LOS ANGELES – A judge in Los Angeles ruled Thursday that Robert Durst will stand trial for the murder of his close friend, Susan Berman.
Berman was killed in California 18 years ago.
"Bob Durst didn't kill Susan Berman, and he doesn't know who did,” said Dick DeGuerin, attorney for Robert Durst. "It's something that we've been expecting for over three years. He was arrested in March of 2015, and ... now it's almost the end of 2018, and we've been wanting to go to trial."
DeGuerin and a team of attorneys successfully defended Durst 15 years ago in Galveston when Durst was acquitted of shooting and killing his neighbor, Morris Black, and cutting him up and throwing him into Galveston Bay.
Jurors found the killing was in self-defense. Prosecutors claim Durst killed Berman to keep her from telling police what she might know about the disappearance of Durst’s wife in 1982 in New York. Durst was not charged in that disappearance.
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Dec. 18, 2005:Durst was arrested because he returned to Galveston in violation of the terms of his supervised release, a prison spokesman said. Ultimately sentenced to 60 days for the parole violation, but only had to serve 26 days.1982:Robert Durst reports his wife missing at the 20th Precinct in Manhattan, five days after she went missing.2000:Kathleen Durst's disappearance case is reopened.September 2016: Durst assigned to medical prison in Indiana.For more than three decades Robert Durst has been accused of murder in three different deaths. Here is a timeline of events in his life.November 2001: Police arrest Durst in Hanover Township, Pennsylvania, for a grocery story theft. Police seize two guns, Morris Black's South Carolina driver's license and an undisclosed amount of marijuana from the rented car.Dec. 24, 2000:Berman is found dead in her home in Los Angeles, killed by a single bullet to the back of her head. The bullet is from a 9mm gun.October 2018: Durst is ordered to stand trial for murder in the killing of his close friend in Los Angeles 18 years ago.1973:Durst marries Kathleen McCormack in New York City.Nov. 11, 2003:At Durst's two-month trial, and after five days of deliberation, the jury finds Robert Durst, 60, not guilty of murder.Oct. 16, 2001:Durst does not show up for a court hearing in Galveston and becomes the country's first billion-dollar fugitive. A grand jury indicts him on charges of murder.Dec. 16, 2014:Durst was fined $500 for urinating on a checkout counter and candy rack at a CVS pharmacy in Houston.1970:Robert Durst moves back to New York City after graduating from UCLA where he met Susan Berman, a close friend who would later be murdered.February 2016: Durst enters plea deal for weapons charge in Louisiana.Oct. 26, 2004:Durst pleaded guilty to federal gun charges in exchange for a sentence of up to nine months, but served 5 months1990:Durst quietly divorces Kathleen Durst without notifying the McCormack family. Durst repeatedly publishes notice of the divorce in a Westchester County weekly newspaper as part of a legal requirement that he attempt to notify his spouse.Oct. 9, 2001:Durst is arrested and later indicted for Morris Black's murder.
Dec. 18, 2005:Durst was arrested because he returned to Galveston in violation of the terms of his supervised release, a prison spokesman said. Ultimately sentenced to 60 days for the parole violation, but only had to serve 26 days.
"The real show hasn't started. That's the trial. We're very eager. The client's very eager to get to trial,” said Durst's attorney, Chip Lewis.
He told KPRC 2, "Had Mr. Durst followed the advice of his lawyers and not done ‘The Jinx,’ he wouldn't be in the position that he's in today."
Lewis was referring to the HBO series that focused on Durst. Durst was arrested in 2015 just hours after the final episode of the series.
DeGuerin said the case will not go to trial before late spring of 2019.
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