float. He later claimed he killed Black in self-defense and was found not guilty at trial, but served approximately six months on a number of minor charges. According to Becerra, on February 1, 1982, the day after Kathie Durst vanished, Bob Durst made a credit card purchase at a Caldor in Ridgefield, Connecticut, a short distance from South Salem, a store that sold such items as cleaning supplies, tools, tarpaulins and trash bags, i.e., items that would be useful if one intended to dispose of a human body. Additionally, he told the jury he visited the Pine Barrens in southern New Jersey, where some believe Durst buried his wife’s body based on the fact he made two collect telephone calls from the area shortly after Kathie Durst disappeared.
Source: Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal-News, July 19, 2021.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Jul 24, 2021 12:31:21 GMT -5
Durst’s Serious Health Issues Prompts Defense to Seek Mistrial
On Wednesday, July 22, defense attorneys representing Robert Durst filed an emergency motion for mistrial, citing “serious health issues which are currently afflicting him, and that he is physically incompetent to proceed with trial, including with testifying in his own defense.” Durst, who suffers from both bladder and esophageal cancer, “is in an impossible situation in that he cannot physically testify in his own defense at trial, and if he attempted to, he risks suffering further damage to his health or death,” Dick DeGuerin and David Chesnoff wrote in their motion. Additionally, because they claimed the Defendant “cannot physically ensure testifying” in court, “he risks a conviction by a jury who did not get to hear his side of the story” which “would result in irreparable harm which warrants a mistrial.” Attached to the motion was a letter from Durst’s doctor outlining “a litany of chronic medical conditions” with “several of such severity that his death in the next few months would not be surprising.”
Durst, who turned 78 in April, has been in custody six years, since his arrest in March 2015, the night before the airing of the final episode of The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.
Sources: Jonathan Bandler, Rocklamd/Westchester Journal-News, July 23, 2021; and KCAL, July 22, 2021.
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Post by pat on Jul 27, 2021 14:21:50 GMT -5
Am I missing something? The defense wants a mistrial because of Durst's serious health issues, but there's an article above, posted on June 28th, where Durst himself spoke to the court and said he wanted his catheter bag removed and to me that means some of his health issues are exaggerated, probably by his defense lawyers who want a mistrial. Also, he's 78 and he's been in jail for over 6 years, so if there's a mistrial, that means he will remain in jail and he can be tried again. Either way, he isn't going to be free, so what's the point of asking for a mistrial?
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Post by Graveyardbride on Aug 5, 2021 2:12:15 GMT -5
Robert Durst Expected to Testify in His Own Defense
Today (August 5), Robert Durst is expected to take the stand to testify in his own defense just as he did in his 2003 trial for the murder of Morris Black in Texas. Although most defense attorneys encourage clients not to testify, it has been suggested that Dick DeGuerin, who also represented Durst in Texas, realizes that calling the Defendant to the stand is his only chance of an acquittal.
Durst, now 78, suffers from bladder cancer, esophageal cancer and other health issues and is plagued by a urinary tract infection necessitating a catheter, which is attached to his wheelchair. Additionally, his head is all but totally shaven to allow drainage from his brain. There is no denying the frail old man in the wheelchair is a pitiful sight to behold and there’s always the possibility some jurors will feel sorry for him and others may question convicting a man already at death’s door.
If Durst testifies, direct testimony and cross-examination could last several days.
However, before the Defendant is called to the stand, the prosecution will continue cross-examining the only other defense witness, Elizabeth Loftus, the memory expert.
Sources: Andrew Dalton, ABC News, August 5, 2021; and The Associated Press, August 5, 2021.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Aug 5, 2021 15:40:45 GMT -5
Proceedings Unexpectedly Adjourned, Durst’s Testimony DelayedToday (August 5), Judge Mark E. Windham unexpectedly adjourned the proceedings in the trial of real estate tycoon Robert Durst for the December 2000 murder of his longtime friend, Susan Berman. The reasoning behind the adjournment is unclear, however, the trial is set to resume Monday (August 9) at 2 p.m.
The Defendant has pled not guilty to the charges.
It is the prosecution’s contention that Durst killed Berman to ensure her silence. Shortly before her death, Berman had told Durst the police intended to question her regarding the 1982 disappearance of Kathleen “Kathie” McCormack Durst, however, this wasn’t true. Sources: Audrey Conklin, Fox News, August 5, 2021, and WJHG, August 5, 2021.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Aug 10, 2021 1:58:23 GMT -5
Durst Takes the Stand, Denies Killing Susan Berman, Recalls Mother’s Death
Gaunt and frail from old age and numerous health problems, on Monday, August 9, Robert Durst shuffled to the stand to testify in his own defense. Dick DeGuerin, one of his defense attorneys, began by asking his client if he killed Susan Berman, to which Durst replied in the negative.
He was then asked to recount certain childhood events such as the death of his mother, Bernice Durst, on the night of November 8, 1950. “I did not see whether she jumped or fell,” Durst, who was 7-years-old at the time, told the jury. “I saw her on the roof. I waved at Mommy on the roof. Then, I was walked to my bedroom and shortly thereafter, I heard my father yell.”
The account related in court differs from the one he gave when interviewed for the documentary The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, during which he claimed his father, Seymour Durst, brought him to the window and told him to look. “And there was mommy,” he says in the show. “I waved at mommy. I didn’t know if she saw me. It never went through my mind.” Then, he claims, he heard the maid yell, “She’s off the roof!” During The Jinx reenactment, Durst remarks, “It was a long, long fall,” as he stands in the street watching. “I never forgot. I was there,” he adds. “It happened. I saw it. It never left me.”
His brother, Douglas Durst, however, tells another story. “On the night my mother died, Robert was not brought to the window by my father, Seymour, and asked to wave to my mother,” he insisted. “I, and my three siblings, were awoken and whisked out of our house to our neighbors for the duration of the tragedy. The four of us were together the entire time and none of us witnessed the death of our mother.”
DeGuerin then prompted his client to skip forward to his student days at UCLA in the late 1960s. Durst had rented a room at a fraternity house for the purpose of “trying to pick up girls” he recalled. One day, he continued, his longtime friend, Stuart Altman, brought Susan Berman to the fraternity house and because he [Durst] and the girl had both lost parents at a young age, they bonded quickly. “Whatever it was, that night, I was relatively talkative ... Susan and I stayed up all night,” the aged millionaire told the jury.
Sources: Bradford Betz, Fox News, August 9, 2021; James Queally, The Los Angeles Times, August 9, 2021; Ryan Hutcvhins, Politico, January 30, 2015.
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