ROBERT DURST: PARTICIPATING IN DOCUMENTARY 'THE JINX' WAS 'STUPID,' PUT HIM IN JAIL

A close friend of Robert Durst told prosecutors for months that the real estate heir did not confess any killing to him.

Lawyers for Durst presented transcripts in a Los Angeles courtroom on Friday (17 FEB.) that showed Nathan Chavin denying that Durst indicated he killed their mutual friend Susan Berman.

Chavin says he waffled for months because of a struggle between loyalties to Durst and Berman.

It took seven months before he told prosecutors Durst told him: "It was her or me. I had no choice."

Defense lawyers suggested Chavin made up the story to curry favor with Durst's brother.

Chavin did business with the New York real estate development empire headed by Douglas Durst.

Chavin says the brothers hate each other and Douglas Durst feared his older brother and wanted him locked up.

Robert Durst told Chavin he was stupid to participate in the documentary about his life "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst."

Durst told Chavin in a recorded jail phone call played Friday in a Los Angeles courtroom that the filmmaker had put him behind bars.

Chavin reminded Durst on the call that he counseled him not to participate in "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst." The film unearthed new evidence implicating Durst in three killings.

Durst has pleaded not guilty to murder in the 2000 killing of death of Susan Berman in Los Angeles.

Chavin is testifying in a hearing to record testimony from witnesses who are old or fear for their safety in case they're not able to testify at a trial in the Berman case.

POOL

FILE: Los Angeles, 7 Nov. 2016

1. Robert Durst enters courtroom in a wheel chair and is seated next to his lawyers

++Off Camera++

2. UPSOUND "We enter a plea of not guilty."

Judge: "Not guilty plea will be entered."

3. Various of judge

4. Tight of Los Angeles County prosecutor

5. Various Durst with attorney Dick De Guerin

6. Wide of judge

7. Tight De Guerin

8. SOUNDBITE Robert Durst, suspect:

"Your honor, I'm willing to waive my rights. I do want to say here and now though, I am not guilty. I did not kill Susan Berman."

Judge: "Thank you. And do you in fact waive those rights at this time?"

Durst: "Yes."

9. Various Durst

DURST APPEARS IN NEW ORLEANS COURT; POLICE SAY HE HAD A REVOLVER WITH HIM WHEN ARRESTED

Millionaire Robert Durst agreed Monday (16 MARCH 2015) to return to Los Angeles to face a 15-year-old murder charge after muttering that he "killed them all" in a documentary about his links to three sensational killings.

Robert Durst, 71, appeared before a judge in New Orleans after FBI agents arrested him before HBO's broadcast of Sunday's final episode of the documentary.

He is charged in the shooting death of Susan Berman, a mobster's daughter who acted as his spokeswoman. He has also long been suspected in the death of his wife, Kathleen Durst, and was acquitted years ago in the death of an elderly neighbor.

In the finale of the documentary that authorities hope will finally lead to a conviction, he muttered that "killed them all, of course."

He shuffled into the courtroom with his hands shackled at his waist, wearing sandals and an orange jumpsuit. He turned to the gallery and smiled, then appeared to fall asleep just before the hearing started. Later, he answered "yes" to questions from the judge about whether he was waiving extradition from Louisiana state to California.

But one of his lawyers, Dick DeGuerin, said the trip may be delayed because New Orleans prosecutors are considering other unspecified charges. He wouldn't elaborate, and spokesman Christopher Bowman said the Orleans Parish district attorney's office won't comment.

A police report said Durst was in possession of a revolver when he was arrested. In Louisiana, a person needs a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and it was not immediately clear if Durst had a permit.

A former prosecutor who reopened one of the cold cases against Durst years ago, Jeanine Pirro, said Monday that his own words, recorded during and after a lengthy interview he gave to the filmmaker, are enough to convict him.

In the finale of "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst," Durst acknowledges similarities in the handwriting of a letter he wrote and another one sent anonymously to Beverly Hills Police alerting them to his friend's "cadaver." Then he went to the bathroom, still wearing his live microphone.

What followed was bizarre rambling in which Durst said, apparently to himself, "There it is. You're caught" and "What the hell did I do? Killed them all of course."

Jarecki and his co-writer and cinematographer Marc Smerling answered some of the many questions raised by Durst's audiotaped comments in a New York Times interview published Monday.

They said they never confronted Durst about what he said in the bathroom, but that they did share what they found with authorities last year as they were preparing the film to be aired.

Durst willingly talked with Jarecki on camera. They met after the filmmaker told a fictionalized account of Durst's story in "All Good Things," a 2010 film starring Ryan Gosling.

The making of the documentary took three years, and the bathroom audio was discovered by an editing crew last June, Jarecki said.

For the filmmakers, the audiotape tipped the scales - they not only believe he's responsible for the murders, but that he's capable of more violence. Jarecki told the Times that they hired security and were relieved when Durst was finally arrested.

Berman was the daughter of an associate of Las Vegas mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky who spoke out on Durst's behalf after his wife disappeared. She was killed at her home near Beverly Hills with a bullet to the back of her head.

Durst then lived as a mute woman in a Texas boarding house until 2001, when dismembered parts of Black's body were found floating in Galveston Bay. He fled house arrest, then turned up shoplifting in Pennsylvania.

Lewis told that jury that Durst shot Black in self-defense, and he was acquitted of murder, despite admitting that he dismembered Black's body.

AP Television

New Orleans, March 16, 2015

1. Various of attorneys for Robert Durst leaving the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court

2. SOUNDBITE Dick DeGuerin, Attorney for Robert Durst:

"let me just say that we came here to waive jurisdiction and go back to California and get it on. Bob Durst didn't kill Susan Berman. He's ready to end all the rumor and speculation and have a trial. But we were frustrated because local authorities are considering filing charges on him here and holding him here. We're ready to go to California and have a trial. See you later."

3. Various of who is believed to be Robert Durst arriving by sheriff's vehicle transport at a secure back entrance to the Orleans Parish criminal courthouse complex, which is next to the Orleans Parish jail

4. Various exteriors of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court

The District court judge in Robert Durst's 2003 Galveston, Texas trial says that while Durst appeared to act crazy at that trial, she believes, "he's able to plan the crimes and he's able to plan the cover-up of the crimes."

"He is perfectly sane, he's got issues, and he's got a dark side, but he knows what he's doing," Former Galveston County judge Susan Criss said. "He shows a level of cunning that is not something the insane person is capable of doing."

Criss presided over the 2003 trial where Durst faced murder charges for killing his neighbor, Morris Black. A jury acquitted Durst of murder charges in that trial, despite admitting that he used a paring knife, two saws and an ax to dismember the body. With time served, Durst walked free after one more year for bond jumping and evidence tampering

Criss, who is now an attorney, says she's convinced he killed Morris as well as two other people.

"I think he killed his first wife. His first wife Kathy McCormack (Durst), I think he killd Susan Berman, and of course, we all know he killed Morris Black," Criss said.

Durst was arrested in New Orleans over the weekend in the death of his friend Susan Berman, who was shot to death in Los Angeles in 2000. FBI agents arrested him without incident on Saturday at a Marriott hotel in New Orleans.

These consequences came the same weekend as the Sunday finale of an HBO documentary detailing his life of privilege and links to three deaths: his friend in Los Angeles, Susan Berman; his wife in New York, Kathleen Durst; and Morris Black, an elderly neighbor in Texas.

Yet Criss says she does not think the FBI coordinated its arrest with the filmmakers and instead says they may have arrested him in order to prevent him from fleeing as the documentary gained more attention.

AP TELEVISION

Webster, Texas - March 16, 2015

1. Susan Criss (left) speaking with a friend

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Criss, district court judge in Durst's 2003 trial and now an attorney (responding to question about Durst's behavior during the 2003 trial):

"During the first part of the trial, he was acting crazy. He was pretending to talk to imaginary people at the council table, he was grunting like a pig, trying to act crazy, when the media was around. At some point, he stopped doing that and started acting normal. He is perfectly sane, he's got issues, and he's got a dark side, but he knows what he's doing. He's able to plan the crimes and he's able to plan the cover-up of the crimes. He shows a level of cunning that is not something the insane person is capable of doing."

3. Susan Criss speaking with friend

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Criss, Former Galveston County Judge: (district court judge in Durst's 2003 trial for Morris Black's death)

"I think he killed his first wife. His first wife Kathy McCormick, I think he killd Susan Berman, and of course, we all know he killed Morris Black."

COURTROOM POOL

Galveston, Texas - September 2003

++VIDEO IS 4:3++

5. Various courtroom pool of Robert Durst at trial where he was ultimately acquitted of murder charges in the death of his neighbor, Morris Black.

AP TELEVISION

Webster, Texas - March 16, 2015

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Criss, Former Galveston County Judge:

"It's a very risky thing to coordinate a law enforcement investigation and entertainment. Law enforcement just doesn't do that."

COURTROOM POOL

Galveston, Texas - September 2003

++VIDEO IS 4:3++

7. Various courtroom pool of Robert Durst at trial where he was ultimately acquitted of murder charges in the death of his neighbor, Morris Black.

AP TELEVISION

Webster, Texas - March 16, 2015

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Susan Criss, Former Galveston County Judge:

"But no one's going to hold off for a number of years so that a movie could be produced or documentary or series could be produced, that's ridiculous. But, what I do see is that in addition to the entire country watching this show and being fascinated by it, Bob Durst has been watching it, and he's been reading the media accounts and he's been reading the stories about the case being reopened and what's happening. People are starting to talk, it generates talk. Perhaps what they did was move on him to prevent him from running because of this show."

AP TELEVISION

New Orleans - 16 March 2015

9. Exteriors of Orleans Parish Prison where Durst may be held