May trial set for heir accused in Galveston slaying - real estate heir Robert Durst murder trial

GALVESTON - The heir to a New York real estate fortune accused of killing a 71-year-old neighbor and then dismembering and dumping his remains into Galveston Bay will stand trial in May, a judge has ruled.

"I intend for that to be a firm trial setting," state District Judge Susan Criss said Friday, scheduling the trial to begin on May 12.

Robert Durst, the 59-year-old millionaire son of New York skyscraper tycoon Seymour Durst, is charged with murder. He is accused of killing, slicing up and dumping into Galveston Bay the bagged remains of neighbor Morris Black in September 2001. His trial initially was scheduled to begin last June, The Galveston County Daily News reported in Monday's editions.

Mr. Durst has acknowledged killing Mr. Black but has pleaded not guilty, calling the slaying an act of self-defense and an accident. A gag order was issued covering attorneys, police, witnesses and others involved in the case.

Mr. Durst was arrested Oct. 9, 2001, and released from Galveston County Jail hours after posting $300,000 bail, before authorities knew he was the heir to the real estate fortune. He failed to appear for his Oct. 16 arraignment.

He remained on the lam until Nov. 30, when he was arrested in Bethlehem, Pa. Authorities there said he was arrested after he tried to shoplift a sandwich and other goods from a grocery store, despite having $500 in his pocket.

Meanwhile, New York state police want to talk to Mr. Durst about the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathleen, and Los Angeles police have requested and received a handwriting sample from Mr. Durst as part of their investigation into the Christmas Eve 1999 killing of his friend Susan Berman.

Mr. Durst has been charged in neither his wife's disappearance nor Ms. Berman's death.

Robert Durst, the 59-year-old millionaire son of New York skyscraper tycoon Seymour Durst, is charged with murder. He is accused of killing, slicing up and dumping into Galveston Bay the bagged remains of neighbor Morris Black in September 2001. His trial initially was scheduled to begin last June, The Galveston County Daily News reported in Monday's editions.

Here is that story....

http://www.galvnews.com/report.lasso?wcd=6750

GALVESTON COUNTY DAILY NEWS
Texas' Oldest Newspaper
http://www.galvnews.com

Durst murder trial set for May 12

By Scott E. Williams
The Daily News

Published December 23, 2002GALVESTON — State District Court Judge Susan Criss says the trial of cross-dressing millionaire murder suspect Robert Durst has moved for the last time.

The trial of the New York real-estate heir, originally set for June 2002, is now scheduled to being for May 12.

“You can always have emergencies, such as a death in the family that no one can foresee, but I intend for that to be a firm trial setting,” Criss said.

Durst faces a murder charge in the September 2001 death and dismemberment of Morris Black, 71. The two men had lived across the hall from each other, in an Avenue K apartment house where Durst had lived posing as a mute woman named Dorothy Ciner.

Black’s torso and severed limbs were found nearly a year ago, in separate garbage bags in the waters near 81st Street and Channelview Drive, also in Galveston.

Durst’s attorneys have said he would plead self-defense.

The murder charge carries a possible prison term of five to 99 years, as well as a fine of up to $10,000.

Police arrested Durst, 59, on Oct. 9, 2001, but he left jail that night after posting $300,000 bond.

He became a fugitive when he failed to appear at a court hearing in his case a week later. On Nov. 30, 2001, six weeks after he did not appear in court, police in Pennsylvania arrested Durst and charged him with the shoplifting theft of a small bandage, a sandwich and a newspaper. They later dropped the charges and returned him to Galveston County.

Galveston County officials are not the only ones interested in Durst. New York state police want to talk to him about the 1982 disappearance of his wife, Kathleen.

Los Angeles police have requested and received a handwriting sample from Durst as they investigate the Christmas Eve 1999 murder of Susan Berman.

Berman, a crime author described by acquaintances as a close friend of Durst’s, was found dead in her home. She had been shot once in the head. Durst has not been charged in either his wife’s disappearance or Berman’s death.

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