Mr. Durst’s murder conviction in California could be vacated because he died while an appeal was pending. A murder charge in New York appears to be moot.
The bizarre life of Robert A. Durst, the wayward scion of a vast New York real estate dynasty, ended on Monday when he died at 78 in a California hospital while serving a life sentence for murder.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, his death came with a twist.
In a potentially fitting coda to the notorious biography of a man who spent four decades eluding investigators as a suspect in three killings, his lone conviction in those crimes could well be vacated: He died before his appeal could be heard.
Under California law, the state’s Courts of Appeal can dismiss the appeal and order the trial court to set aside his September conviction, according to Laurie Levenson, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and the author of a treatise on the state’s criminal laws.
“The whole world knows the jury found Durst guilty,” Professor Levenson said, “but that’s not what the legal record will show. He didn’t finish his appeal.”
John Lewin, the deputy district attorney in Los Angeles and the lead prosecutor of the case that led to Mr. Durst’s conviction on charges of killing his close friend Susan Berman in 2000, echoed Professor Levenson’s view of what the public will remember.
“Bob Durst was convicted by a jury who came to the conclusion that he was responsible for the deaths of three people,” said Mr. Lewin, who sought during the trial to tie Mr. Durst to the killings of Ms. Durst, Ms. Berman and a third victim. “His death in no way changes what happened.”
He added: “Bob Durst is a murderer and he died a murderer no matter what the status of his legal position.”
Lawyers for Mr. Durst, said they planned to file a motion with the Courts of Appeal asking that the conviction be vacated.
Separately on Monday, the district attorney in Westchester County, N.Y., Mimi Rocah, suggested in a statement that Mr. Durst’s death rendered moot a murder charge filed against him there in November in connection with the 1982 disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen.
“I know how upsetting this news must be for Kathleen Durst’s family,” Ms. Rocah said. “We had hoped to allow them the opportunity to see Mr. Durst finally face charges for Kathleen’s murder because we know that all families never stop wanting closure, justice and accountability.” More information about the case would be made public soon, she said.
Robert Abrams, a lawyer for Kathleen Durst’s family, said that her accused killer’s death would not halt their quest for justice.
“Although Robert Durst has died, the ongoing investigation into those who helped him cover up her murder continues,” Mr. Abrams said of Ms. Durst, adding that “a further update” would be provided on Jan. 31, the 40th anniversary of her disappearance.
“In the interim,” he added, “please say a prayer for Kathie and his other victims.”
Mr. Durst, long an object of fascination in wealthy New York circles because of his status as the pariah of a powerful family, became a national sensation after the broadcast of “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” a 2015 HBO documentary.
Understand the Robert Durst Case
A high-profile murder. Robert A. Durst, the former heir to a New York real estate empire who was serving a life sentence for the 2000 killing of his longtime confidante Susan Berman, died on Jan. 10, 2022. Here’s a review of his past:
The film explored in detail the deaths of the three people Mr. Durst was suspected of killing: his wife, who vanished after a fight at the couple’s South Salem, N.Y., home; Ms. Berman, who was shot execution-style at her Los Angeles home; and Morris Black, a 71-year-old neighbor who was shot in Mr. Durst’s Galveston, Texas, apartment in 2001 and then dismembered. In each case, investigators found reason to believe Mr. Durst was involved.
The case involving Mr. Black appeared to be the most clear-cut, but Mr. Durst was acquitted after claiming he had acted in self-defense. Ultimately it was the slaying of Ms. Berman that produced the legal reckoning that had long loomed over Mr. Durst.
For years, she had been his fiercest ally, acting as his spokeswoman with reporters and as his staunchest defender against those who accused him of killing his first wife.
Fifteen years after Ms. Berman’s body was found by the police, who had been told where to look in a note that Mr. Durst himself wrote, he was charged with her murder. Prosecutors said he fatally shot her because he feared she would tell investigators that his wife’s disappearance had been a hoax — that Mr. Durst was responsible for her death and the disposal of her body.
The trial began in March 2020, then paused for 14 months because of the coronavirus pandemic, before resuming last May. Shortly after he was convicted, Mr. Durst tested positive for the virus. The illness exacerbated his existing medical problems, his lawyers said, and doctors could not revive him after he went into cardiac arrest on Monday.
“Bob lived a sad, painful and tragic life,” his brother Douglas said in a statement. “We hope his death brings some closure to those he hurt.
