Robert Durst didn’t mean The Jinx confession, says lawyer

Robert Durst’s lawyer says his client is innocent and is ready to stand trial.

The millionaire, who is accused of murder, was recorded during HBO’s show The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst saying in private that he had “killed them all”.

The Jinx is a documentary about Robert Durst’s connections to three unsolved deaths.

Earlier, another lawyer told a Fox News host, “you’ve said things under your breath that you probably didn’t mean”.

Former real estate tycoon Robert Durst was arrested at a hotel in New Orleans on March 14.

Photo New Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office

Wearing an orange jumpsuit and with his hands shackled at his waist, Robert Durst appeared before a judge in New Orleans on March 16 and agreed to be transferred to Los Angeles.

The tycoon faces a first-degree murder charge in Los Angeles for the shooting death of his friend Susan Berman in 2000.

Robert Durst, 71, has always maintained his innocence in Susan Berman’s murder.

Speaking after the extradition hearing, defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin said: “We came here to waive jurisdiction and to go back to California and to get it on. Bob Durst didn’t kill Susan Berman. He’s ready to end all the rumor and speculation and have a trial.”

He added that the transfer to Los Angeles may be delayed because authorities in New Orleans are considering other charges. Dick DeGuerin did not elaborate on the possible charges.

A spokesman for the Orleans Parish district attorney’s office, Christopher Bowman, refused to comment on possible future charges.

Robert Durst has long been suspected in the death of his wife, Kathleen Durst, who went missing from their country home in New York State in 1982.

Susan Berman, whose father was an associate of Las Vegas mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky, was a close friend of Robert Durst and also acted as his spokeswoman.

She was shot in the back of the head at her home in Los Angeles as investigators from New York prepared to question her over the disappearance of Kathleen Durst.

After Susan Berman’s death, the eccentric Robert Durst moved to Texas and posed as a mute woman.

In 2001, Robert Durst was acquitted of murder after his defense team convinced a jury that he was acting in self-defense when he killed his elderly neighbor, Morris Black.

Robert Durst was arrested on March 14 by FBI agents acting on an arrest warrant issued by Los Angeles prosecutors as he walked into a hotel in New Orleans where he had checked in under a false name.

Los Angeles police said the arrest resulted from “investigative leads and additional evidence that has come to light in the last year”.

Robert Durst’s lawyer, Chip Lewis, said his client would continue to maintain his innocence.

Chip Lewis said the arrest was orchestrated in co-ordination with The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, which included lengthy interviews with the tycoon.

The final episode, broadcast on March 15, included what appeared to be a Robert Durst’s confession to the killings of Susan Berman, Kathleen Durst and Morris Black.

According to the filmmakers, Robert Durst was still wearing a wireless microphone when he went into a hotel bathroom after the interview.

“There it is, you’re caught,” he whispered to himself.

“What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”

It is not known if Robert Durst is speaking sincerely in the recording, but it came after he was asked whether he had written a letter only Susan Berman’s killer could have sent.

The filmmakers found similarities between handwriting on a letter from Robert Durst to Susan Berman and that on an anonymous note sent to police alerting them to a dead body in the victim’s home. The word “Beverly” is also misspelled as “Beverley” on both documents.

When asked about the letter and the audio recording, two of the documentary’s filmmakers, Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling, told the New York Times that they “provided the relevant evidence to law enforcement some months ago”.

They also said that they had not confronted Robert Durst about the audio recording from the bathroom.

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