Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Robert Durst Pleads Not Guilty To Murder Charge In L.A. [Updated]
Updated [3:05]: Durst plead not guilty to charges that he killed his friend, Susan Berman, in 2000. "I do want to say here and now though I am not guilty," Durst said in court on Monday afternoon, reports the L.A. Times. "I did not kill Susan Berman."
Robert Durst, the infamous subject of The Jinx, will finally face trial for the death of his friend Susan Berman.
On Monday afternoon, Durst will be arraigned in a Los Angeles courtroom in connection with the death of Berman, reports the AP. Durst has long denied any connection to her death.
Durst, a real estate heir who was thrust into the public consciousness most recently by the 2015 HBO documentary miniseries The Jinx, has long been suspected in the deaths or disappearance of three different people over the last 24 years. In 1982, he was suspected but never charged in relation to the disappearance of his first wife Kathleen in New York. In 2000, his friend Susan Berman—who acted as Durst's unofficial spokesperson after Kathleen's disappearance—was found dead from a single gunshot wound in her Benedict Canyon home after police reopened the case into Kathleen's disappearance. And in 2001, Durst was charged with the death of his neighbor, Morris Black, in Texas. He was acquitted for the killing, claiming self-defense, and said he dismembered Black's body and threw the remains into Galveston Bay out of fear.
Support for LAist comes from
The mysterious circumstances surrounding these deaths and Durst himself became the subject of The Jinx. The series came to a shocking finale when a hot mic picked up Durst muttering to himself, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."
A week before the finale of The Jinx, the LAPD reopened their investigation into the death of Susan Berman. On The Jinx, filmmaker Andrew Jarecki uncovered a letter Durst sent to Berman before her death. It showed similarities to the anonymous letter that tipped authorities off to Berman's death, including the same misspelling of "Beverley."
Durst was arrested in New Orleans the day before the finale of The Jinx aired. He was in possession of a .38-caliber revolver at the time of this arrest and pled guilty to a gun charge—as a convicted felon, Durst was not allowed to carry firearms.
He was also formally charged by the Los Angeles County District Attorney for the murder of Susan Berman, and while it was originally reported the he is potentially facing the death penalty, prosecutors will not be seeking the death penalty, Nancy Dillon of the New York Daily News later noted:
Prosecutor John Lewin just said in #Durst hearing that "We will not be seeking the death penalty" for 2000 murder of Susan Berman.
— Nancy Dillon (@Nancy__Dillon) November 7, 2016
According to the L.A. Times, prosecutors believe Durst killed Berman because she was a witness to the killing of Kathleen Durst.
Support for LAist comes from
On Friday, Durst was flown in from New Orleans and transferred to Los Angeles to face these charges.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist