BOLD STRATEGY

Robert Durst’s Lawyer Argues His Clumsy First Killing Proves His Innocence in Other Two

Robert Durst’s attorney insists his client’s accidental killing of a man in 2001 shows that he didn’t kill his best friend or his wife.

It’s a bold strategy to bring up your client’s first killing in an attempt to prove their innocence in other deaths, but that’s what accused serial killer Robert Durst’s representative did in court Wednesday. According to the Associated Press, Durst attorney Dick DeGuerin argued that the clumsy way his client disposed of the body of a man he accidentally killed in 2001 shows that he didn’t kill his best friend or his wife. DeGuerin said Durst left behind “hundreds of clues” after his killing of Morris Black—which he was acquitted for after arguing that it was in self-defense— including a garbage bag containing a body part and a receipt with Durst’s name on it. Meanwhile, Kathie Durst vanished in 1982, and the crime scene where Susan Berman’s body was found in 2000 was much more clinical, so the lawyer argued those cases are “significantly different.” However, Deputy District Attorney John Lewin said all three deaths are “interrelated,” arguing that they all link to Kathie Durst’s disappearance.