Robert
Durst
in Court
MILLIONAIRE
MURDER TRIAL
THE REAL ESTATE HEIR FACES CHARGES THAT
HE KILLED FRIEND SUSAN BERMAN BECAUSE SHE
KNEW TOO MUCH ABOUT HIS MISSING WIFE
By CHRISTINE PELISEK and STEVE HELLING
H
unched over and slow-
ly shuffling his feet, real
estate heir Robert Durst
made his way into the
packed Los Angeles Supe-
rior Court on March 4 and
suddenly stopped in front
of the crowd. In the tense
silence Durst—charged
with first-degree murder
in the fatal 2000 shooting
of his close friend Susan
Berman—stood blank-faced, scanning
faces before fist-bumping his defense
attorney Dick DeGuerin. But despite
his cocky self-assuredness, the eccen-
tric millionaire may finally be facing a
moment of truth. “When I read about
Bobby Durst, I think about Susan Ber-
man,” says Berman’s friend, retired New
York City publicist Liz Rosenberg. “I re-
sent she is not portrayed in her full-tilt
fabulousness. I hope justice is served,
and if Bobby committed the crime, he
should certainly pay for it.”
Whether or not Durst committed
the crime is the question now before a
jury of eight women and four men, in
a trial expected to call more than 100
witnesses and span at least five months.
Although Judge Mark E. Windham ad-
journed the trial March 15 because of
corona virus concerns, it is scheduled to
resume sometime in April, and Durst,
76, is expected to testify on his own
behalf. His defense team has already
laid out stunning new claims: namely,
WHAT DID
SHE KNOW?
Durst (at
trial March 4)
allegedly
shared his
secrets with
Berman (with
him at left).
48 March 30, 2020
CLOCKWISE FROM BOTTOM RIGHT: COURTESY HBO(2); ETIENNE
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