TX - Trial of Robert Durst in the murder of Morris Black

[TexMex]

Wonder if the defense will use him again?

rbhROBERT B. HIRSCHHORN of Cathy E. Bennett & Associates, Inc., Lewisville, Texas, is an attorney and a nationally recognized expert in jury and trial consultation. He is a co-author of Blue’s Guide to Jury Selection, which is currently available from Thompson-West Publishing. Mr. Hirschhorn has been a jury consultant since 1985. In 2005, he selected juries that returned more than $750 Million in verdicts. Those cases include Lexar v. Toshiba (breach of fiduciary duty; $461 Million) and Ernst v. Merck (1st Vioxx litigation; $253 Million). He has also assisted lawyers in many high-profile criminal cases including State of Florida v. William Kennedy Smith (sexual assault charges, not guilty verdict), State of Texas v. U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (ethics charges, not-guilty verdict), and State of Texas v. Robert Durst (acquitted of murder charges).

 

[TexMex]

http://lawofselfdefense.com/wp-cont...rder-no-death-penalty-Juror-Questionnaire.pdf

Jury questionnaire for the Galveston trial

 

[TexMex]

From a 2003 NY Times article on Debrah Lee Charatan:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/20/nyregion/for-heir-accused-of-killing-a-loyal-and-tough-ally.html

In 1985, she abruptly left her first husband, Bradley Berger, and ultimately lost custody of her son, who is now a college sophomore. According to friends and family members, she has not seen or talked with her son since he was 5.

She is now in business with the son

Alongside her son from her first marriage, she currently heads BCB Property Management, which has been instrumental in the gentrification of Crown Heights.

http://www.vulture.com/2015/03/debrah-lee-charatan-robert-durst-wife.html

A full-service firm, BCB Property Management works from conception to completion, handling development, investment, construction, and management. Founded in 2008 by the mother and son team of Debrah Lee Charatan and Bennat Charatan Berger, BCB has preserved and improved more than 36 multi-family and mixed use buildings in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

 

[TexMex]

In 10 min on the ID channel : Vanity Fair Confidential: The Robert Durst Story

Has info on possible prior relationship btwn Durst and Morris Black

 

[i.b.nora]

In 10 min on the ID channel : Vanity Fair Confidential: The Robert Durst Story

Has info on possible prior relationship btwn Durst and Morris Black

That info comes from Bobbi Bacha who held court on Reddit a couple of days ago. She seems to be a little high on the drama of it all and not so good at relaying precise details. What I mean is, I am not so sure she is accurate in saying Durst once knew the Black brothers. Another author said, prior to the trial that Morris got his money from the sale of a house he owned in Boston where he made an enormous profit. (Bacha says she located Morris's brother Harry and got her info from him.) I am fairly certain the sold house info is from a GQ article I read, I will have to find the link for it once again. Bacha implies that the brothers were paid off by Durst to keep silent regarding whatever role they played having to do with Kathleen. I just don't trust her info, ... yet.

"Hi everyone.
My name is Bobbi Bacha, and I am a private investigator and president of Blue Moon Investigations Security & Protection. I am going to be featured on the upcoming, updated episode of Vanity Fair Confidential produced by True Entertainment and airing on Investigation Discovery this Sunday, March 22 at 7pm ET."

From: reddit

 

[TexMex]

That info comes from Bobbi Bacha who held court on Reddit a couple of days ago. She seems to be a little high on the drama of it all and not so good at relaying precise details. What I mean is, I am not so sure she is accurate in saying Durst once knew the Black brothers. Another author said, prior to the trial that Morris got his money from the sale of a house he owned in Boston where he made an enormous profit. (Bacha says she located Morris's brother Harry and got her info from him.) I am fairly certain the sold house info is from a GQ article I read, I will have to find the link for it once again. Bacha implies that the brothers were paid off by Durst to keep silent regarding whatever role they played having to do with Kathleen. I just don't trust her info, ... yet.

"Hi everyone.
My name is Bobbi Bacha, and I am a private investigator and president of Blue Moon Investigations Security & Protection. I am going to be featured on the upcoming, updated episode of Vanity Fair Confidential produced by True Entertainment and airing on Investigation Discovery this Sunday, March 22 at 7pm ET."

From: http://www.***********/r/IAmA/comments/2zqwf2/i_am_bobbi_bacha_the_private_investigator_who/

Yes. She's the PI Clara Harris hired to spy on her husband who she soon ran over with her Mercedes.

I tend to doubt the Durst/Black conspiracy theory

 

[i.b.nora]

Well, I got my times confused and totally missed the Vanity Fair Confidential showing. It is on again tonight at 11 PM PDT. I guess I'll catch it then.

 

[i.b.nora]

Three of the Black children show up in the US Federal Census for 1930 in Malden, MA. I was unable to locate the parents in the 1940 Census and didn't know there were three other kids but, Harry did show up in 1940 at The Lyman School for Boys, a reformatory in Westboro, MA.

NOTE In 1930:

Samuel Black, 27, born in Russia, immig. in 1923, worked as a house painter.
Fannie Black, 28, born in Russia, immig. in 1922
Isadore Black, 5, born in MA
Harry M. Black, 3, born in MA. (This is Meyer Harry Black)
Julius Black, 0, born in MA. (This is Morris Julius Black)

 

[SophieRose]

Here's more of what Bobbi Bacha has to say:

http://crimefeed.com/2015/03/dont-k...s-black-private-investigator-shares-theories/

Crime Feed: How do you think Morris Black and Robert Durst first met?

Bobbi Bacha: According to Harry Black’s widow, Morris’ sister-in-law, the Black brothers were working at a farm connected to and possibly owned by the Durst organization. It’s likely that Durst and Black met through said farm. Also of note: I think Morris Black knew Robert’s brother, Douglas, who owns one of the largest organic farms in North America.

 

[SophieRose]

Three of the Black children show up in the US Federal Census for 1930 in Malden, MA. I was unable to locate the parents in the 1940 Census and didn't know there were three other kids but, Harry did show up in 1940 at The Lyman School for Boys, a reformatory in Westboro, MA.

NOTE In 1930:

Samuel Black, 27, born in Russia, immig. in 1923, worked as a house painter.
Fannie Black, 28, born in Russia, immig. in 1922
Isadore Black, 5, born in MA
Harry M. Black, 3, born in MA. (This is Meyer Harry Black)
Julius Black, 0, born in MA. (This is Morris Julius Black)

It wasn't Harry in the orphanage but brother David. In the early 2000's Harry said he had not seen Morris for over thirty years.

Good book on it, but I read it too long ago.
https://books.google.com/books?id=j...wAw&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Harry&f=false

 

[panthera]

You know the lawyers can see when their client has no hope of escaping conviction when they start going after technicalities with LE and start hinting around mental issues .. I predict they'll try to have him declared unfit to stand trial within the first couple of hearings. Also what is the bet his 'mental condition' sees him 'deteriorate in prison' I bet they wheel him into the courtroom and we see a few dramatic courtroom collapses.

No doubt in my mind either that he will be portrayed as a feeble old man who is mentally unstable or suffering from dementia, therefore giving reason for him "talking to himself", etc. What a jury will need to be reminded of is when Susan Berman was murdered the defendant was not the same "feeble old man" who will be portrayed in the courtroom in 2015. Fortunately there was no physical strength exerted in her execution-style murder as it doesn't take much to pull the trigger of a gun. Just remember the Phil Spector trial and look where he ended up!

MOO

 

[TexMex]

The talking to himself has been going on for a long time. His brother says he would do it at work. DeGuerin said in the 48 Hours it's like "a soliloquy". One article I saw had Durst saying he had been talking to himself since elementary school.
But the "feeble old man" was withdrawing $9,000 a day for a month, getting a latex mask and a .38 prepping to flee

 

[Betty P]

The Vanity Fair Confidential show is good, providing much more history on Durst, his life and crimes. I read about him back in the 80s and again at the time he was arrested in Galveston. But the news stories today dont report much about his missing first wife, his living as a woman, his violent tendencies throughout his life, etc.

He's been in hiding for so many years. He's had so much help to stay in hiding and, at times, it didn't seem like LE was interested in finding him or in pursuing his wife's "disappearance". I'm glad they finally began pursuing these cases, looking at old evidence, tracking him down.

As for Durst, he's crazy like a fox. Surely he wont get away with it this time.

 

[OtterPops]

The police are not questioning it at all, The media is. The police seem to be thankful for the help from the movie makers.

Which doesn't make much sense since they conducted handwriting analysis way back when and ruled it inconclusive. The expert in the doc said it alone wasn't enough and they needed to compare many individual letters. LE should have been able to do that years ago despite the "BEVERLEY" sample. Frustrating!! And to prove motive in the best friend killing, they essentially have to prove she knew too much about the wife's murder... which they can't prove. RD may think he's a jinx but he sure is one lucky guy. :/


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[OtterPops]

Sometimes, I have to wonder if some of these jurors vote not guilty because they have their own skeletons. I can not for the life of me figure out how they got it so wrong in Texas

I still cannot get over the female juror who said in a more recent interview with the filmmakers that she believed RD was speaking from the heart on the stand. What the WHAT??!


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[Mrs G Norris]

I still cannot get over the female juror who said in a more recent interview with the filmmakers that she believed RD was speaking from the heart on the stand. What the WHAT??!

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OK I was wondering the same thing during part 6 .. like what on earth are they thinking now?

 

[TexMex]

Which doesn't make much sense since they conducted handwriting analysis way back when and ruled it inconclusive. The expert in the doc said it alone wasn't enough and they needed to compare many individual letters. LE should have been able to do that years ago despite the "BEVERLEY" sample. Frustrating!! And to prove motive in the best friend killing, they essentially have to prove she knew too much about the wife's murder... which they can't prove. RD may think he's a jinx but he sure is one lucky guy. :/


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In reading A Deadly Secret the NYPD, 20th Precinct investigated the case for a year at first. They had some decent circumstantial evidence but didn't think it strong enough to hold up against a team of Durst money bought lawyers.

The investigator combined this with what he found out about Kathie. He didn't want to drag her name through the mud. She'd had affairs (Bob had too), was having trouble in med school and using quite a lot of cocaine. In fact, Bob told LE he thought she'd run off with a dealer.
Without a body and/or stronger evidence the lead investigator and his supervisor decided against moving forward immediately after the disappearance

 

[TexMex]

You know the lawyers can see when their client has no hope of escaping conviction when they start going after technicalities with LE and start hinting around mental issues .. I predict they'll try to have him declared unfit to stand trial within the first couple of hearings. Also what is the bet his 'mental condition' sees him 'deteriorate in prison' I bet they wheel him into the courtroom and we see a few dramatic courtroom collapses.

DeGuerin's always said, in the law class he teaches: when a fact is bad for your guy..."embrace the ugly baby"

 

[TexMex]

Prosecution says #RobertDurst left Houston for New Orleans with five suitcases. Says he left his apt and car unlocked. #abc13

 

[TexMex]

Prosecution says #RobertDurst underwent a "rigorous" mental health treatment program in 2001. This was after he moved to Texas. #abc13