Robert Durst Arraigned on Gun, Marijuana Charges
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HBO(NEW YORK) — Robert Durst appeared in court again Tuesday in New Orleans to face additional charges stemming from his arrest on Sunday.
The real estate scion was arrested in the Marriott Hotel in New Orleans due to a warrant for the 2000 murder of his friend Susan Berman in Los Angeles, but when police arrived at his room, he was found with a .38 caliber revolver and marijuana, police said.
During his court appearance Tuesday morning, the 71-year-old appeared dazed, not immediately responding when his name was called. He was shackled when he walked towards the judge. Durst was kept isolated from other inmates and stood behind a plexiglass booth but approached a podium when addressing the court.
His attorney argued that the original arrest was based “on a TV show” even though the LAPD has disputed that argument.
Durst will be detained in New Orleans through Monday.
This is his second court appearance in as many days, and on Monday he agreed to be extradited to California to face the murder charge, but Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizarro later decided to charge him with weapon and drug possession.
Louisiana State Trooper Melissa Matey confirmed to ABC News on Monday that an arrest warrant was issued for Durst and he was rebooked in the Orleans Parish Jail under the charges of convicted felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a weapon with a controlled dangerous substance.
Durst, whose wife went missing in 1982 and friend Berman was found dead in her apartment on Christmas Eve in 2000, has already admitted to killing one person, his neighbor Morris Black, but was acquitted by a jury because he testified that he had done so in self-defense.
“Let me just say that we came here to waive jurisdiction and to go back to California and to get it on,” Durst’s lawyer Dick DeGuerin, who represented him in the 2003 case relating to Black’s death.
“Bob Durst didn’t kill Susan Berman — he’s ready to end all the rumor and speculation and have a trial but we’re frustrated because the local authorities are considering filing charges on him here and holding him here,” DeGuerin said in front of court.
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