Millionaire Manhattan real estate scion Robert Durst has won a four-month postponement of his murder trial, the Daily News has learned.
The trial previously set for September now has a new start date of Jan. 13, a source with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Friday.
Judge Mark Windham agreed to the delay after defense lawyers raised concerns about the volume of evidence in the case and conflicts with attorney schedules.
Durst, 76, is accused of killing best friend Susan Berman, 55, in her Los Angeles bungalow in 2000 to keep her from telling New York authorities what she knew about the 1982 disappearance of Durst’s first wife Kathie.
Kathie’s brother Jim McCormack said Friday he was disappointed by the trial delay and worried about Durst’s longevity.
“I’m just hoping he’s still alive. Our family has been through hell,” McCormack told The News.
Durst has battled esophageal cancer and a buildup of fluid on his brain in recent years and underwent a spinal fusion surgery.
“I have the utmost confidence in the district attorney and his team, but I feel like a steam kettle that’s been firing on a stove more than 30 years. She was my baby sister. I want closure and justice. Closure will be a jury saying he’s guilty,” McCormack said.
Durst was arrested on the Berman murder warrant in New Orleans on March 14, 2015 — the day before the dramatic finale of HBO’s “The Jinx,” the six-part docu-series that chronicled his life.
In the final episode, Durst walked into a bathroom still wearing a hot mic and muttered an alleged confession to himself, unaware he was still being recorded.
“What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course,” he said into the hot mic.
Durst has pleaded not guilty to Berman’s murder. His lawyers claim he has no idea what happened to his first wife, who was declared dead in 2017 though her remains were never found.
Durst previously admitted killing and dismembering his neighbor Morris Black in Texas in 2001. He was acquitted on self-defense grounds.
Before he was brought to California for the murder case, Durst faced a federal weapons charge in New Orleans. He was convicted and is now serving a seven-year prison sentence for that while awaiting trial in Los Angeles.
