'The Jinx - The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst' on HBO (2 Viewers)

[davidmatychuk]

Well, that is the only commentary track I've ever heard that I'd call "unnerving". Jarecki and Durst speak very collegially about the fictionalized version, with names changed, of some appalling real events. And the level of rationalization is very high, on both their parts really. Subsequently, of course, their relationship became something different, but this commentary sounds very much like two people using each other for their own reasons, though the supreme oddness of Durst doesn't fully obscure something much darker than Jarecki's simple ambition. Durst seems mostly unaware of how truly strange and inexplicable his actions have been, and the dissociative effect of the very idea of a real lunatic talking calmly about a fictional lunatic committing his own real crimes, some of which he actually admits to doing in this commentary track, goes way beyond the entertainment value of home theatre. Honestly, people fascinated by "The Jinx" may well be riveted, but I was unnerved, and you might be too.

 

[Ken H]

Not surprising. Hopefully Durst won't see the outside world again.

 

[Ken H]

Excerpted from NOLA.com


Robert Durst questions 'cadaver' note handwriting analysis


Lawyers for Robert Durst plan to challenge handwriting analysis that links the millionaire murder suspect to the so-called "cadaver" note that alerted police to the death of a friend of Durst in 2000, records in federal court in New Orleans indicate.


The two-line note, addressed to police in "Beverely Hills" and postmarked the day Susan Berman was shot dead in her home, has been trouble for Durst: the block-letter script looks like the scrawl Durst used in a note to Berman and other correspondence.


At least that was the conclusion of police handwriting experts, as well as the producers of "The Jinx," a six-part HBO documentary about the eccentric Durst and his connections to Berman's death, the disappearance of his wife and the killing of his neighbor in Texas.


Durst was arrested in New Orleans the night before the episode aired. He was charged in Los Angeles with Berman's murder, has remained in jail in Louisiana on a federal gun charge. His legal team has been trying to have evidence turned up in the search of his hotel room, including the loaded .38 pistol, thrown out.


His lawyers Tuesday (6/30/15) filed a motion to get copies of several reports, including one from a California handwriting expert, who said in 2001 that the note was written by Berman's friend and manager, Nyle Brenner. Two years later, the same handwriting analyst compared the note with Durst's penmanship, and said it was "probable" that Durst was the note's author.


"These shifting results highlight the highly subjective nature of handwriting analysis," Durst's lawyers wrote, claiming that showing the "inherent subjectivity and unreliability" of handwriting analysis undermines the probable cause for the warrants that authorized Durst's arrest and the search of his hotel room.


The cadaver note provided much of the dramatic tension in the "Jinx" finale. Producer Andrew Jarecki confronted Durst with copies of a note he wrote to Berman and the anonymous letter sent to police, alerting them to the presence of a "cadaver" at Berman's address.


Asked to compare the handwriting, and the misspelling of Beverly Hills-- "Beverely" -- on both envelopes, Durst noted the similarities but denied writing the cadaver note. "What I see as the similarity is, really, the misspelling in the 'Beverly.' Other than that, the block letters are block letters," Durst said. "I mean, it's almost like a typed thing. With two typewriters, it's going to look the same."


The exchange lead up to the final episode's climactic scene with Durst heading to the bathroom while still wearing a microphone. Talking to himself, Durst voiced what sounded to some like a confession, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course" — a statement that also was noted in several warrants.


Durst's attorneys New Orleans-based attorney, Billy Gibbens, declined comment Wednesday.


http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/07/robert_durst_cadaver_handwriti.html

 

[Ken H]

An interesting Huff Post article about the 'Robert Durst lost years', roughly from 1994 after he was unceremoniously thrown out of the family business, to 2000 when Susan Berman was killed.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-dunn/you-cant-imagine-robert-d_b_7777076.html

 

[Ken H]

Robert Durst's brother threatens to sue Jeanine Pirro over book



By Richard Johnson, pagesix.com


July 24, 2015

Douglas Durst and Jeanine Pirro Photo: Lois Weiss / Brian Zak



Former prosecutor Jeanine Pirro has been warned. Her new book about alleged serial killer Robert Durst, “He Killed Them All,” better stick to the facts, or Bob’s brother Douglas Durst will sue her.


Douglas’ lawyer Richard Emery sent a letter to Pirro and her publisher Simon & Schuster “to alert you to a number of factual errors in Ms. Pirro’s recent public statements concerning the Dursts.”


If those factual errors are repeated in Pirro’s book, Emery promises to sue for defamation.


Pirro worked for the Westchester district attorney in 1982 when Robert Durst’s wife Kathleen disappeared under questionable circumstances. By the time the case was opened in 2000, Pirro was the DA.


Pirro, who always portrays herself as a shrewd and tough prosecutor, never brought an indictment. The case came to climax earlier this year when HBO aired a six-part documentary on Robert, “The Jinx,” just as he was arrested for the California murder of Susan Berman.


Emery’s letter says Pirro is trying to rewrite history and blame Douglas for her failure to bring Robert to justice.


“For instance, Ms. Pirro stated . . . Douglas Durst ‘was in many meetings with Nick Scoppetta,’ Robert Durst’s criminal defense attorney. That assertion is untrue,” the letter says. The two men never met.


“Yet Ms. Pirro insists on repeating her allegations . . . and worse, asks the public to conclude that Douglas therefore was ‘involved from the get-go’ in the disappearance of Kathleen Durst and ‘has a lot of answering to do.’”


According to the letter, Douglas has always been cooperative with investigators and met with Pirro in 2003 at Le Madeleine restaurant on West 43rd Street “and told her he would do anything he could to help.”


But Pirro tells “an alternate, false story that Douglas pressured her into dropping her investigation into Ms. Durst’s disappearance,” Emery states.


Ego is to blame, Emory says. “The judge in Robert’s Texas criminal trial charged Ms. Pirro with ‘grandstanding,’ noting her ‘egregious’ and ‘outrageous’ statements about the case.”


Pirro did not respond to requests for comment.


http://pagesix.com/2015/07/24/robert-dursts-brother-threatens-to-sue-jeanine-pirro-over-book/

 

[Ken H]

Feds: Durst expert witness in gun charge case once refused to prosecute Durst on gun charges


By Andy Grimm, NOLA.com

7/23/15


Don DeGabrielle is a former New Orleans prosecutor, FBI agent and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, and he's the expert millionaire Robert Durst wants to scrutinize the search of his hotel room that led to federal gun charges that have landed Durst in jail.


But federal prosecutors in New Orleans say that DeGabrielle has a conflict of interest: While he was U.S. Attorney, DeGabrielle once refused to charge Durst with federal gun charges after Durst beat a murder case in state court.

Durst's legal team will be hard-pressed to beat the federal charges Durst faces, after FBI agents found a loaded .38-caliber pistol in his room at the J.W. Marriott Hotel on Canal Street.


Durst was acquitted of murder charges in the 2004 shooting death of his Galveston neighbor, Morris Black, but was convicted of skipping bail and tampering with evidence when he dismembered Black's body and dumped the pieces in Galveston Bay.


Durst's lawyers are trying to get U.S. District Judge Helen Berrigan to throw out evidence from the hotel room search, which took place the day before the finale of the HBO documentary "The Jinx," which chronicled the Black murder trial, the investigation of the murder of Durst's friend, Susan Berman, in 2000, and the disappearance of Durst's wife, Kathie.


Los Angeles prosecutors in March charged Durst in Berman's death. He was arrested in New Orleans, where he faces charges federal charges, because his felony convictions on the bail-skipping and evidence tampering charges bar him from possessing a firearm.


To help challenge the legality of the search that turned up the .38, Durst's lawyers have hired DeGabrielle, who is now in private practice in Texas, as an expert witness on search warrants and practices. Berrigan this week ruled that DeGabrielle could testify for the defense in a hearing on the search.


Prosecutors Thursday filed a motion asking the judge to reconsider, noting for the first time that DeGabrielle told reporters for a Galveston newspaper that he did not charge Durst with federal weapons charges for lying on federal forms when he purchased the gun used to kill Black.


Detectives in Galveston pushed DeGabrielle's office to charge the millionaire after Durst was acquitted of killing Black, noting that Durst testified during the murder trial that he was a habitual user of marijuana.


In 2001, when Durst went to a Pasadena gun shop to buy the the Ruger P4 with which he shot Black, Durst filled out forms from the ATF and ticked the "No" box for the question that asked if he was an "unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana, or any depressant, stimulant, or narcotic drug, or other controlled substance."


In 2006, as the statute of limitations neared to file charges for lying on the form, and other related counts, the Galveston County Daily News reported the newly appointed DeGabrielle saying that he would not pursue charges because prosecutors in the office had told Durst's lawyers in 2004 that Durst wouldn't be charged, according to copies of news articles submitted by prosecutors.


The articles attached with the filing don't contain direct quotes from DeGabrielle, only paraphrases, but his "extrajudicial comments" to the newspaper create a conflict for DeGabrielle should he be allowed to testify in Durst's present case.


"Those comments and his involvement in the decision to refrain from prosecuting Durst create an appearance of bias that should disqualify DeGabrielle from now profiting as an expert in the instant prosecution," wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Myles Rainer.


DeGabrielle did not immediately return messages from NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune. Dick DeGuerin, Durst's Texas-based defense attorney, was not immediately available for comment.


In 2006, DeGuerin said federal prosecutors in Texas told him in 2004 that the chose not to charge Durst because they thought the gun case "was chickens---." DeGuerin was not immediately available for comment Thursday, his secretary said.


http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/07/feds_durst_expert_witness_in_g.html

 

[Ken H]

Robert Durst asks to delay trial on federal gun charges


By Andy Grimm, NOLA.ocm

7/27/15


Attorneys for Robert Durst have asked to delay his New Orleans trial on a federal gun charge by one to two months. Last week's motion comes as Durst's team is engaged in a multi-front battle to knock down key evidence in the case.


It stems from a search of Durst's hotel room in March. FBI agents found a loaded pistol in Durst's room at the JW Marriott hotel, but Durst's attorneys say the search was illegal. They say that as the Sept. 20 trial date nears, they are still awaiting rulings on whether evidence from the search will be allowed.


"Although Mr. Durst is eager to resolve these proceedings and defend himself against the charges pending against him in California, a brief continuance is necessary for Mr. Durst to adequately prepare for trial on the firearm charge," his attorneys wrote.


Durst faces a single count of possession of a gun by a felon. His team has filed a flurry of motions challenging the case against the millionaire, who in March was charged with the murder of a friend, Susan Berman, in Los Angeles more than a decade ago.


He has challenged the validity of the arrest warrant obtained by Los Angeles authorities for Berman's murder, asserting that investigators reopened the murder only because of the hype created by the HBO television documentary "The Jinx." The show chronicled Durst's connections to Berman's death in 2000, his killing of Galveston, Texas, neighbor Morris Black in 2001 and the disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen, in 1982.


Durst is prohibited from having a firearm because he was convicted of felony charges in connection with Black's death. Durst said he shot Black in self-defense and was acquitted of murder charges, but he was convicted of felony counts related to jumping bail and dismembering Black's body.


In New Orleans, Durst, 72, faces as long as 10 years in prison if convicted of the gun charge. If granted, his latest motion would move his trial to late October or November.


http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/07/robert_durst_trial_delay_gun_c.html

 

[Ken H]

Millionaire Durst's trial pushed back to January

Associated Press

8/5/15


NEW ORLEANS - A federal judge has postponed real estate heir Robert Durst's trial until next year.

U.S. District Judge Helen Berrigan rescheduled the trial Wednesday from Sept. 21 to Jan. 11.




Defense attorneys asked in July for a later date, saying they'll need more time to prepare after the judge rules on pending motions.


Those include one seeking to dismiss as evidence everything taken from Durst's hotel room - including the .38-caliber revolver he's accused of possessing illegally after a felony conviction.


That motion is scheduled for argument Sept. 16.


Durst's lawyers contend, among other things, that the FBI and state police searched the room illegally, before they got a warrant.


Durst has waived extradition to California, where he's accused of murder. The weapons charge has kept the 72-year-old millionaire in Louisiana.

 

[Ken H]

Judge: Prosecutors don't have to give Durst handwriting comparisons used in California case


Associated Press

8/3/15


NEW ORLEANS – A judge in New Orleans says prosecutors don't have to give real estate heir Robert Durst a series of six handwriting comparisons involved in the California murder case against him.


Durst's lawyers say they need the analyses to fight his arrest, but U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan ruled Monday that court records already include a document summarizing the history of the handwriting comparisons. She said that's enough.


The first analysis said someone else probably wrote a note that directed police to the slain body of Susan Berman, but three later comparisons said Durst was probably the writer.


Durst is charged with possessing a handgun after a felony conviction. The charge has kept him in Louisiana even though he waived extradition on the murder charge in Los Angeles.

 

[Ken H]

Law & Order: SVU : Two-hour premiere to explore Robert Durst case


Entertainment Weekly

8/10/2015


When Law & Order: SVU returns this fall, it will explore a fictionalized account of the Robert Durst case.


The linked promo for the season 17 opener has all the hallmarks as seen in HBO’s The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst : A wealthy New Yorker suspected of multiple crimes, and, most importantly, a confession made by the killer when he thought no one was listening.


“This is the one America will be talking about,” the promo promises. “Again.”


Law & Order: SVU’s two-hour premiere kicks off Sept. 23 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.


http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/10/law-order-svu-season-premiere-robert-durst

 

[Ken H]

From GoldDerby.com

By Daniel Montgomery, Sep 07 2015

Emmy for Best Documentary Series: Robert Durst could 'Jinx' past champ 'American Masters'














The highest profile nominee in this year's Emmy race for Best Documentary or Nonfiction Series is HBO's "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst," which chronicles the alleged crimes of billionaire real estate scion Robert Durst, suspected in the disappearance of his wife Kathie in 1982 and the killing of writer Susan Berman in 2000. He was also acquitted of the murder of his neighbor Morris Black, whom Durst claimed to have killed in self-defense in 2001. Thanks in part to "The Jinx," Durst was arrested on new murder charges on March 14, 2015, the day before the finale episode aired. Will this program that could put him away for life win at the Creative Arts Awards on Sept. 12?


The true-crime series won the TCA Award for Best Movie/Miniseries/Special, and it now contends for six Emmys, including Best Nonfiction Editing and Best Nonfiction Directing for filmmaker Andrew Jarecki, who was an Oscar-nominee in 2003 for his big-screen documentary "Capturing the Friedmans."


"The Jinx" faces a trio of programs from PBS, including "American Masters," which has won this category three times in the last four years – missing only in 2012, when it lost to "Frozen Planet." On the air for nearly 30 years, "American Masters" has amassed a total haul of 27 Emmys. This is the long-running show's only nomination this year, but it had only one other bid when it won last year (Nonfiction Sound Mixing, which it also won), so don't count it out.


PBS also contends with "Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies," a three-part, six-hour documentary based on a 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning book detailing the history of the disease. It was narrated by actor Edward Herrmann, who tragically lost his own cancer battle before the miniseries aired. It's executive produced by documentarian Ken Burns, an Emmy darling with five previous victories for nonfiction programming. This is the only nomination for "Cancer."


Burns also directed and produced PBS's third nominee, "The Roosevelts: An Intimate History," which covers the famous American family, including presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt. The 14-hour series has three total nominations this year; it's also up for Best Narrator (Peter Coyote) and Best Nonfiction Writing.


Rounding out the category is CNN's "The Sixties," which covers the political and cultural changes during that eventful decade. It's produced by Tom Hanks and received a nomination last year for Best Documentary Special, losing to "JFK," an installment of PBS's "American Experience" series.


http://www.goldderby.com/news/10257/emmy-documentary-jinx-robert-durst-american-masters-ken-burns-753196824.html

 

[Ken H]

The BD and DVD versions of 'The Jinx' will be available on September 15, 2015. Amazon Instant Video will also have it available.

 

[Ken H]

Robert Durst Federal Case: Both sides turn in memorandums to judge


From WGNO.com

By Jacki Jing, September 16, 2015


Attorneys for accused murderer Robert Durst and federal lawyers both turned in arguments to a judge Wednesday morning. Durst’s attorney filed a motion to suppress evidence.


Last Friday, the judge continued a hearing on the motion, deciding it would be reset, if she found it appropriate, after reading both memorandums, submitted Wednesday.


Durst faces federal weapons and drugs charges. His defense team argued that FBI agents did not have a warrant or probable cause to search him, when they raided his CBD hotel room in April and arrested him after they found marijuana and a gun in his room.


They claim the evidence was gathered illegally and should not be used in the case.


In April, the Orleans Parish District Attorney’s office said it would wait for this federal case to end before deciding to prosecute Durst on state weapon charges.


Durst also faces a murder charge in California.


http://wgno.com/2015/09/16/robert-durst-federal-case-both-sides-turn-in-memorandums-to-judge/

 

[Ken H]

'The Jinx' wins Emmy for Best Documentary or Nonfiction Series


Excerpted from Deadline.com

By Lisa de Moraes, September 12, 2015


Director Reads Email From Robert Durst, Talks Followup To HBO Series


HBO’s controversial The Jinx: The Life And Deaths of Robert Durst just won a big show of support from the TV Academy, nabbing the Emmy for best documentary or nonfiction series. It beat out PBS’ three much less radioactive American Masters, Cancer: The Emperor Of All Maladies and The Roosevelts: An Intimate History, as well as CNN’s The Sixties.


Accepting the award, Jinx director Andrew Jarecki read an email sent by Durst (before he was arrested) in which he said, ‘I’m going to watch Episode 6 and then decide if I’m going to Cuba.’ “He didn’t go because he was arrested and that’s testament to the power of television,” Jarecki said. He gave thanks to his wife for overcoming her better judgment to allow him to “intentionally antagonize a triple homicide suspect.”


Jinx director Andrew Jarecki, asked backstage if he thought the project would lead to Durst’s arrest said, “Only thing we did feel… when Durst reached out to us was he had something to say.” “We had the sense he wanted to tell the truth and it was going to take a lot of work to figure out what that was.”


Jarecki said he has not heard from Durst since his arrest but “he’s been in prison in New Orleans and it would be difficult for him to reach out.” That said, Jarecki added, “I don’t think it’s impossible we’ll end up talking again.”


http://deadline.com/2015/09/the-jinx-emmy-robert-durst-sequel-1201522222/

 

[Ken H]

Here's a very interesting article from Los Angeles Magazine about John Lewin, the LA County Prosecutor who is in charge of the investigation and charged Robert Durst with the murder of Susan Berman.


I wonder if Durst will ever go on trial in LA, or will he spend the rest of his life in a Federal prison for gun and drug charges?


http://www.lamag.com/longform/the-ice-man/

 

[Ken H]

And now, another country heard from.


Robert Durst to Face Wrongful Death Suit From Family of First Wife, Kathleen


From NBCNews.com

By Daniella Silva, 10/15/15


The family of the still-missing first wife of infamous millionaire and murder suspect Robert Durst has taken a step toward a wrongful death lawsuit against the real-estate heir, it was revealed Thursday.


The brother of Kathleen McCormack Durst filed a petition to become administrator of her estate, according to his lawyer and court documents obtained by NBC News.


Kathleen mysteriously disappeared one night in the winter of 1982 while she was married to Robert. She has never been found and no one was ever charged in connection with the case.


James McCormack is seeking authority over Kathleen's estate in place of their 102-year-old mother, Ann Catherine McCormack.


"The reason James McCormack wishes to be appointed administrator at this time is to commence a possible wrongful death action against the decedent's husband, Robert Durst," Alex Spiro, McCormack's lawyer, wrote in the petition filed in Surrogate's Court of New York County on Thursday.


"He did it, and we can prove it," Spiro told NBC News.


Durst was widely suspected in Kathleen's disappearance in January 1982. The two had a tumultuous marriage, and in 1981 Kathleen accused him of physical abuse and filed for divorce.


Durst reported his wife missing and was questioned, but never charged in her disappearance.


Michael Struk, a New York police sergeant at the time, told NBC News in 2008 that while Durst was suspected, "there was never any conclusive evidence as to whether a crime had even been committed."


A body has never been found in the case, but Kathleen was legally declared dead in 2001.


Robert Durst is no stranger to being at the center of mysterious deaths and disappearances. He was arrested this March in Louisiana on an out-of-state warrant in connection with the 2000 murder of confidante Susan Berman in Los Angeles.


Durst was arrested the day before the finale of the six-part HBO documentary "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst." The series delved into his possible connection to Berman's death, as well as Kathleen's disappearance and the 2001 death and dismemberment of his neighbor Morris Black.


Durst, who became a fugitive and then was caught before the trial, claimed self-defense in Black's death and a jury found him not guilty.


In the finale of the documentary, Durst appeared to confess to the killings as he wore a hot microphone.


While Durst was in the bathroom, he was recorded by HBO saying to himself, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."


Durst's defense attorney, Dick DeGuerin, told NBC News there was no evidence linking his client to the death of Kathleen.


"Anybody can file a lawsuit, but you have to have evidence and there is no evidence," he said. "There's a craftily edited television show and there's nothing else."


Durst remains in Louisiana federal prison on gun and drug charges stemming from his March 14 arrest.


http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/robert-durst/robert-durst-face-wrongful-death-suit-family-first-wife-kathleen-n445581

 

[Ken H]

After a relatively slow summer, the Durst cyclone seems to be picking up velocity, again.

Suit Claims Ex-Prosecutor Disregarded ‘Truth and Accuracy’ in Book on Robert Durst


From The New York Times

By Charles V. Bagli, 10/15/15


Jeanine Pirro, the Westchester County district attorney turned television judge, is less than three weeks away from the release date of what she hopes will be a blockbuster book: “He Killed Them All: Robert Durst and My Quest for Justice.”


The book is not being made available ahead of its release, but promotional material promises that it will reveal “stunning, previously unknown secrets about the crimes” Mr. Durst, the peculiar scion of a New York real estate family, is accused of committing. Those crimes range from the 1982 disappearance of his first wife to the 2000 murder of a former confidante in Los Angeles. In 2000, Ms. Pirro’s office reopened the 18-year-old investigation into his wife Kathleen’s disappearance.


Mr. Durst’s story is stuffed with details — enormous wealth, a murder mystery, cross-dressing, the dismemberment of an elderly neighbor whose head is still missing, a second wife who lives with one of his lawyers — that have inspired books, television specials, a feature film and an Emmy Award-winning documentary, “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.”

Andy Kropa/Invision, Associated Press



But Ms. Pirro’s book, to be released by Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books on Nov. 3, is inspiring some drama of its own.


A lawsuit filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Thursday against Ms. Pirro by her original collaborator, Lisa DePaulo, claims that Ms. Pirro had “little regard for truth and accuracy” as she directed the writer to “describe events and circumstances that never occurred and to aggrandize” Ms. Pirro’s “role in the story at the expense of the truth.”


Ms. DePaulo claims in the suit that she expressed her concern to Ms. Pirro that inaccurate information could taint Mr. Durst’s pending murder trial in Los Angeles, and that Ms. Pirro’s response was curt: It was her book, not Ms. DePaulo’s.


The lawsuit cites several instances in which Ms. Pirro’s “accounts were inconsistent with other evidence” in the Durst case. It also claims that an editor at Simon & Schuster told Ms. DePaulo that she should not allow her “concerns about facts” to impede her from turning in drafts of the book.


Ms. DePaulo’s misgivings led to a falling-out with Ms. Pirro in June, days before the manuscript was due.


Ms. Pirro’s agent, David Vigliano, scoffed at the lawsuit. “Lisa DePaulo is a disgruntled former employee,” he said on Thursday. “She was fired for nonperformance. She’s doing this for the money and it’s sad.”


The lawsuit claims that Ms. Pirro subsequently breached a contract to pay Ms. DePaulo an additional $28,750 for her work and for the use of exclusive interviews and materials that predated their collaboration.


In June, Ms. DePaulo, whose journalistic credits include magazine articles about Ms. Pirro and Mr. Durst, was replaced by Valerie Frankel, the author of a novel, “The Accidental Virgin.”


Ms. DePaulo is not the first person to challenge Ms. Pirro’s account. In July, a lawyer for Douglas Durst, Robert’s younger brother, wrote to the former district attorney and her publisher warning that he would sue them if Ms. Pirro persisted in making factual errors or defamatory remarks about the Dursts.






Douglas Durst, who heads the family’s real estate empire, is expected to testify as a witness for the prosecution in Los Angeles. The brothers have been at odds since childhood, and Douglas Durst has said he firmly believes that Robert would kill him if he had the opportunity.


Douglas Durst’s lawyer, Richard D. Emery, also represents Ms. DePaulo.


Mr. Emery said Ms. DePaulo’s lawyer approached him as a result of the publicity surrounding his letter to Ms. Pirro. “It became clear that she was also a victim of Pirro’s recklessness with the truth,” Mr. Emery said. “We decided to support her effort to get the truth out.”


Douglas Durst had a secret meeting with Ms. Pirro at a Manhattan restaurant in 2003, exactly one week after Robert Durst was acquitted in Texas. Ms. Pirro, according to Douglas Durst, was convinced that he knew that his brother had a role in Kathleen’s disappearance. In an interview, Douglas Durst said he told her that “no one wants Robert behind bars more than me.”


Ms. Pirro, who served as the Westchester County district attorney for 12 years, got involved in the Robert Durst case in 2000 after a State Police investigator, Joe Becerra, had begun re-interviewing witnesses and members of Kathleen Durst’s family, all of whom suspected Robert of playing a role in her vanishing.


She flew to Galveston, Tex., in 2001 after Mr. Durst was arrested there on murder charges. Out on bail, Mr. Durst went on the run for 45 days.


After he was captured in Pennsylvania, Ms. Pirro personally took a search warrant to authorities in Bethlehem, Pa., and helped search Mr. Durst’s car.


Her office developed a circumstantial case against Mr. Durst, investigators say, but did not uncover any new forensic evidence in the case. Months after Mr. Durst was acquitted of murder in Galveston in October 2003, Ms. Pirro’s investigation sputtered to a halt.


Interest in the Durst case exploded in February and March of this year with the broadcast of a six-part HBO documentary, “The Jinx,” which was based on 10 years of research and 25 hours of interviews with Mr. Durst, culminating in what seemed to be a confession from Mr. Durst concerning the deaths of three people.


“What the hell did I do?” Mr. Durst whispered to himself in a moment caught on a microphone he wore. “Killed them all, of course.”


The night before the final broadcast, Mr. Durst was arrested in New Orleans. He is in prison in Louisiana awaiting trial on gun charges.


Within a few weeks, Ms. Pirro signed a contract with Simon & Schuster based on a proposal, according to the lawsuit, that included “false and outlandish” promises, including claims that her book would expose a “massive cover-up” involving Durst family members.


She also claimed that the jurors in the Galveston murder trial had been “paid off by Durst.”


Ms. Pirro asked Ms. DePaulo to move into her house in Rye, N.Y., and to help her write the book in eight weeks. Ms. DePaulo signed on.


But the collaboration was fraught from the beginning. Ms. DePaulo claims that Ms. Pirro began treating her like Ms. Pirro’s recently fired “house boy,” and had to deal with a pair of poodles, florists, caterers, gardeners and household chores.


But they clashed most often over Ms. Pirro’s claims about the Dursts, including that Douglas Durst had either helped Robert in disposing of Kathleen Durst’s body or concealed information about his brother’s crime.


Ms. DePaulo, the lawsuit states, repeatedly pointed out the utter lack of evidence to support this claim, but Ms. Pirro insisted on its inclusion, arguing that it was part of how she “sold the book.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/nyregion/suit-claims-ex-prosecutor-disregarded-truth-and-accuracy-in-book-on-robert-durst.html?module=WatchingPortal&region=c-column-middle-span-region&pgType=Homepage&action=click&mediaId=wide&state=standard&contentPlacement=1&version=internal&contentCollection=www.nytimes.com&contentId=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2015%2F10%2F16%2Fnyregion%2Fsuit-claims-ex-prosecutor-disregarded-truth-and-accuracy-in-book-on-robert-durst.html&eventName=Watching-article-click&_r=0

 

[Ken H]

And from the estrainged spousal real estate front.


Robert Durst's Wife Trying to Oust Us With Building Renovation, Tenants Say


From DNAinfo.com

By Gustavo Solis , October 15, 2015


HARLEM — Tenants of a building owned by the estranged wife of Robert Durst say she is trying to drive them out by turning their homes into a construction site as she renovates vacant units and ignores basic repairs in rent-stabilized apartments.


BCB Property Management bought six buildings — including 3147 and 3149 Broadway — for about $80 million last year. BCB is run by Debrah Lee Charatan, the estranged wife of suspected murderer and Manhattan real estate scion Robert Durst.


Charatan is still married to Durst — whose role in the murders of his ex-wife and two other people was the subject of an HBO documentary series — but their relationship has taken a "sharp turn in recent years," according to the New York Times.


Residents from the BCB buildings say the management company has turned their homes into active construction zones as they gut-renovate empty apartments and rent them out for more than twice what rent-stabilized tenants are paying.


Erasmo Guerrero, who has lived at 3149 Broadway since 1976, said the dust is so bad that unless he mops the floors every few hours he will start coughing and have a hard time breathing.


“Every day I try to fight against the dust,” he said. “It’s a full-time nightmare.”


Construction in apartments above his have created cracks in the ceiling and caused light fixtures to fall. His bathroom sink is starting to fall away from the wall.


Some fear that the dust levels are a health hazard.


Tenant Robert Sabin said his air quality meter, which reads particles in the air in a 10 second span, has consistently gotten readings in the building of more than 3,000 — well over the "very poor" level.


“It’s gone up to 8,000,” he said. “The air quality here is dangerous.”


In addition, neither 3147 nor 3149 Broadway have had any cooking gas in more than a month.


The developer's lawyer defended the construction, saying there are worse buildings in New York City and conditions in 3147 and 3149 Broadway do not warrant a news story.


The landlord is doing everything they can to improve conditions and make it a better place to live, he said.


"I know this landlord is a good landlord, one of the best, and they always do the right thing,” said Adam Leitman Bailey.


“I’m sorry you are working on this and not a more interesting story, but I guess you don’t want to work on those.”


The tenants, some of whom owe rent, deliberately ripped down plastic guards that keep the dust from spreading, he added.


“Their goal is to make conditions so bad so that they don’t pay rent,” Leitman Bailey said.


Minutes after saying that on the phone, Leitman Bailey emailed DNAinfo saying all tenants have received a 10 percent rent abatement from the time the cooking gas was shut off.


Con Edison turned off the gas in September because of unauthorized piping work, a spokesman said. The developers submitted paperwork and Con Ed will likely need to inspect the building in order to get the gas back on. There is no date scheduled for that inspection.


Bailey said the unauthorized work was done by a commercial tenant, not the landlord.


Their crew has been aggressively trying to get the gas back on, he added.


Still, residents cannot use their ovens.


“We haven’t had cooking gas since we moved in,” said Davis Surface, a former Marine and student at Columbia University. “After we complained they gave us a hot plate.”


Surface and his roommates paid the full $3,600 rent in September on their three-bedroom unit and had not heard of the 10 percent abatement Bailey mentioned on Wednesday.


Rent stabilized tenants pay about $1,000. Their units are not being renovated and don’t come with washers and dryers, they said.


“I’m angry because they have really hurt a lot of people by doing this," said rent-stabilized tenant Kimberly Cameron. "They are predators basically. Predators because all they want is money.”


In Crown Heights last year, tenants of a BCB-run building accused their landlord of doing similar things like ignoring basic repairs while gut renovating empty units in the same building, the Daily News reported.


Tenants of five of the six buildings, which have all reported similar living conditions, reached out to elected officials for help. The only Harlem representative to respond was City Councilman Mark Levine, they said.


"No tenant's health should be put at risk because of construction in their building," the councilman said. "This is unacceptable. My office will continue to do our part to help those dealing with such inexplicable conditions."


Levine also put the tenants in touch with a local tenant advocacy group.


They are now working with Pa’Lante to get rent reductions over the lack of gas, pressure the city for more oversight, and possibly take the landlord to housing court over basic repairs.


“The owner of this building is trying to destabilize all these units,” said founder Elsia Vasquez. “She is really trying to get them out.”


While the tenant association organizes for a fight, some residents fear it might be too late. Once the renovations are done they will have gotten what they wanted.


Even if they do complain, Guerrero said he fears the concerns of the rent-stabilized tenants are easy to ignore. He filed a complaint with the state after the landlord ignored his requests for a lease renewal.


“It’s a lost cause because these guys have millions of dollars,” he said. “When they talk people listen. When we talk no one cares.”

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20151015/central-harlem/robert-dursts-wife-trying-oust-us-with-building-renovation-tenants-say

 

[Ken H]

“Jinx” creator Jarecki: Durst family could have helped prevent two murders


Filmmaker blames Durst Organization bosses for covering up evidence against Robert Durst


From The RealDeal.com

By Konrad Putzier, October 03, 2015


Andrew Jarecki, the co-creator of the HBO docu-series “The Jinx” on accused murderer Robert Durst, said that by refusing to cooperate with authorities and share crucial information about Kathleen McCormack’s disappearance, Douglas Durst and his late father Seymour Durst share some responsibility in failing to prevent the deaths of two other individuals.


“One could argue that had they done anything at the time to get any kind of version of the truth, then Bob might have gotten psychiatric help, might have been incarcerated or whatever, but two other people, Susan Berman and Morris Black, would not be murdered,” Jarecki said during an interview at the New Yorker Festival in Chelsea Friday night. “This is a big issue. And that is I think one of the reasons why the Dursts are constantly threatening to sue me.”


Asked for a comment on Jarecki’s remarks, Durst spokesperson Jordan Barowitz told The Real Deal by email: “Mr. Jarecki can say anything he wants, but this is hogwash.”


Jarecki was referring to an episode chronicled in his Emmy-winning documentary series “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” which aired this spring.


In 1982, Seymour, patriarch of the Durst Organization, hired a crack private investigator to look into the disappearance of McCormack, Robert’s wife at the time.


The investigator, Edward Wright, reported numerous inconsistencies in Robert’s account of the night of her disappearance. But instead of sharing the findings, Jarecki claims, the Dursts kept the report private. Robert was never charged.


In 2001 he killed his Texas neighbor Morris Black, but was acquitted after successfully claiming self-defense . “The Jinx” also unearthed damning evidence that Robert murdered his friend Susan Berman in Los Angeles in 2000. Following the airing of the series, Robert was arrested in Houston and is now facing murder charges in her death.


“I don’t think they imagined we would have a copy of this privileged document that was just their private information, but what it does tell us is that surely Seymour Durst and maybe others knew at the time of Kathie’s disappearance in 1982 that it was pretty clear Bob had killed her,” he said Friday.


“You could say, well, ‘would you really turn in your brother, or your son or your whatever,’ but I think it’s so clear that what they did was to close ranks.”


Jarecki has long had a contentious relationship with Douglas and the Durst Organization. The company refused to cooperate for the documentary and, according to Jarecki, threatened to sue over his 2010 movie “All Good Things,” a fictionalized account of Robert’s life.


Jarecki said the threat of a lawsuit made Robert, who also has a tense relationship with Douglas, eager to cooperate with the filmmakers. “I realized there was this brother-to-brother relationship that was going to be a very big thing and it was going to be a big motivator for Bob,” he said. “And I think that was really the thing that made him call me, and the lawsuit was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”


http://therealdeal.com/blog/2015/10/03/jinx-creator-jarecki-durst-family-could-have-helped-prevent-two-murders/

 

[Ken H]

Robert Durst’s Effort to Dismiss Gun Evidence in Louisiana Case Is Rejected


From The New York Times

By Charles V. Bagli, October 7, 2015


Robert A. Durst, the troubled scion of a New York real estate family, may be one step closer to being transferred to Los Angeles to answer murder charges.


Mr. Durst, who has been in custody in New Orleans on a gun charge since March, lost a motion on Tuesday to have evidence in the case dismissed. His lawyers have repeatedly said they were eager to dispose of the gun charge so he can respond to claims that he murdered a onetime confidante 15 years ago in Los Angeles.


Given the ruling on the evidence, Mr. Durst, who is facing a maximum of 10 years in prison on the gun charge, can appeal, proceed to trial next year, or bargain with prosecutors for a lighter sentence.


Dick DeGuerin, a lawyer who leads Mr. Durst’s defense team, said he was disappointed by the decision. “We’re still deciding what to do,” he said. “The irony is that this might get us to California even quicker, if we can get it resolved.”


Mr. DeGuerin declined to explain how the charge might be resolved.


Mr. Durst, 72, frail and worth more than $110 million, has long been estranged from his family, which owns a dozen skyscrapers in Manhattan. He was found not guilty of murdering a neighbor in Galveston, Tex., in 2003, despite his graphic testimony of how he dismembered the body and tossed the parts into Galveston Bay.


The mysteries surrounding Mr. Durst, who is also a suspect in the disappearance of his first wife in 1982, were the subject of a six-part HBO documentary, “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” that was broadcast in March. He was arrested in New Orleans on a murder warrant issued in Los Angeles on the eve of the final episode.


Mr. Durst’s defense team had sought to suppress evidence recovered in his hotel room in New Orleans, including a .38-caliber revolver, because his lawyers claimed the materials were obtained during a search conducted without a warrant by two agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation just after they encountered Mr. Durst.


But a United States district judge, Helen G. Berrigan, ruled on Tuesday that Los Angeles detectives had obtained a valid search warrant for a second search of the hotel room “that provided an untainted, independent source of the physical evidence.” Judge Berrigan also said F.B.I. agents executed the arrest warrant for Mr. Durst that had been issued in Los Angeles “in good faith.”


Mr. DeGuerin’s team challenged the arrest warrant and the search of the hotel room.


The authorities had been tracking Mr. Durst’s movements for some time and feared he might go on the run to evade the murder charges. After the fifth episode of “The Jinx,” Mr. Durst left his home in Houston and checked into the J. W. Marriott Hotel in New Orleans using an alias.


Mr. Durst waived extradition to Los Angeles shortly after his arrest in New Orleans. His lawyers have been eager to learn what evidence prosecutors in Los Angeles possess. But Mr. Durst does not have the right to see that evidence through discovery until he is arraigned in California.


Judge Berrigan noted that prosecutors contend “that Durst’s attack on the arrest warrant is an attempt to begin litigating the California murder charge and receive discovery he is not yet entitled to, and this court has to agree.”


Mr. DeGuerin contends that the prosecutor in Los Angeles has very little hard evidence.


“The California prosecutors are afraid of the case,” he said. “They’ve done everything they can to delay Bob’s transfer to California. They’ve got a TV show and 15-year-old evidence that wasn’t good enough back then and certainly isn’t good enough now.”


Mr. Durst is accused of killing Susan Berman, who was found in her Los Angeles home shot in the back of the head on Dec. 24, 2000. Ms. Berman, a friend of Mr. Durst, served as his spokeswoman in dealing with the news media after his wife, Kathleen Durst, disappeared in 1982, only months before she would have graduated from medical school.


Investigators initially suspected Ms. Berman’s manager and landlady. Over time, however, investigators focused on Mr. Durst, who they suspected was the author of an anonymous note alerting the police to a “cadaver” at Ms. Berman’s home.


In a dramatic scene in “The Jinx,” the handwriting on the “cadaver” note appears to be identical to a 1999 letter Mr. Durst sent to Ms. Berman.


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/nyregion/robert-dursts-effort-to-dismiss-evidence-in-gun-case-is-rejected.html