Robert Durst will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
On Thursday, LA Superior Court Judge Mark E. Windham sentenced the 78-year-old to life in prison without parole for the murder of his longtime friend Susan Berman more than 20 years ago. Moments before the sentencing, per CNN, the judge expressed to the courtroom about the victim:
“As Susan Berman’s family has reminded us…in a way that we couldn’t have known without them addressing this court, Susan Berman was an extraordinary human being. I personally wish I could have known her. I feel I got to know her vicariously far too late and under terrible circumstances, but she was an extraordinary human being, and killing her was a terrible loss to our community. This was indeed a horrific crime.”
The sentencing comes after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder almost a month ago. They also reportedly agreed he met “special circumstances” within the law, which allowed the harshest possible punishment for killing a witness to a crime, lying in wait, and using a firearm in the murder. (FYI, California has a moratorium on the death penalty.)
If you’ve been following this lengthy legal saga, then you know prosecutors argued in the trial that Durst shot Berman in 2000 because she was about to expose him to the police for the murder of his wife, Kathie Durst, who went missing in 1982 and was never found. The 55-year-old allegedly had helped him cover up the crime by providing him with a false alibi. However, he continuously denied having anything to do with either woman’s death and claimed he was never in the LA area when Berman died. But the truth eventually came out…
As we previously reported, his attorney Dick DeGuerin confessed that Durst spent the holidays with Berman and left police a letter as to where to find the body:
“When Bob showed up and found her dead he panicked. He wrote the anonymous [cadaver] letter so her body would be found, and he ran. He ran away all of his life.”
The multimillionaire real estate heir then seemingly confessed to killing Berman, Kathie, and his neighbor Morris Black during the season finale of the true-crime docuseries The Jinx: The Life and Death of Robert Durst, when he was caught on a hot mic saying:
“You’re caught! What the hell did I do? Killed ‘em all, of course.”
Of course, this brought new attention to his crimes, and he was soon arrested in New Orleans. He has remained in jail ever since — and obviously will continue spending his days in custody following this sentencing. But even though it is widely believed Durst killed Kathie, he still hasn’t been charged for it, and who knows if they ever will at this point. We mean, it took them 20 years just to bring some justice for the Berman family.
Reactions to his sentencing, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments (below).
[Image via Reuters/YouTube, HBO UK/YouTube]
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