DA Argues to Include Evidence From Prior Murder Case Against Robert Durst
Jan 14, 2019
"Los Angeles County prosecutors, in a newly filed motion, are pushing for jurors in New York real estate scion Robert Durst's murder trial to hear about the 2001 killing and dismemberment of a Texas neighbor for which he was acquitted....
In their latest court filing, submitted Friday and scheduled to be argued before a judge on Tuesday, prosecutors allege that the defense -- which has moved to exclude evidence about Morris Black's killing -- is seeking to "blindfold jurors in their search for the truth.''
District Attorney Jackie Lacey and the deputy district attorneys trying the case contend that Black's killing is "directly applicable to the witness-killing special circumstance allegation'' facing Durst.
Prosecutors allege that the defendant killed Berman to be certain that she couldn't talk to authorities about his involvement in the 1982 disappearance of his first wife, Kathleen "Katie'' Durst, who has never been found. Similarly, "(Durst) killed Morris because Morris knew defendant's true identity and defendant was afraid that Morris was going to reveal his whereabouts to ... New York authorities,'' the latest motion alleges.
Durst's attorneys argue that the prosecutors are engaged in character assassination by linking Durst to as many homicides as possible, without sufficient proof. ...
To make the case that they are not simply trying to tie several suspicious deaths to Durst to prejudice the jury, prosecutors mentioned another possible victim in their motion. Karen Marie Mitchell, 16, disappeared from Eureka, California in 1997. Prosecutors said a witness who saw the teenager getting into a car that same day identified Durst as the driver, and a co-worker said Durst came dressed as a women into the store where the girl worked at least twice afterward.
But because there is no direct link to Durst's first wife's disappearance or Berman's murder, the prosecution isn't seeking to mention Mitchell at trial...."
DA Argues to Include Evidence From Prior Murder Case Against Robert Durst
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