Court TV will provide coverage of real estate heir Robert Durst's murder trial in Los Angeles.
Jury selection is complete, and the trial is set to begin today. Court TV will air opening statements, closing arguments and the verdict, with on-going reports of the camera-less testimony and the trial's most significant events.
Durst, 76, is accused of shooting and killing his longtime confident Susan Berman in her Beverly Hills home in 2000 to silence her from telling investigators what she knew about the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathleen, in New York. Making this case more sensational is that the defendant is the subject of the HBO documentary The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst. In the last scene of The Jinx, Durst went to a bathroom and not realizing his microphone was still on said, "There it is. You're caught. What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course." After The Jinx aired, the investigation into Berman's death gained momentum as the filmmakers unearthed a letter Durst had written to Berman. The envelope had nearly identical handwriting to a note sent anonymously to police directing them to Berman's lifeless body.
Durst has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
The unusual case has already been called "fascinating" by Superior Court Judge Mark Windham, the judge who will preside over the trial. Judge Windham has told prospective jurors, "If you're going to have one trial where you're going to be a juror, this is the trial. These are the best lawyers I've ever seen.... You're never going to have an experience like this."
This will be the second time Durst has stood trial for murder. He was acquitted of the murder and dismemberment of neighbor Morris Blake in Texas in 2003 in a trial covered by the original Court TV. The former Galveston County Judge who presided over that trial, Susan Criss, will appear on Court TV live this afternoon to be interviewed by Seema Iyer.
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