Accused Murderer Robert Durst Won’t Get Mistrial for Covid Delay

(Bloomberg) -- Accused murderer Robert Durst failed to persuade a judge to order a mistrial in his case because of a more than three-month delay resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.

California Superior Court Judge Mark Windham on Tuesday denied the New York real estate heir’s request for a mistrial, saying it was his own lawyers who asked for the proceedings to be adjourned until it was safe to resume. Durst’s trial is scheduled to resume next month.

Durst, 77, is charged with the murder of his longtime friend and confidante Susan Berman in her Beverly Hills home in 2000. The reclusive millionaire had conceded through his lawyers that he walked into the house, found her dead and “panicked.” He sent a note to Beverly Hills police that there was a “cadaver” at Berman’s address and ran because he feared he would be a suspect, according to his attorneys.

The jury trial in Los Angeles started March 4 and was expected to take as long as five months. Durst has denied he killed Berman and says he doesn’t know who did.

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