Robert Durst sentenced to life for murder of best friend

Berman provided a phony alibi for Durst when Kathie Durst vanished, prosecutors said.

Durst testified that he didn’t kill either woman but said on cross-examination that he would lie if he had.

Prosecutors also presented evidence that he intentionally killed a neighbor in Galveston, Texas, in 2001, though he had been acquitted of murder in that case after testifying that he shot the man in self-defense.

Durst is the grandson of Joseph Durst, who founded the Durst Organization, one of Manhattan’s largest commercial real estate firms. His father, Seymour, took the reins of the company and later handed control of it to a younger brother, Douglas.

Robert Durst settled his share of the family fortune and was estimated by prosecutors to have $100 million.

Durst's lawyer said they plan to appeal.

“Now that the jury has found whodunnit, the punishment is quite clear,” Loyola Law School Professor Laurie Levenson said before the sentence was announced. “I’m not sure there’s a lot more left for (the prosecutor) to say.”

Durst, who has numerous medical issues, on Thursday was rolled into the courtroom in a wheelchair wearing brown jail scrubs. His eyes were wide open, and he had a catatonic stare.

Several of the jurors returned to the courtroom to witness the sentencing and were seated in the jury box.

The trial began in March 2020 and was adjourned for 14 months as the coronavirus pandemic swept the U.S. and courts were closed. It resumed in May with the jury that reached its verdict Sept. 17.

Berman, the daughter of a Las Vegas mobster, was Durst’s longtime confidante who was preparing to tell police she provided a phony alibi for him after his wife vanished in New York in 1982.

Kathie Durst has never been found. Robert Durst has never been charged with a crime related to her disappearance.