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American Morning

Durst Murder Trial

Aired October 27, 2003 - 08:36   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.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Gail DeLaughter is a reporter for KTRX Radio. She's been covering the Durst trial since its beginning. She joins us now from Houston. Gail, good to have you with us.
Hi.

DELAUGHTER: Good morning, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good.

Let's talk about this animation. That has all kinds of implications if you allow an animation which sort of portrays your version of events for a jury, it could be very compelling. Big setback for the defense?

GAIL DELAUGHTER, KTRH RADIO REPORTER: I don't think so. I think they're using this as one piece of ammunition. Basically, what they're trying to do is get Durst to tell his own story and hope the jury believes it. He says he was a man who was being hounded by the New York media after the authorities there reopened the investigation into the disappearance of his wife that happened about 18 years earlier, and just a man who was desperately trying to escape that media attention, wound up in Galveston, trying to lead a low-key life. So they basically wanted to tell his own story.

As for the animation, we've seen other trials where they've tried to get things like this into evidence, and the judge says no because it's basically one person's idea of the facts, one person's interpretation. It's not reality, and it's possible the jury could confuse that with reality if they saw it.

O'BRIEN: Gail, there's so much more to this story. Including the fact that in 1982 his wife disappeared. There's another shooting, which he may or may not be linked to, someone who might have offered some information to authorities on that. And then, you get into living in Galveston and dressing like a woman, on and on it goes. How much will the jury know about all this back story?

DELAUGHTER: The jury knows about all of it, and it's the defense that brought it up. They talk about the disappearance of Kathleen Durst in the early 1980s, the reopening of that investigation in Westchester County, New York. Also the death of Susan Berman, a close friend of his he met when he was in graduate school at UCLA. She wound up dead, mysteriously in Los Angeles and no one's ever been arrested for that crime. And he's being looked at in connection with that murder as well. O'BRIEN: Is it possible he will face charges in any of those other cases? Does any of that hinge on what happens there in Galveston?

DELAUGHTER: It probably does. I'm sure authorities in both New York and California are watching the Galveston case closely to see how they will proceed, depending on the outcome of the case.

O'BRIEN: All right. How much longer do you think it's going to take to play this trial out?

DELAUGHTER: The defense has close to 40 witnesses. They want to call a psychological expert to talk about his background, the problems that he's suffered. They claimed in opening statements that Durst suffers from a mild form of autism, and that's what drove him to act erratically after the death of Morris Black. They claim he killed this man by accident, but then disposed of his body because his mind was acting in such an erratic sort of way he didn't know what else to do.

O'BRIEN: Do you have a sense that that is a story the jury might buy?

DELAUGHTER: It's hard to say. It depends on the credibility of the experts the defense puts on the stand when they get to that portion of the trial and talk about his background, how credible they are and how well they hold up under cross-examination.

O'BRIEN: And one final thought here, why aren't prosecutors seeking the death penalty in this case?

DELAUGHTER: In Texas, this is not a case that rises to a death penalty offense. For a capital murder case in Texas, you have to kill someone in commission of another felony crime. For instance a kidnapping, a robbery, if it's a murder for hire, a murder for insurance money, or the death of a child under the age of 6. Those are death penalty crimes. But if you kill someone just because you don't like them or you kill someone in a fight, that doesn't rise to a death penalty offense. You can get as little as probation, as much as life in prison.

O'BRIEN: Gail DeLaughter, thanks for bringing us up to date on the Robert Durst case. Check in with us again, please, sometime, if you will.

DELAUGHTER: Thanks, miles.

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 27, 2003 - 08:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Gail DeLaughter is a reporter for KTRX Radio. She's been covering the Durst trial since its beginning. She joins us now from Houston. Gail, good to have you with us.
Hi.

DELAUGHTER: Good morning, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good.

Let's talk about this animation. That has all kinds of implications if you allow an animation which sort of portrays your version of events for a jury, it could be very compelling. Big setback for the defense?

GAIL DELAUGHTER, KTRH RADIO REPORTER: I don't think so. I think they're using this as one piece of ammunition. Basically, what they're trying to do is get Durst to tell his own story and hope the jury believes it. He says he was a man who was being hounded by the New York media after the authorities there reopened the investigation into the disappearance of his wife that happened about 18 years earlier, and just a man who was desperately trying to escape that media attention, wound up in Galveston, trying to lead a low-key life. So they basically wanted to tell his own story.

As for the animation, we've seen other trials where they've tried to get things like this into evidence, and the judge says no because it's basically one person's idea of the facts, one person's interpretation. It's not reality, and it's possible the jury could confuse that with reality if they saw it.

O'BRIEN: Gail, there's so much more to this story. Including the fact that in 1982 his wife disappeared. There's another shooting, which he may or may not be linked to, someone who might have offered some information to authorities on that. And then, you get into living in Galveston and dressing like a woman, on and on it goes. How much will the jury know about all this back story?

DELAUGHTER: The jury knows about all of it, and it's the defense that brought it up. They talk about the disappearance of Kathleen Durst in the early 1980s, the reopening of that investigation in Westchester County, New York. Also the death of Susan Berman, a close friend of his he met when he was in graduate school at UCLA. She wound up dead, mysteriously in Los Angeles and no one's ever been arrested for that crime. And he's being looked at in connection with that murder as well. O'BRIEN: Is it possible he will face charges in any of those other cases? Does any of that hinge on what happens there in Galveston?

DELAUGHTER: It probably does. I'm sure authorities in both New York and California are watching the Galveston case closely to see how they will proceed, depending on the outcome of the case.

O'BRIEN: All right. How much longer do you think it's going to take to play this trial out?

DELAUGHTER: The defense has close to 40 witnesses. They want to call a psychological expert to talk about his background, the problems that he's suffered. They claimed in opening statements that Durst suffers from a mild form of autism, and that's what drove him to act erratically after the death of Morris Black. They claim he killed this man by accident, but then disposed of his body because his mind was acting in such an erratic sort of way he didn't know what else to do.

O'BRIEN: Do you have a sense that that is a story the jury might buy?

DELAUGHTER: It's hard to say. It depends on the credibility of the experts the defense puts on the stand when they get to that portion of the trial and talk about his background, how credible they are and how well they hold up under cross-examination.

O'BRIEN: And one final thought here, why aren't prosecutors seeking the death penalty in this case?

DELAUGHTER: In Texas, this is not a case that rises to a death penalty offense. For a capital murder case in Texas, you have to kill someone in commission of another felony crime. For instance a kidnapping, a robbery, if it's a murder for hire, a murder for insurance money, or the death of a child under the age of 6. Those are death penalty crimes. But if you kill someone just because you don't like them or you kill someone in a fight, that doesn't rise to a death penalty offense. You can get as little as probation, as much as life in prison.

O'BRIEN: Gail DeLaughter, thanks for bringing us up to date on the Robert Durst case. Check in with us again, please, sometime, if you will.

DELAUGHTER: Thanks, miles.

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