Right After Life Sentence, Robert Durst Fights To Survive

Killer has COVID and is on a ventilator, attorney says
By Josh Gardner,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 17, 2021 7:15 AM CDT
Right After Life Sentence, Robert Durst Fights To Survive
New York real estate heir Robert Durst.   (Myung J. Chung/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool)

Robert Durst was just convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, now the millionaire subject of HBO's The Jinx may be fighting for his life. Per NBC News, Durst's attorney says the 78-year-old has COVID. "All we know he’s tested positive for Covid-19, he’s in hospital and on a ventilator," Dick DeGuerin told the outlet. Durst was reportedly diagnosed the same week he was convicted of the 2000 slaying of his friend Susan Berman on the day she was slated to speak with police as part of their investigation into the disappearance of Durst's wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst, who vanished in 1982. The investigation into the New York real estate heir took on new life after Durst participated in the 2015 HBO documentary.

Per CNN, DeGuerin said he believes Durst was vaccinated but that he looked extremely unwell Thursday and that he's concerned for all those who were in close contact during the hearing, where Los Angeles County Judge Mark Windham sentenced Robert Durst to life in prison without parole for Berman's murder. "I personally wish I could have known her," the judge said, adding that Berman's death "was a terrible loss to our community." California has a moratorium on the death penalty, but the jury found the slaying met the state's standard for "special circumstances," allowing Durst to be given life without parole. Durst was in the courtroom, wearing a medical mask and slumping in his wheelchair.

DeGuerin said he has not tested positive. Durst wasn't in court for last month's guilty verdict, which came after a jury deliberated about seven hours over three days. He was in isolation at the time because he'd been exposed to someone with coronavirus, per the AP. At the hearing, Berman's family members, including her son, read victim statements. "I have not had one day off in almost 21 years from the absolute destruction and pain that this had caused me," Sareb Kaufman. said. (More Robert Durst stories.)

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