Despite wealthy eccentric ROBERT DURST’s purported confession on HBO he agreed to face a murder charge in Los Angeles in the shooting 15 years ago of a gangland kingpin’s daughter.
The alleged vic, the daughter of one of Las Vegas mobster Bugsy Siegel’ associates, had vouched for him after his wife Kathleen mysteriously disappeared.
The Hollywood Reporter said that one of Durst’s lawyers claimed the trip might be delayed by new charges in Louisiana.
The estranged New York real estate heir to a New York real estate fortune shuffled into a New Orleans courtroom and then appeared to nod off.
He later answered, “yes” to a judge’s questions about waiving extradition.
These startling new developments in the bizarre case followed Sunday’s finale of an HBO documentary about Durst The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst detailing his links to three deaths: his friend in LA, Susan Berman; his wife in New York, Kathleen Durst; and Morris Black, an aged neighbor in Texas.
At the finale of the broadcast, off camera, Durst is heard muttering that he “killed them all, of course.”
His arrest in New Orleans came hours before the documentary series aired its finale.
Durst was arrested without incident by FBI agents Saturday at a Marriott hotel where he had been laying low to avoid media attention from the sensational doc, his lawyer, Chip Lewis, told AP.
He also called the arrest a “set-up” and a coordinated effort by HBO and law enforcement.
“The HBO series had nothing to do with his arrest,” Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Kirk Albanese said. “ We do police work based on the facts and evidence, not based on the HBO series. I know there’s lots of speculation about that. It had nothing to do with the show.”
Judge Harry Cantrell said Durst could now be extradited to California, and that he could receive pain medication after attorney Dick DeGuerin said Durst has had “neurosurgery.”
But DeGuerin later told media that the trip to California may be delayed because New Orleans prosecutors are considering other charges against Durst.
A police report said that Durst was carrying a firearm at the time of his arrest.
Another of Durst’s attorneys, Chip Lewis, said regarding his supposed HBO confession that “you’ve said things under your breath that you probably didn’t mean”.
The show’s producer said that Durst was well aware he was wired for audio even when he wasn’t on camera. He said they were unaware of his startling statement until one of the series’ sound editors alerted them.
Former LAPD homicide detective Mark Fuhrman, famed for his testimony in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, said that Durst’s off-camera admission was “highly incriminating”.
He added: “I think it was an unsolicited, spontaneous statement. He is wearing a hot wire. He has been notified it’s a hot wire before. It is being recorded, and he knows it. That is specifically why he is there. I don’t think it made a difference if he went into a bathroom or any other room. He knows he’s being wired. And I think the statement will come in, and I think it’s highly incriminating.”
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