N.Y. millionaire Durst not guilty of murder

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/11/11/durst.ve...dict/index.html

 

GALVESTON, Texas (CNN) -- Jurors who on Tuesday acquitted eccentric New York millionaire Robert Durst in the killing of his 71-year-old neighbor, Morris Black, said they had to put aside the defendant's admission he dismembered Black's body and then fled because it was not part of the question they were told to decide.

 

Durst remained in jail following Tuesday's not guilty verdict in his murder trial because he still faces a bail jumping charge.

 

Prosecutors had portrayed Durst as a cold-blooded killer who planned Black's murder in order to steal his identity.

 

The defense contended Durst accidentally shot Black in self-defense during a scuffle and then dismembered and dumped his body in Galveston Bay in panic.

 

Jurors told reporters the prosecution's evidence was not enough to dispel their reasonable doubt during five days of deliberation, including many arguments in the jury room.

 

"I changed my mind a dozen times," said juror Chris Lovell.

 

Lovell said what finally made up his mind for acquittal was the consistency of the defense story while prosecutors gave them "multiple scenarios" of what happened in Durst's apartment the day of the killing.

 

Prosecutions said Durst, who admitted walking around Galveston smoking marijuana and dressed as a woman, wanted to become Morris Black as a way of escaping the attention of New York prosecutors who suspected he might be involved in his first wife's disappearance.

 

Black's corpse was found the day after it was dumped into the bay. The arms, legs and torso washed up on the rocks. Black's head has never been found.

 

Defense attorneys said Black and Durst were friends but Black began acting erratically and abusively. They said Durst broke off the relationship and told Black not to come to his apartment again.

 

They contended Black sneaked into Durst's apartment. Durst feared for his life and Black was accidentally shot as both men struggled for a gun.

 

Durst testified he accidentally shot Black, then panicked and decided to cut up the body, dispose of it and leave Galveston.

 

"I could understand Durst's panic," said juror Joanne Gongora. "I can understand his drug-induced state. I can understand his life."

 

Lovell, when asked if he was certain Durst was not guilty, said, "With what was presented to me, absolutely, positively 100 percent."

 

If convicted, Durst, 60, could have been sentenced to from five to 99 years in prison and fined of up to $10,000.

 

Prosecutors and lawyers are now preparing for a bond hearing to decide if Durst will be freed until his trial for jumping bond. Durst was a fugitive for six weeks after he posted bond. He was captured in Pennsylvania after shoplifting a sandwich even though he had hundreds of dollars in his pocket. He could be sentenced to two to 10 years if convicted on that charge.

 

Durst's family runs The Durst Organization, a privately held, billion-dollar New York company.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Well Black was old and was going to die anyway...

[Guest MikeSC]

Well Black was old and was going to die anyway...

Come on, who HASN'T done this?

 

I mean, I accidentally bumped into some guy last week. In a total panic, I hacked off his arms and legs and fed them to some dobermans. I then took his torso and threw it in the dumpster of a Chinese restaurant.

 

This is, like, a TOTALLY common occurence.

-=Mike

...Besides, aren't rich whites SUPPOSED to kill Blacks? <rim shot>

[Swift Terror 0]

I've got a noisy neighbor and an unused turkey carver that I would like to break in before Thankgiving...can I get this jury on retainer?

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

So THAT'S how you got your full-time job...

[Guest BDC]

I wonder... can you get a similar job of lesser proportions? I prefer the blunt object to the skull approach m'self.

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

CELEB SOUND-OFF: Judge Judy on Durst Verdict

The ever-outspoken Judge Judy weighs in on the shocking verdict brought in on millionaire Robert Durst, who was pronounced innocent yesterday – despite the fact he’d chopped up the body of the man he claims to have accidentally killed.

“I always put in a caveat that I wasn’t there (in the courtroom), I didn’t hear all the evidence -- and you have to rely on the jury system,” prefaces Judge Judy. “But there’s something bizarre to me about that case and the ability of that jury to put somebody who was clearly not wrapped too tight back into the community.”

 

Durst claimed his victim, an elderly neighbor, was shot accidentally during a struggle with a gun, and he panicked and decided to dump the dismembered body in Galveston bay.

 

“If it’s an accident or self-defense and if you are a rational human being you pick up the phone and call 911,” notes Judge Judy. “But let’s say you were totally confused. You get into your car and run, or you take off. But he didn’t just take off. He chopped up this body first! When you think about what it takes to actually put a knife into human flesh, you have to be a pretty disturbed human being to be able to do that. Let us assume for the moment that his story had some plausibility to it, that it was self-defense, or an accident, that he wanted to dispose of the body…. To actually be able to carve up human remains and put it in plastic bags requires a certain type of mentality and that’s a scary mentality to be out on the streets.”

 

She adds, “Evidently the people who sat on that jury wouldn’t be uncomfortable having Mr. Durst as a neighbor. So when he chooses his next abode, he’ll know there’s somebody who’s not afraid to have him as a neighbor.”

 

She quips that the other problem about having Durst -- who moved to Galveston disguised as a woman to avoid avoid scrutiny in the reopening of a case into the disappearance of his wife -- as a neighbor is, “You never know what disguise he’s going be dressed in when he comes to the Halloween party.”

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Maybe she can get Durst on her show and yell at him for 15 minutes...

[Ravenbomb 0]

Jurors say dismemberment was irrelevant

 

Well I'm sure it's pretty fucking relevant to Black

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Jurors say dismemberment was irrelevant

 

Well I'm sure it's pretty fucking relevant to Black

Nah, he was dead already...