-(car engine rumbling) -(snow splattering)
♪♪
Which one of those pictures is Kathie?
Kathie? Oh.
This is Kathie.
Jim McCormack: Hey, Mom? I don't remember seeing this picture,
-like, for the life of me. -Oh, I have pictures laying all over the place.
I'm looking at Kathie in this picture,
and she was so elegant
-to look at that here. -Oh, well, you can have it.
♪♪
(Andrew Jarecki speaking)
Well, they all miss her.
That was sad.
Very sad.
Okay?
Jim McCormack: We want closure on her disappearance.
We could finally have a memorial service
'cause we held off on doing a memorial service for Kathie
because it's almost like giving up.
We have got to have the patience to see it through.
We're not gonna be judge, jury, and executioner.
That's somebody else's job. But, um, life...
life'll go on for everybody at that point in time.
♪♪
(indistinct news chatter)
reporter (on TV): So how do you take a case that is like--
it's the murder of Susan Berman,
but everything dates back really to the disappearance
of Kathie Durst. We're talking almost 40 years.
All these years, Jim was obsessive.
It got difficult for me,
but even my family and friends were like,
"What he's doing is the right thing.
He's pursuing justice for Kathie."
Jim McCormack: Emotionally, I'm here really for her,
and for my mom, God rest her soul.
We've waited all these years for justice.
newscaster (TV): We have some breaking news in the Jinx murder trial.
Defendant Robert Durst will take the stand
in his own defense.
This isn't the first time he's been on trial for murder.
We know the last one ended in an acquittal.
I'm still shaking my head on that one.
Susan Criss (on TV): We the jury find the defendant,
Robert Durst, not guilty.
Jim McCormack: I still remember
the verdict down in Galveston.
I couldn't breathe for about a minute and a half.
It was like... it was stunning.
Absolutely stunning.
(indistinct)
You know, I have faith, but faith doesn't always,
deliver justice.
("Survivor" by Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats playing)
♪ Well, you just think that I'm ♪
♪ Some great survivor ♪
(static)
♪ And you just build upon ♪
♪ The light to carry you ♪
(shutter snapping)
♪ Well, I don't even talk that way ♪
♪ See, I wanted you to stay ♪
♪ And show you the world's a better place ♪
(scuttling)
♪ And as we crawl to find our way ♪
♪ We even take the shape of something else ♪
(shutter snaps)
-♪ You think that I'm just ♪ -(gunshot)
♪ Some great survivor ♪
♪ You think that I'm just ♪
(shutters snapping)
♪ Some great survivor ♪
♪ I'm afraid that the weight of the world ♪
♪ Is catching up with you ♪
♪♪
(scuttling)
(wind blowing)
(door opens)
-(tense music playing) -(door slams)
(lights clicking, buzzing)
John Lewin: Bob is gonna testify in this case.
And the reason Bob is gonna testify in this case
is because it worked for him last time.
Bob made a fine witness in his own behalf in Galveston
and the prosecutors there did not know what was coming.
(door creaks open)
Ethan Milius: When they stipulated to Bob
having written the Cadaver Note,
he has to testify. How else is he gonna explain
that he wrote the letter
and the circumstance of why is she dead?
(wheelchair rolling)
Like, how did that happen?
Charles Bagli: How is he gonna knit this all together
without making himself the perpetrator?
bailiff: Please raise your right hand.
Do you solemnly state that the testimony you may give
in the cause now pending before this court
shall be the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
Robert Durst: Yes, I do.
Dick DeGuerin: Bob, do you realize
you have an absolute right not to testify?
DeGuerin: Did you kill Susan Berman?
No.
DeGuerin: Do you know who did?
No, I do not.
DeGuerin: It's important for the jury
to be able to identify with a defendant in some way,
whether it's sympathy, empathy, or...
simply believing the story.
♪♪
We had one goal
and that was telling the whole story.
I wanna first ask you
about some of your health problems.
Are you able to hear me
without using that screen in front of you?
Carlos Leal: You're looking at this old guy,
going, "Wow, could he really have done this?"
You just don't know.
DeGuerin: I wanna start with talking about
when you were a child.
Who, among your family, did you favor,
and who among your family did your brother Douglas favor?
(high-pitched, weak voice)
-(gentle music playing) -(quiet laughter)
(inaudible)
-(splashing) -(laughter)
(inaudible)
(whoosh)
(muffled cheer)
Bagli: Bob was the oldest of four
and I think, to some degree,
he resented his siblings.
(waves washing ashore)
His hatred for his brother Douglas
goes back to when they were children.
Really small children.
And it's clear that he really cherished his mother.
(birds chirping)
DeGuerin: How old were you when your mother died?
Durst: I was 7 years old when my mother died.
I looked out the window, and there was Mommy on the roof.
She either jumped or fell
from the roof of our home.
(curious music playing)
DeGuerin: I think it is important
in anybody understanding Bob
to know what he had been through.
And the fact is that he saw his mother die.
Were you there when that happened?
I saw my mother on the driveway...
in her nightgown.
(cloth flapping)
They say she died instantly.
David Chesnoff: This isn't like Bob woke up one day
and decided to be the Bob he is.
Just like you and me, we're all the product of
what led us to a point in time.
And he had a lot of things
that led him to be the way he is.
♪♪
DeGuerin: I'm gonna change subjects with you, Bob.
When you first met Susan Berman,
-did you and she hit it off? -Yes.
DeGuerin: What did you find in common with you and Susan?
(Durst speaking)
Carmen Kletecka: He has a way of drawing you in
like the way a child draws you in.
Something about him just sort of makes you wanna...
help him.
♪♪
Milius: He takes the stand, and I'm thinking to myself, like,
"This might actually be a problem
because he's compelling."
I can see people going,
"I actually like this guy."
And that, like,
shifts the sympathy towards him.
Hon. Mark Windham: We're all complex people,
and I think that that's what Mr. Durst tried to share
and his lawyers tried to share about him.
And I felt that the defense was really good
at getting at the emotion of a case.
Really good defense lawyers can mine that
and, in the right circumstances, can succeed.
operator (on phone): Hello. This is a prepaid call from...
Durst (on phone): Bob!
-Debrah Lee Charatan (on phone): Hi. -Durst: Debbie?
Charatan: How did it go today?
Durst: I'm not 100% sure.
I think we did pretty good.
Charatan: Okay, that's great.
Durst: How about coming to visit me?
Charatan: Um...
Well, you know, I don't know.
(Durst speaking)
(Charatan speaking)
Windham: Ordinarily, a spouse is present
when their spouse is, is, is on trial.
We would've provided a seat for her
but she had not been present for any of the proceedings.
Bagli: Debbie made it clear that she did not want
her name mentioned
if she could do anything to avoid it.
(indistinct, muffled)
So she was monitoring the trial from afar,
and she was doing so through
the presence of her own lawyer,
who attended the trial every day for months
and was keeping an eye on everything.
(mouthing)
-He's in the fucking show, Charlie. Just-- -I know! Let him be in there!
I don't wanna be the one that mentions his name!
(muffled chatter)
(Charatan speaking)
(Durst speaking)
-(rain pattering) -(thunder rumbles)
Windham: You may resume your direct examination
of Mr. Durst, the defendant.
DeGuerin: So now, I wanna talk about
the fall of 2000.
Had you made plans
to spend Christmas with Susan Berman?
Yeah.
DeGuerin: What route did you take from San Francisco?
DeGuerin: And your intent was to do what?
(Durst speaking)
DeGuerin: As you got to Benedict Canyon,
what did you first see?
(doorbell rings)
And I knocked a few times.
(lock clicking)
DeGuerin: Did you have a key to her front door?
(Durst speaking)
(dog barking)
DeGuerin: Did you see what the liquid was that her head was in?
♪♪
DeGuerin: What was going through your mind? What did you think?
(Durst speaking)
John Okanishi: When Bob Durst took the stand,
he talked with such sincerity that I believed him.
I thought, "I get the feeling he's telling the truth.
He's going into so much detail."
He did have credibility.
♪♪
DeGuerin: And then what happened from there?
DeGuerin: What did you put on the envelope?
DeGuerin: And on the inside, on the note?
DeGuerin: Did you lie about it for years?
DeGuerin: Why?
(bird cawing)
(rattling, clang)
(tense music playing)
(DeGuerin speaking)
newscaster: Slow and methodical seems to be how Durst
is telling his side of the story.
And it seems that in the past, he's been,
I don't know, somewhat charismatic enough
to turn at least just one juror.
♪♪
DeGuerin: I thought on direct examination,
Bob did quite well.
He knew what the questions would be.
He knew what his answers were gonna be.
They were basically softballs
that I pitched to him to hit.
But, of course, on cross-examination,
Lewin would have the chance to question Bob.
John Lewin: Okay, so go ahead and call me...
(indistinct phone chatter)
Working on Bob's cross-examination plan,
I thought, "How do I kind of guide and steer
this trial and his testimony where I want it to go?"
As I prepare, it's just me and the boys
on the bed, getting ready for trial.
Eugene Miyata: John was working on the cross plan.
At various points, he did share with us what was going on,
and we had input on, on certain things. But, um,
you know, for the most part, that was, that was his baby.
This is a prosecutor who knows his case inside out.
This is a prosecutor
who is living to win this case right now.
Lewin: I have a 300-page document
of all of Bob's lies.
And during my cross-examination of Bob,
there's a theme of what I want to do.
♪♪
I wanna confront Bob on all of his statements
and let the jury see for themselves
that Bob is a pathological liar.
Bagli: It's the heavyweight bout.
John Lewin, the prosecutor,
versus Bob Durst, the defendant.
The question is, can Bob stand up to
what is clearly gonna be
a withering cross-examination by this prosecutor?
-(clothing rustling) -(line ringing)
(Durst speaking)
♪♪
newscaster: When John Lewin gets a chance to cross Robert Durst,
I can't even imagine how this is gonna go.
Because, I mean, John Lewin...
(Windham speaking)
(Lewin speaking)
-Windham: Okay. -(scattered laughs)
(laughter)
(Windham speaking)
Lewin: So, Mr. Durst, Mr. DeGuerin called you "Bob."
So, you tell me, how do you want me to refer to you?
I'm comfortable doing it however you want to do it.
Do you want me to call you "Bob"?
Do you want me to call you "Mr. Durst"?
What would you prefer?
I thought he was gonna be on his best behavior,
and he came off incredibly aggressive right off the top.
Lewin: Okay, I'll call you "sir."
Alright, sir. So, first of all, how do you...
I wanted to make sure
that the first thing I hit him on
had to do with the area that I was most vulnerable on.
Bob lost his mom at age 7.
And that's a fact.
That's not a lie. That's not made up.
Are there jurors who are basically gonna go,
"Yeah, Bob killed three people.
"But you know what?
"It all started with his mom,
and it's very sad."
When you think about these memories
of the four of you playing UNO, throwing the Frisbee,
are those painful or are those happy memories for you?
Happy memories.
Lewin: You could probably close your eyes right now,
and you could literally see the four of you
playing UNO,
throwing the Frisbee.
Is that accurate?
Yes.
And he's lying his ass off.
It's not true.
Lewin: Your mom died in 1950.
-Is that correct? -Correct.
Lewin: Mr. Durst, if I were to tell you
that the Frisbee was not invented until 1957...
(whooshing)
...seven years after your mom died,
what would be your response?
I don't know.
Lewin: Would it surprise you to find out that the game of UNO
was not invented until 1971?
Durst: It would surprise me, yes.
Lewin: Well, I want you to assume for a moment
that the Frisbee was not invented until 1957
and that UNO was not invented until 1971.
If that were true, you would agree
that these memories that you've described,
these emotional memories,
cannot be accurate. Is that correct?
Correct.
(birds chirping)
(whoosh)
Within the first day, you know,
John Lewin's already getting him on lies.
And that was such a small detail, right?
And I'm thinking, "If John Lewin's going to get him
"on this small of a detail,
Bob is gonna be up there for a while."
Lewin: Alright, let's talk about some other areas of untruthfulness.
You're used to, in your world,
saying whatever you wanna say,
and nobody really questions it.
You said that you were not used to people
questioning your veracity.
Can you explain what you mean by that?
-(quiet laughter) -(upbeat music playing)
He was pretty funny at times on the witness stand.
He has a sharp sense of humor.
You know, he knew how to return the volley.
Lewin: You're smiling again, and I just wanna ask
why you're grinning right now.
'Cause this is funny.
Lewin: What is-- What's funny about it?
You're asking me the same question 15 times.
Windham: It's a peculiar thing about criminal court.
You're dealing with
such tremendous suffering and horror,
and yet,
you have the whole of human experience
in that courtroom.
And there are humorous moments.
I mean, there's levity.
David Belcher: You wanna talk about, like,
sort of a show-stopping moment in the trial?
John's, like, asking a question,
and Bob has this tablet to help him read.
And so, he's reading the question,
and John's question was a little bit too long, and so--
-A lot too long. -A lot too long.
I think I need to congratulate you.
You have just broken your personal record.
You filled up 18 lines on my tablet.
(quiet laughter)
Lewin: And I wanna congratulate you. You've set the perjury record.
DeGuerin: Objection, Your Honor.
-Chesnoff: I'm moving for a-- -DeGuerin: Judge, you cannot let him get away with that.
Chesnoff: I have a motion, Your Honor.
Okanishi: At some points during the trial,
I actually felt kinda bad
for the defense lawyers.
Mr. DeGuerin would stand up and object...
Windham: Overruled!
Okanishi: ...again and again and again.
He almost seemed like a jack-in-the-box.
Lewin: Have you ever used those responses--
(DeGuerin speaking)
(Windham speaking)
Bagli: They didn't understand
the peculiarities of California law.
DeGuerin: I found that requiring a citation
to a particular statute number was...
vexing, at first.
♪♪
(Windham speaking)
Lewin: Alright, let's move on.
Let's talk about Nick Chavin for a moment.
(on TV) You agree that at the time Kathie disappeared...
Nick Chavin: I was eager to watch the trial
for two reasons. I wanted to hear
what Bob was saying in general,
and also specifically about me.
Lewin: Would you agree, Mr. Durst,
that the fact that one of the two people
that you've said is one of your best friends
has come into court and has provided
extremely damaging evidence
in this case against you? Would you agree?
Come on.
Lewin (on TV): Then why did you say that?
(Durst speaking)
I feel pretty good about--
Either way, whether he's convicted or not.
That's a lousy thought to have.
Nick couldn't get to that point,
to think that this person is capable of this.
He even testified against Bob,
and he's still conflicted.
He didn't wanna let his brain go to that point
to understand that because it's...
It just destroys you, I think.
Lewin: Would you agree, Mr. Durst,
that if Nick Chavin's statement about you confessing to him
is believed, that that demonstrates
that you killed Susan Berman?
Lewin: Alright, let's talk about Susan Berman.
You agree that Susan Berman was your closest friend, correct?
Lewin: Mr. Durst, you stipulated that you wrote the Cadaver Note,
and you agree that once you stipulated
that meant, by necessity,
that you had found Susan's dead body, correct?
Lewin: And it also meant
that you needed to be able to explain
why it was you found yourself
at Susan's house, with her dead body,
when you weren't the killer. Correct?
(floor creaking)
George Shamlyan: When Robert Durst took the stand,
he was trying to tell a story which fit the evidence.
Coming here and having staycation
with Susan Berman on those days,
and finding her body
and writing the Cadaver Note.
Lewin: Bob has a very elaborate explanation
for what happened with Susan. And, of course,
everything that he said is bullshit about staycations
and how he found Susan's body.
But I need to conclusively prove
Bob is lying.
Tim Henderson: There's so much evidence in this case
and some of it became more relevant
after Bob chose to get on the stand.
Shamlyan: As he was testifying,
we remembered about the day planner
that was recovered from Susan Berman's house.
Henderson: A detective goes down to evidence.
He grabs the day planner,
brings it to court the next day.
We're literally in the back hallway,
and we're going through the day planner page by page.
Miyata: Originally, our tactic was gonna be,
let's look at it over the lunch hour.
We can figure out how we're gonna do this.
And then, that turned into John saying,
"Gimme the planner!" Right?
"Because I wanna question Bob about this."
Lewin: Alright, sir. We're gonna show you Susan's day planner.
You recognize this to be Susan's handwriting, correct?
(Durst speaking)
Henderson: Susan wrote every single thing she was gonna do.
She would even write things, cross them out,
cover it up with a Post-it, and write new things.
She was meticulous with what she was gonna do
the week she was killed,
and none of them were to have
a staycation with Bob.
Habib Balian: From the day planner on this page,
which is open to December 28th, is a business card
for David Izenman Hair Studio.
Says, "December 28th at 11:00."
And then, on the 28th, it says, "11:00, David."
Lewin: See that, Mr. Durst?
Would you agree that on the 27th and 28th,
according to your testimony,
this is when you are supposed to be on a staycation with Susan?
Is that correct?
We don't see any Disneyland or Catalina.
Balian: The day planner represented reality.
We had Bob on the stand and his testimony,
which was fictional, right?
But you don't really know it's fictional
until you critically analyze it.
And that fiction kinda got faced
with the reality of the day planner,
and the two just collided.
Lewin: Do you see any notation, Mr. Durst,
that references you?
(Durst speaking)
Henderson: Every single day of that month,
she was writing things.
In fact, she was gonna call Bobby
a few days after she was murdered,
which, obviously, she wasn't able to do.
♪♪
Lewin: You see where it says, "call Bobby"?
(Durst speaking)
Lewin: Are you aware that you did not answer my question
in that answer you gave? Or no?
(DeGuerin speaking)
Windham: Overruled!
Balian: Susan Berman's day planner
really demonstrated that just about everything Bob Durst
was saying on the stand was false.
Because she spoke to us,
she spoke to that jury through that day planner.
(tense music playing)
-(traffic noise) -(wind blowing)
newscaster 1 (on radio): Here we are, a brand new day, a brand new week,
and Robert Durst's still on the witness stand,
still on cross-examination, fourth day of cross.
newscaster 2 (on radio): I really think the prosecutor's still trying to prove
that there's so many lies in this huge web of lies
that Robert Durst has woven since the beginning
with the disappearance of his wife Kathie.
Lewin: This trial, Mr. Durst,
as you are aware, alleges a special circumstance
of witness killing.
That you killed Susan Berman
because you killed your wife,
and she helped you cover it up.
Lewin: Do you miss Kathie?
Yes.
Lewin: Tell me about her.
Lewin: What was she like?
(Durst speaking)
Lewin: Would you agree she was
a very bright young woman?
Lewin: Beautiful?
Lewin (on TV): Would you agree that she was close to
and devoted to her family?
Durst (on TV): She was close to her sisters and her brother.
(news jingle playing)
newscaster 1 (on TV): Right now, Robert Durst on cross-examination.
newscaster 2 (on TV): Today is day five.
Tomorrow will be day six of cross-examination.
Still plenty of cross-examination to come...
Jim McCormack: The trial in Los Angeles
was something that I watched daily.
It has been a roller coaster of emotions.
I want him to face up to his...
many, many transgressions, especially against Kathie.
I want him to be held accountable.
Lewin: It's your sworn testimony that you have no idea
what happened to Kathie, correct?
Durst (on TV): Correct.
Lewin: Alright, Mr. Durst, I wanna talk about
what has been referred to
as "the bathroom audio."
You're aware of this, correct?
Lewin: How did you feel
when Andrew Jarecki is showing you,
"Here's the Sareb note. Here's the Cadaver Note.
-Which one did you not write?" -Yes.
Lewin: And you walked into the bathroom right after that.
What did you say?
Lewin: Play the clip for Mr. Durst.
-(clicking) -(tense music playing)
(Durst groaning on TV)
Durst (on TV): Killed them all, of course.
Lewin: Do you agree that you said those five words,
"Killed them all, of course"?
(Durst speaking)
Lewin: So you think that you added
"they'll all think" before the words,
"I killed them all, of course"? Is that correct?
Please play it again. Please play it right before,
and I want you to listen very carefully.
I want you to tell me when you hear
any of the words you just described.
(Durst groaning on TV)
Durst (on TV): Killed them all, of course.
Do you agree that in the stipulated recording,
the unedited, stipulated recording,
that the only words that are on that recording at that section
are the five words, "Killed them all, of course"?
And would you agree, Mr. Durst, that those five words
are extremely incriminating?
No?
Since you cannot explain what is,
in essence can be argued as,
a confession, Mr. Durst,
why don't you just, right now,
put the facade down
and tell people what actually happened?
Why don't you just tell us right now,
get it out, and just tell us what you did?
This is your shot! Everyone's watching!
-The world's watching you! -(laughs)
Here's your chance! Tell them what you did!
(DeGuerin and Windham speaking)
-Lewin: Well, wait a minute. -(court murmuring)
Why did you say you never said
you knew where Kathie was buried?
You're saying that you don't even know if Kathie's dead,
you don't even know what happened to her.
Now, you're talking about where she's buried.
Again, only the killer could've known that.
How do you know Kathie's buried at all?
DeGuerin: I wanted to stop the cross-examination.
Bob was getting worse every day.
-(murmuring) -Lewin: I just wanna ask you, Mr. Durst.
Have you been completely honest with this jury
to the best of your memory?
Lewin: Would you lie under oath to help your case?
If you had killed Susan, would you tell us?
Michael Belcher: Bob gave some very unusual
and, some might say, extraordinarily honest answers
to some of John's questions.
I mean, who says that?
Lewin: How many instances of perjury
do you think you have committed
during your testimony in this trial?
Lewin: Bob, as usual,
is having to get around his lies
by telling bigger and crazier lies,
and the lies are like a snowball.
As they roll down the hill, the lies get bigger and crazier,
until they basically are a giant, huge snowball
out of a cartoon.
Once you admit that you would lie
to keep from admitting something damaging to the jury,
would you agree that that pretty much destroys
any credibility you would have?
Lewin: So, there's perjury, there's minor perjury,
then there's minor, minor perjury--
I did limit him. I put a limit. I can, and I did.
I think I helped guide him
to a slightly shorter cross-examination
than we would otherwise have had.
As it was, it was nine days.
That's the longest cross-examination
I've ever seen or heard of.
Lewin: This is my last question. As you sit here right now,
did you kill Susan Berman?
No.
Lewin: But if you had, you would lie about it, correct?
-Correct. -Lewin: Nothing further.
(chair creaking)
♪♪
-(leaves rustling) -(phone clicking)
Hi.
newscaster 1 (on TV): At the end of the day, it sounds like
Robert Durst taking the stand was a big mistake.
newscaster 2 (on TV): The decision lies with the defendant,
so it's only his decision.
newscaster 3 (on TV): Yeah, I mean, look.
It was, it was certainly a tough call.
I'm not gonna sit here and question Dick DeGuerin.
Bagli: Bob's legal expenses
for his defense in Los Angeles
soared to about $12 million.
You would've expected a spectacular,
high-tech defense.
DeGuerin: Is this when the gun goes off?
Durst: Yes.
Bagli: But there were glaring examples,
time and again, of poor preparation.
-(stand rattling) -(quiet chatter)
(indistinct)
(laughs)
Lisa DePaulo: I felt bad for DeGuerin.
He was not at the top of his game anymore.
He had to know that.
Whether you like Bob Durst or hate him,
whether you think he's a bad person or a liar,
your duty is to say "not guilty."
Thank you.
♪♪
Lewin: I wanna thank you all for your time
and for your attention.
This man has killed three people in this case.
I don't care that he's old.
I don't care that he's sitting in a wheelchair.
I don't care that he's sick.
It's irrelevant!
Do not let
this narcissistic psychopath
get away with what he has done.
There's one verdict in this case, one verdict only.
That is guilty.
(Windham speaking)
newscaster 1: All the evidence is in. The arguments have been made.
The Robert Durst trial is now in the hands of the jury.
-(birds chirping) -(news jingle playing)
newscaster 2 (on TV): Breaking news. The Durst trial has concluded.
Closing arguments, rebuttal, all done.
And up next, the jury has been sent to the room
-with all their instructions to deliberate... -(phone buzzes)
newscaster 2 (on TV): ...starting a clock for the verdict watch...
Jim McCormack: We have to just wait it out,
I guess, is the only way to describe it.
And it's full of a lot of stress and anxiety.
newscaster 3 (on TV): Jury deliberations continue in the murder trial
for the 2000 murder of his friend...
(tense music playing)
Hilda Weiss: There was a whole lotta energy
by the time we got into the deliberation room
of needing to talk to each other,
one of the things that we couldn't do all this time.
-(pens clicking) -(papers rustle)
And then, asking ourselves
what evidence really made a difference to us.
That's when things seemed to...
build intensity.
I stopped guessing about juries a long time ago
because it's either heart-breaking
or great exhilaration
and it doesn't do any good to read tea leaves.
We begin this hour in Los Angeles, California,
where day two of deliberations in the Jinx murder trial
ended without a verdict.
(TV news chatter)
Nick Chavin: My wife and I think about how our lives
would change depending on the verdict.
The most frightening thing for her is an acquittal,
which has the madman on the loose.
(TV news chatter)
Terry Chavin: It's really stressful.
Is it gonna be what we want?
Is it gonna be the verdict we want?
You know, he murdered all these people.
How could we let somebody out in our society,
prancing around,
acting like he didn't do anything wrong
when we all see what he did?
Everybody sees what he did.
Jarecki: It doesn't feel real
because the anticipation's been so endless.
And for Jim McCormack, it's been 40 years
of this suspense.
Sharon McCormack: It's been 40 years.
There's always bumps and bumps and bumps
and brick walls, and it just,
it seems to never end.
I just, I pray every day. I just want it to end.
Before our lives end, I want this to end.
♪♪
Bagli: Something was in the air
and I wasn't sure what it was.
Then, a court administrator
comes out and whispers,
"We got a verdict."
-Sharon McCormack: Oh, my God! -speaker: Oh, my goodness!
Sharon McCormack: Oh, my God, guys! I'm actually--
I'm already crying, I'm so worried about this--
Don't cry. Just get-get me another beer, please.
-(foreboding music playing) -(courtroom chatter)
Windham: I was informed
that they would not transport Mr. Durst to court
because he had been exposed to COVID.
newscaster: Robert Durst is being isolated
after possible COVID exposure.
-(TV chatter) -Now, they're arguing about
the process of actually reading the verdict
for our isolation-bound defendant.
What a joke.
♪♪
(quiet chatter)
Weiss: Mr. Lewin was looking at the jurors.
It did go through my mind, "Boy, I wouldn't wanna be sitting
(laughs) in his seat right now."
You don't know for sure what's going to happen.
Windham: Has the jury reached a verdict?
juror: Yes, we have, Your Honor.
-(TV chatter) -Oh, this is torture.
This is torture.
(somber music playing)
clerk: Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles,
the People of the State of California versus Robert Durst.
(on TV) We, the jury, in the above-entitled action,
find the defendant, Robert Durst...
-...guilty of the crime... -(cheering, clapping)
...in violation of penal code section 197, section...
-Oh, my God, Jim. Oh, my God. -God. See?
Oh, my God. I'm sorry.
(sniffles, indistinct)
speaker: That's, like, so wonderful.
Sharon McCormack: You don't know what it is.
-(clerk continues indistinctly) -(sniffles)
Lester Holt: Breaking news tonight in the murder trial
of multimillionaire real estate heir Robert Durst.
Robert Durst is found guilty of murder.
Breaking news. Robert Durst convicted
of murdering his best friend in a case
that dates back 20 years.
newscaster: The guilty verdict returned in the last hour...
Jarecki: Bob Durst was just convicted
of first-degree murder of Susan Berman,
and, uh...
(sighs)
people are very emotional about this, me included.
(TV chatter continues)
(weak laugh)
It's hard for Nick to, um...
You know, he saw two different Bobs.
I have different feelings
than everyone else in this room about Bob.
Look, she's...
(Jarecki speaking)
(TV news chatter continues)
-(door creaks) -(distant siren)
(shutters snapping)
Lewin: We just feel really gratified that,
finally, he's been held accountable for what he's done.
It's been 40 years. You know, he's 78 years old,
and he's been walking around for a long time.
He had a lot more of a life...
You know, Kathie didn't make 30.
-Okay, guys. -reporter: Thank you.
-(suitcase rattling) -(reporters chattering)
♪♪
Jarecki: How did Bob find out about the verdict?
I don't know.
His lawyers' duty would be to tell him about the verdict.
Jarecki: Do you remember how Bob learned
about the verdict, if he wasn't in court?
No, I don't.
Jarecki: Do you know how he found out about the verdict?
That's a good question.
I really don't, Andrew. I'm sorry.
(birds chirping)
Bagli: The day that the jury returned its verdict,
Bob was in his cell.
And his lawyers left town
immediately afterward without speaking to him.
(breeze blowing)
Nobody told Bob until the next day
that he had been convicted.
None of Bob's lawyers told him he was convicted?
None of the four members of the defense team.
Jarecki: Somebody must've told him.
-Somebody else. -(sniffs) Somebody else.
(ominous music playing)
interviewer: Do you know who informed Robert Durst
that the jury had found him guilty?
-Yes, I do. -interviewer: And who was that?
That was me.
interviewer: And where did you do that?
At the Los Angeles County Jail.
♪♪
Jarecki: And what was Alan's role in the case?
He was there, I think, as a representative of, uh,
of Debbie as a lawyer.
-interviewer: Are you currently an attorney? -Yes, I am.
interviewer: And what type of law do you practice?
-It's criminal defense. -interviewer: Okay.
Jarecki: Why did Debbie need a lawyer?
I don't know. You'd have to ask Alan or Debbie.
Maybe you'll get a chance. I don't know.
interviewer: Without divulging any
attorney-client privileged communications,
do you have an understanding as to why Ms. Charatan
retained a criminal attorney?
I know why she retained me.
(dramatic crescendo)
("Suicide" by Mondo Boys playing)
♪ I'll tell ♪
♪ You a thing ♪
♪ I heard ♪
♪ Down at the spot ♪
♪ That God ♪
♪ I've been prayin' ♪
♪ So take everything you got ♪
♪ Put 'em all together, shake it side to side ♪
♪ Mix it up and call it suicide ♪
♪ Put 'em all together, shake it side to side ♪
♪ Mix it up and call it suicide ♪
(vocalizing)
♪ Put 'em all together, shake it side to side ♪
♪ Mix it up and call it suicide ♪
(vocalizing)
♪ Put 'em all together, shake it side to side ♪
♪ Mix it up and call it suicide ♪
(vocalizing)
(song fades out)