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American Morning

Murder Trial of Robert Durst

Aired October 24, 2003 - 08:04   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the murder trial of Robert Durst, an heir to a New York real estate empire. He is accused of killing and dismembering an elderly neighbor in Galveston, Texas. Durst claims the murder was self-defense. Jurors are hearing from the defendant in his own words.
Gail Delaughter is a reporter for KTRH Radio and she's been in court observing this trial. And I think it's fair to say, Gail, a bizarre trial -- here in Houston for us this morning, I should add.

Thanks for joining us.

Let's begin with durst on the stand. How is the jury reacting to some of the more sensational things that he is saying, that he portrayed a mute woman while he was in Galveston, Texas, as he was escaping, in his own words, really the focus of Jeanine Pirro, the prosecutor back on the East Coast?

GAIL DELAUGHTER, KTRH RADIO REPORTER: Well, I think the jury knows all along this is a very strange case. They've been working for several weeks now. They're already heard a lot of the very lurid aspects of it. So they're taking their mandate very seriously.

They take notes. They listen very attentively. Every trial has its light-hearted moments, even capital murder cases. You've got to have something to break up the tension. A few laughs here and there, but for the most part they're taking their job very, very seriously and paying very close attention.

O'BRIEN: There was a point when you had on the stand durst talking about his wig and how hard it was to pull off the role of a woman...

DELAUGHTER: Right.

O'BRIEN: ... that he had a wig that once in a bar, I guess somehow aught fire and it -- he took it off his head. So stamped it out...

DELAUGHTER: Yes, by all accounts...

O'BRIEN: ... and put it back on his head. I mean...

DELAUGHTER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Bizarre. Odd. What was the jury's -- I mean is the jury, how do they respond when they hear these things that are just completely over the top?

DELAUGHTER: Well, you hear a few chuckles here and there. But, you know, like I said, they understand the very bizarre nature of this case. Apparently durst was sitting in a bar. He wore this wig and, you know, Galveston, Texas is a very hot and humid place, and not the kind of place you want to have a wig on your head all the time. He didn't, by all accounts, do a very good job of posing as a woman. All he did was plop this wig on his head.

He was in the bar, lighting a cigarette. Some strands of fiber on the wig caught fire. He brushed off his head, put it back on and he said nobody else in the bar really paid attention when he did it.

O'BRIEN: He also talked about how he would, on occasion, walk into the men's room, again, dressed and in the character of this mute woman, or he, for someone who was pretending to be mute, would accidentally have conversations with people in the voice of a man, again, pretending to be a mute woman.

DELAUGHTER: Yes. Yes, he communicated with his landlord by notes. And he had a very elaborate scam going on here. He called the landlord initially when he found the ad in the paper and said I have a sister who needs an apartment, but she's mute. She can't speak. She communicates with notes.

So then he shows up at the airport wearing the wig, communicated with notes with the landlord, put on that disguise for a while. And then he finally decided to go ahead and drop the disguise. And he said eventually what he wanted to do was live his life as Robert durst in Galveston, buy a house and settle down there. And he claims that's what he was trying to do when the whole incident with Morris Black happened.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit more about this incident. As we mentioned, the defense had created this animation to show their theory of what happened. The jurors, I guess, won't get an opportunity to see it. But he acted it out in court with his attorney.

What's been the response to that?

DELAUGHTER: Well, they wanted to bring it in to evidence and a lot of times you see attorneys, whether it's the prosecution or the defense, they'll put together something like this and they'll try their best to get it into evidence. But a lot of times a judge will rule against it, saying, you know, this is just someone's theory of what happened. It's not really evidence.

We saw the same situation in the Andrea Yates trial with the prosecution. They had a video demonstration of what they believe happened to the five children. They tried to put that into evidence and the defense was successful in not allowing the jury to hear that.

So it happens periodically, especially when you've got a big budget for a trial. They'll put together something like this and try their best to get it in. And a lot of times the jury's not able to see it.

O'BRIEN: The trial continues and I have a feeling there will be more odd, salacious, bizarre things coming out of it.

Gail, thanks, as always.

DELAUGHTER: Certainly.

O'BRIEN: Nice to see you.

Thanks for joining us.

DELAUGHTER: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 24, 2003 - 08:04   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the murder trial of Robert Durst, an heir to a New York real estate empire. He is accused of killing and dismembering an elderly neighbor in Galveston, Texas. Durst claims the murder was self-defense. Jurors are hearing from the defendant in his own words.
Gail Delaughter is a reporter for KTRH Radio and she's been in court observing this trial. And I think it's fair to say, Gail, a bizarre trial -- here in Houston for us this morning, I should add.

Thanks for joining us.

Let's begin with durst on the stand. How is the jury reacting to some of the more sensational things that he is saying, that he portrayed a mute woman while he was in Galveston, Texas, as he was escaping, in his own words, really the focus of Jeanine Pirro, the prosecutor back on the East Coast?

GAIL DELAUGHTER, KTRH RADIO REPORTER: Well, I think the jury knows all along this is a very strange case. They've been working for several weeks now. They're already heard a lot of the very lurid aspects of it. So they're taking their mandate very seriously.

They take notes. They listen very attentively. Every trial has its light-hearted moments, even capital murder cases. You've got to have something to break up the tension. A few laughs here and there, but for the most part they're taking their job very, very seriously and paying very close attention.

O'BRIEN: There was a point when you had on the stand durst talking about his wig and how hard it was to pull off the role of a woman...

DELAUGHTER: Right.

O'BRIEN: ... that he had a wig that once in a bar, I guess somehow aught fire and it -- he took it off his head. So stamped it out...

DELAUGHTER: Yes, by all accounts...

O'BRIEN: ... and put it back on his head. I mean...

DELAUGHTER: Yes.

O'BRIEN: Bizarre. Odd. What was the jury's -- I mean is the jury, how do they respond when they hear these things that are just completely over the top?

DELAUGHTER: Well, you hear a few chuckles here and there. But, you know, like I said, they understand the very bizarre nature of this case. Apparently durst was sitting in a bar. He wore this wig and, you know, Galveston, Texas is a very hot and humid place, and not the kind of place you want to have a wig on your head all the time. He didn't, by all accounts, do a very good job of posing as a woman. All he did was plop this wig on his head.

He was in the bar, lighting a cigarette. Some strands of fiber on the wig caught fire. He brushed off his head, put it back on and he said nobody else in the bar really paid attention when he did it.

O'BRIEN: He also talked about how he would, on occasion, walk into the men's room, again, dressed and in the character of this mute woman, or he, for someone who was pretending to be mute, would accidentally have conversations with people in the voice of a man, again, pretending to be a mute woman.

DELAUGHTER: Yes. Yes, he communicated with his landlord by notes. And he had a very elaborate scam going on here. He called the landlord initially when he found the ad in the paper and said I have a sister who needs an apartment, but she's mute. She can't speak. She communicates with notes.

So then he shows up at the airport wearing the wig, communicated with notes with the landlord, put on that disguise for a while. And then he finally decided to go ahead and drop the disguise. And he said eventually what he wanted to do was live his life as Robert durst in Galveston, buy a house and settle down there. And he claims that's what he was trying to do when the whole incident with Morris Black happened.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit more about this incident. As we mentioned, the defense had created this animation to show their theory of what happened. The jurors, I guess, won't get an opportunity to see it. But he acted it out in court with his attorney.

What's been the response to that?

DELAUGHTER: Well, they wanted to bring it in to evidence and a lot of times you see attorneys, whether it's the prosecution or the defense, they'll put together something like this and they'll try their best to get it into evidence. But a lot of times a judge will rule against it, saying, you know, this is just someone's theory of what happened. It's not really evidence.

We saw the same situation in the Andrea Yates trial with the prosecution. They had a video demonstration of what they believe happened to the five children. They tried to put that into evidence and the defense was successful in not allowing the jury to hear that.

So it happens periodically, especially when you've got a big budget for a trial. They'll put together something like this and try their best to get it in. And a lot of times the jury's not able to see it.

O'BRIEN: The trial continues and I have a feeling there will be more odd, salacious, bizarre things coming out of it.

Gail, thanks, as always.

DELAUGHTER: Certainly.

O'BRIEN: Nice to see you.

Thanks for joining us.

DELAUGHTER: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com