Judge to Durst jurors after delay: 'Where did we leave off?'
Source: AP
By BRIAN MELLEY
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — The murder trial of multimillionaire Robert Durst resumed Monday without the defendant present and with arguments about whether the case should continue after a rare 14-month recess.
Judge Mark Windham questioned jurors in Los Angeles County Superior Court to see if they can complete their assignment that was interrupted in March 2020 during the pandemic. If so, it could be a first for the U.S. legal system.
“So, where did we leave off?” Windham said as jurors laughed.
The length of the stoppage is unprecedented and it’s the highest-profile U.S. case postponed because of the pandemic, Durst’s lawyers say. They have repeatedly — and unsuccessfully — sought a mistrial because they argued the delay harmed his chance of a fair trial.
FILE - In this March 10, 2020, file photo, real estate heir Robert Durst looks over during his murder trial in Los Angeles. Fourteen months after the murder trial of New York real estate heir Durst was put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, jurors are returning to court to see if they can finish the assignment they were given. A Los Angeles judge will question jurors Monday, May 17, 2021, to find out if they can continue to serve in the case that is expected to last four to five months. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo, Pool, File)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/durst-trial-resumes-2f0be920ad4e0981626955d8cb862194
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Source: Associated Press
By BRIAN MELLEY
May 18, 2021
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — A juror who read about the murder trial of multimillionaire Robert Durst during an unprecedented 14-month hiatus tied to the coronavirus pandemic was removed Tuesday as lawyers prepared to present a new round of opening statements.
Judge Mark Windham said he was removing the juror after she violated a court order not to read about the case during the lengthy break. Windham said the juror “took umbrage” that defense attorneys sought a mistrial because they felt the jurors wouldn’t be able to remember what they had heard over six days before the case was halted in March 2020.
Windham acknowledged the hiatus when he welcomed back jurors Monday and joked, “Where did we leave off?”
Whatever jurors may have forgotten about Durst — from the cloud of suspicion that has dogged him for decades to his claims of being trailed by bad luck — they will be reminded in a new round of opening arguments.
Durst, 78, an heir to a New York commercial real estate empire, is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of his best friend, Susan Berman. She was shot in the back of the head at her Los Angeles home in December 2000.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/us-news-ap-top-news-new-york-robert-durst-trials-4367040e64e26179d47f0cbf3e6b7df5
In this still image taken from the Law&Crime Network court video, real estate heir Robert Durst watches as Deputy District Attorney John Lewin, presents a new round of opening statements in the murder case against Durst after a 14-month recess due to the coronavirus pandemic in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Inglewood, Calif., on Tuesday, May 18, 2021. Durst, 78, an heir to a New York commercial real estate empire, is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of his best friend, Susan Berman. (Law&Crime Network via AP, Pool)