Jury Duty: The Trial of Robert Durst

Robert Durst is on trial for the murder of his friend Susan Berman. Prosecutor John Lewin begins his opening statement by telling the jury that the case actually involves the murder of three people: his wife Kathie Durst, Berman and a man named Morris Black.

Robert Durst tried to control his wife Kathie through violence, and that violence escalated until the day that Kathie Durst disappeared. "That is what the evidence will show," prosecutor John Lewin tells the jury in Durst's trial for the murder of his friend Susan Berman. Lewin continues his opening statement by asserting that Durst enlisted Berman to do "something for Bobby" that would make Berman a "loose end" that Durst felt compelled to "clean up."

After his wife Kathie's disappearance, Robert Durst travelled to New Jersey, argues Deputy DA John Lewin. The prosecutor tells the jury that Durst made a series of collect calls from an area of the state near the Pine Barrens, a notorious Mafia burial ground made famous by the HBO series The Sopranos.

Deputy DA John Lewin tells the jury that Robert Durst entrusted Susan Berman with his darkest secret. The prosecutor then chronicles the key events in each of their lives that led Durst to allegedly shoot his best friend in the back of her head.

It is early 2001. In the aftermath of Susan Berman's murder, Robert Durst is living disguised as a mute woman in a boarding house in Galveston, Texas, and is befriended by a new neighbor named Morris Black. Deputy DA John Lewin, using interview clips of Durst and others, chronicles the events that would lead to the killing of Morris Black in September of that year.

After the death of Morris Black, Robert Durst dismembered his body, threw the parts in Galveston Bay and made plans to flee Texas, not once but twice, the second after posting and jumping bail. Deputy DA John Lewin tells the jury that by telling a series of lies and half-truths, Durst seeded enough doubt in the minds of the Texas jurors to secure an acquittal on the charge of murdering Morris Black.

After his acquittal on charges of murdering Morris Black and after serving prison time for dismembering Black's body and jumping bail, Robert Durst decides to record a conversation with the filmmakers of a movie that suggests he committed three murders. That conversation led to the documentary series The Jinx, and - ultimately - to Durst's now-famous bathroom utterances "There it is. You're caught." and "Killed them all, of course."

In March of 2015, after the debut of a pivotal episode of The Jinx, Robert Durst was arrested in New Orleans on gun charges. Deputy DA John Lewin tells the jury that this is where he first met Durst, travelling to New Orleans to interrogate him. Lewin concludes his opening statement by presenting testimony of Durst's and Susan Berman's good friend Nick Chavin. According to Chavin, when he asked Durst about Susan Berman, Durst gave Chavin a disturbing reply.

Dick Deguerin begins the opening statement in the defense of Robert Durst against the charge that he murdered Susan Berman. DeGuerin's opening in many ways telegraphs a reprise of his three-pronged strategy in defense of Durst the charge of murdering Morris Black in Galveston, Texas: 1) make the jury feel empathy for Durst with what he once called a "Poor Little Rich Boy" narrative; 2) blame the Media (in this instance the makers of The Jinx) and an aggressive prosecutor (in this case, Deputy DA John Lewin) for demonizing Durst; and 3) have Durst present a plausible narrative that he shot Black in self-defense in the course of a struggle of a gun. DeGuerin tells the jury that Durst will testify on his own behalf as he did in Galveston. That strategy got Durst acquitted of the murder charges against him in Texas. But will that strategy work on a Los Angeles jury, and are DeGuerin's legendary skills as a litigator at the same level that they were nearly two decades ago?

Dick DeGuerin continues his opening statement to the jury on behalf of Robert Durst by reprising his assertion from the trial in Texas that Durst killed Morris Black in self-defense and then - in a panic - dismembered Black's body. DeGuerin then tries to counter the prosecution's presentation of Durst's own incriminating interviews with the filmmaker's of The Jinx and with Deputy DA John Lewin by positing that Durst was manipulated into making these ill-advised statements.

In the penultimate episode of Season 1, David Chesnoff takes over the defense team's opening statement and establishes his mantra for the day: "No evidence is evidence." By this he suggests that the jurors should lean into their desire for forensic evidence in assessing Robert Durst's culpability, and if they find such evidence lacking, they should consider that to be evidence in and of itself. Chesnoff then tries to pick apart portions of the prosecution's narrative of what happened to Kathie Durst and Susan Berman. He suggests to the jurors that there is an absence of forensic evidence to prove the case against Robert Durst beyond a reasonable doubt.

As David Chesnoff concludes the defense team's opening statement, it becomes clear that the jury will have to choose between two ways of interpreting evidence: Will they be guided by Chesnoff's mantra that "no evidence is evidence" deciding that the lack of CSI-type forensic evidence leaves them with reasonable doubt of Durst's guilt, or will they follow Lewin's OK Boomer Method deciding that the mess of circumstantial evidence surrounding Durst's actions and statements and the statements of others leaves only one reasonable explanation: that Robert Durst killed Susan Berman. And then, after two days of testimony the LA courts were shut down due to COVID-19 and the trial was suspended until next Spring. The episode concludes with a taste of the testimony that lies ahead in Season Two, and with an update on our plans to cover these proceedings in the coming months.