The 78-year-old man killed his friend Susan Berman, in 2000 in Beverly Hills, to prevent him from speaking to the police of the disappearance of his wife, Kathleen, two decades earlier.
Le Monde with AFP
The rich American heir Robert Durst was convicted, Thursday, October 14, to the prison in life by a court of Los Angeles, without the possibility of parole, for the murder of his best friend.
The 78-year-old multimillionaire was found guilty in September for killing his friend Susan Berman of a bullet in the head at the home of the latter in 2000, in Beverly Hills, to prevent him from speaking to the police the disappearance of his wife, Kathleen, two decades earlier.
“This crime is a murder of witness,” said Judge Mark Windham before pronouncing the sentence. “This circumstance (…) has aggravated this terrible and disturbing crime,” he added. The magistrate rejected the request for the defense for a new trial, believing that there were “sufficient evidence, in fact overwhelming, guilt”.
Black Sheep of the family
The Court also heard a son of the victim, who said wondering what his life would have been if Robert Durst had not killed his mother. “All plans were completely swept,” said Sareb Kaufman crying. “You also killed me, [you killed] the person I was”.
During the hearing, Robert Durst, who had pleaded not guilty, remained almost motionless in his wheelchair. Nearby about Susan Berman have exhorted him before the courtyard where the body of his wife Kathleen is located.
The Prosecution considers that Susan Berman had helped Robert Durst conceal his role in the murder of his wife Kathleen and that Mr. Durst ended up killing M me beman to prevent him from answering to New York police officers who were investigating the disappearance of his wife in 1982.
Black Sheep from one of New York real estate families, Robert Durst was arrested in March 2015 on the eve of the broadcast of the last episode of a biographical documentary in six parts of HBO, The Jinx .
“I killed them all, obviously”
The series returned to another bloody episode of Robert Durst’s life: the murder of a neighbor, that he had then dismembered and thrown to the sea. He had been acquitted with this crime with an army of prestigious lawyers who had pleaded a mixture of self-defense, coup de accidentally and acts committed under the influence of alcohol.
In The Jinx, Mr. Durst seemed involuntary, whispering to himself as he was in the bathroom and that his wireless microphone was not disabled: “What I did it? I killed them all, obviously. “
His lawyers had tried to dissuade the millionaire to participate in the documentary series, but Mr.Durs had not taken into account their advice. Sure of his fact, he said in an interview: “It’s been so long. It would be necessary for a prosecutor to undertake a considerable and ruinous investigation. I do not imagine it”. Fatal error because a prosecutor of Los Angeles thought that reopen the file was worth it.