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Robert Durst Found Innocent of Murder

Congrats to Houston lawyer Dick DeGuerin whose client, NY real estate heir Robert Durst, was found innocent of murder by a Texas jury today.

Durst, 60, who is under suspicion in two other killings and who posed for a time as a mute woman, testified in his own defense for nearly four days. He insisted that Black was shot accidentally during a struggle over a gun, and said he used two saws and an ax to cut up the body. The victim's head has never been found.

After the killing in late September 2001, Durst was a fugitive for six weeks until he was caught in Pennsylvania when he tried to shoplift a $5 sandwich even though he had $500 in his pocket.

At defense attorneys' request, jurors considered only a murder charge. They could have asked that jurors consider a lesser charge, such as manslaughter, in addition to murder, but opted for an all-or-nothing strategy.

"....defense attorneys contended Black was shot accidentally while the two men struggled for a gun after Durst found his neighbor illegally in his apartment. The defense said prosecutors failed to show jurors any motive for the killing or disprove self-defense.

"Whatever (Durst) did after Morris Black was dead cannot change how Morris Black died," defense attorney Dick DeGuerin said in his closing statement. "You can't convict Bob Durst simply because of that."

When he learned police had found some of Black's remains, Durst said he fled to New Orleans with five pounds of marijuana and more than $500,000 in cash. He returned to Galveston and was arrested. He posted bail and fled, and was captured six weeks later in Pennsylvania when he was caught trying to steal a $5 sandwich and bandages while he had $500 in his pocket.

Update: Durst's lawyers explain their all or nothing strategy.

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