Eccentric millionaire can't recall details of cutting up friend
Monday, October 27, 2003 Posted: 5:02 PM EST (2202 GMT)
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -- Pressed by prosecutors, New York real estate heir Robert Durst testified Monday that he could not remember specifics of how he cut up the body of a neighbor he is accused of murdering.
The millionaire said he did not know how long it took or what part of Morris Black's body he cut first. Durst said he used two saws and an ax that belonged to Black after drinking a fifth of Jack Daniels.
"You were drunk while cutting up Morris Black?" prosecutor Kurt Sistrunk asked.
"I hope so, yes, sir," Durst responded.
It was Durst's third day of testimony in his murder trial in the 2001 slaying. Durst, who lived in squalor despite his millions, testified earlier that his neighbor was killed accidentally in a scuffle over a gun. He said he cut up Black in a panic, fearing police would not believe his story, and dumped the body parts in Galveston Bay.
"Did you cry when you were cutting up your best friend?" Sistrunk said. "Do you remember anything about cutting up Morris Black?"
Durst answered: "No, sir."
Durst, who sometimes posed as a mute woman while living on Galveston Island, said earlier that he and Black became good friends but had a falling out. The deadly scuffle, he said, occurred after Durst found Black in his apartment with a gun.
Durst, 60, said Monday that he tried getting help for Black, who was 71, from an upstairs neighbor but knocked on the wrong door.
"It's just another self-serving lie that you knocked on the (wrong) door," Sistrunk said.
"It's not a lie," Durst responded.
During his questioning, Sistrunk asked Durst to describe specifically how he and Black struggled for the gun, asking for details about how close the two men were, where his hand was on the gun and how they fell down.
At one point, Sistrunk and fellow prosecutor Joel Bennett got up and had Durst guide them through a demonstration of the shooting. Defense attorneys objected but prosecutors were allowed to proceed.
"The two of you look like spaghetti," Durst told the two prosecutors. "This is a bad demonstration like my attorneys have been telling you."
Durst, whose family runs The Durst Organization, a privately held $ billion New York company, faces five to 99 years in prison if convicted.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/10/27/fu....ap/index.html
Monday, October 27, 2003 Posted: 5:02 PM EST (2202 GMT)
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) -- Pressed by prosecutors, New York real estate heir Robert Durst testified Monday that he could not remember specifics of how he cut up the body of a neighbor he is accused of murdering.
The millionaire said he did not know how long it took or what part of Morris Black's body he cut first. Durst said he used two saws and an ax that belonged to Black after drinking a fifth of Jack Daniels.
"You were drunk while cutting up Morris Black?" prosecutor Kurt Sistrunk asked.
"I hope so, yes, sir," Durst responded.
It was Durst's third day of testimony in his murder trial in the 2001 slaying. Durst, who lived in squalor despite his millions, testified earlier that his neighbor was killed accidentally in a scuffle over a gun. He said he cut up Black in a panic, fearing police would not believe his story, and dumped the body parts in Galveston Bay.
"Did you cry when you were cutting up your best friend?" Sistrunk said. "Do you remember anything about cutting up Morris Black?"
Durst answered: "No, sir."
Durst, who sometimes posed as a mute woman while living on Galveston Island, said earlier that he and Black became good friends but had a falling out. The deadly scuffle, he said, occurred after Durst found Black in his apartment with a gun.
Durst, 60, said Monday that he tried getting help for Black, who was 71, from an upstairs neighbor but knocked on the wrong door.
"It's just another self-serving lie that you knocked on the (wrong) door," Sistrunk said.
"It's not a lie," Durst responded.
During his questioning, Sistrunk asked Durst to describe specifically how he and Black struggled for the gun, asking for details about how close the two men were, where his hand was on the gun and how they fell down.
At one point, Sistrunk and fellow prosecutor Joel Bennett got up and had Durst guide them through a demonstration of the shooting. Defense attorneys objected but prosecutors were allowed to proceed.
"The two of you look like spaghetti," Durst told the two prosecutors. "This is a bad demonstration like my attorneys have been telling you."
Durst, whose family runs The Durst Organization, a privately held $ billion New York company, faces five to 99 years in prison if convicted.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/10/27/fu....ap/index.html
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