Looks like infamous real estate mogul Robert Durst is finally headed to prison, now that he’s copped a plea deal to get a reduced sentence of seven years on a federal weapons charge in New Orleans.
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At the sentencing, Durst said he hoped the judge would agree to send him to FCI Terminal Island so he can also move forward with the murder charges against him in California in relation to the death of Berman.
Durst was arrested in March previous year at a New Orleans hotel, days after a California judge signed an arrest warrant for the alleged murder of Berman.
Last year, 72-year-old Durst was picked up in The Crescent City while illegally carrying a.38-caliber revolver. The location is near the trial venue and has medical facilities that attorneys say Durst will need due to his “advanced age and serious health considerations, including mobility challenges”. Engelhardt said in a statement that once the prison sentence is served, Durst will be subjected to three years of supervised release. “If there’s anything you can do to speed up that process”, he told the judge, “I’d truly, truly appreciate it”.
“Durst has waived extradition to Los Angeles to stand trial for the 2000 murder of his friend Susan Berman”.
Accepting the longer sentence “cleared the decks at a cost”, defense attorney Richard DeGuerin said.
Robert Durst is a member of the Durst real estate empire in NY and was active in the family business until 1994. He is accused of killing Berman in order to keep her from divulging details about the disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen Durst, in 1982.
Durst will also forfeit more than $44,000 found in his hotel room when he was arrested and $117,000 in a package sent to Everette Ward, the name under which Durst had registered, and intercepted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after his arrest.
During the final scene of the thrilling six-parter, which won a Peabody Award on April 26, Durst was heard off camera in the bathroom confessing to murder.
The gun charge followed a search of Durst’s New Orleans hotel room in March 2015.
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It’s unclear if prosecutors will be able to use recordings from the documentary against him. Durst said. “Killed them all, of course”.
