Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Durst Acquitted
Aired November 12, 2003 - 09:09 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It was more than two decades ago Robert Durst's wife, Kathy, mysteriously disappeared. Matt Birkbeck is the author of a book about that case. It's called "A Deadly Secret." Matt Birkbeck is back with us now on AMERICAN MORNING.
Your reaction to the verdict yesterday.
MATT BIRKBECK, AUTHOR, "A DEADLY SECRET": Like everyone else, initially shocked, but I had a sneaking suspicion that there would be this result, or at the least a hung jury.
HEMMER: Why did you think that?
BIRKBECK: I was at the opening. I saw the attorneys for the defense and I saw the prosecution, and you know, the defense, they're very good attorneys, and the prosecution didn't necessarily seem to be -- have a focus, so to speak.
HEMMER: You're kind of talking exactly like that juror did in that piece by Ed Lavandera. Tell me what happened. Don't give me a range of options or theories.
BIRKBECK: Well, the defense set the tone. And they created this -- and they did it by creating this fictitious story, initially, that Durst ran to Galveston, escaping prosecution in New York and a media frenzy. It never happened. There were two stories in the New York papers. One in "The New York Times" and one in "The New York Daily News," announcing the renewed investigation into the disappearance of Kathy Durst, and that was it, and Janine Pirro didn't come into it until January of 2001, so there was no frenzy. And Durst wasn't even in New York. He was living in California at the time. So why the prosecution allowed this fictitious story to become fact and then sold it to the jury is beyond me.
HEMMER: Hindsight is perfect, we know that. I don't want to get into an argument right now looking back at what could have been. However, the head of Morris Black has never been found.
BIRKBECK: Correct.
HEMMER: The prosecution argues that, listen, this man was shot in the face, the defense says that was all in self-defense. If you have that piece of evidence, however graphic and gruesome it might be, do you get a different verdict yesterday?
BIRKBECK: Yes. I think you should have gotten a different verdict anyway. Had they just put holes into the defense's arguments about Mr. Durst and the reasons why he was even in Galveston.
HEMMER: He's been questioned in the past 20 years or so for two other murders. Did you see anything in this case that might reopen those, mainly the investigation of the mysterious disappearance of his wife?
BIRKBECK: If anything, it's going to make it harder. I mean, to get off after admitting that you killed someone, and then dismembered them and tossed their body into the ocean kind of puts a damper on these other two cases, which are circumstantial. You know, Janine Pirro in Westchester County has had some strong circumstantial evidence for several years now and hasn't moved forward. Whether she'll move forward now is another question.
HEMMER: Matt Birkbeck, thanks. The book is "A Deadly Secret." Nice to see you again.
BIRKBECK: My pleasure.
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 November 12, 2003 - 09:09 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It was more than two decades ago Robert Durst's wife, Kathy, mysteriously disappeared. Matt Birkbeck is the author of a book about that case. It's called "A Deadly Secret." Matt Birkbeck is back with us now on AMERICAN MORNING.
Your reaction to the verdict yesterday.
MATT BIRKBECK, AUTHOR, "A DEADLY SECRET": Like everyone else, initially shocked, but I had a sneaking suspicion that there would be this result, or at the least a hung jury.
HEMMER: Why did you think that?
BIRKBECK: I was at the opening. I saw the attorneys for the defense and I saw the prosecution, and you know, the defense, they're very good attorneys, and the prosecution didn't necessarily seem to be -- have a focus, so to speak.
HEMMER: You're kind of talking exactly like that juror did in that piece by Ed Lavandera. Tell me what happened. Don't give me a range of options or theories.
BIRKBECK: Well, the defense set the tone. And they created this -- and they did it by creating this fictitious story, initially, that Durst ran to Galveston, escaping prosecution in New York and a media frenzy. It never happened. There were two stories in the New York papers. One in "The New York Times" and one in "The New York Daily News," announcing the renewed investigation into the disappearance of Kathy Durst, and that was it, and Janine Pirro didn't come into it until January of 2001, so there was no frenzy. And Durst wasn't even in New York. He was living in California at the time. So why the prosecution allowed this fictitious story to become fact and then sold it to the jury is beyond me.
HEMMER: Hindsight is perfect, we know that. I don't want to get into an argument right now looking back at what could have been. However, the head of Morris Black has never been found.
BIRKBECK: Correct.
HEMMER: The prosecution argues that, listen, this man was shot in the face, the defense says that was all in self-defense. If you have that piece of evidence, however graphic and gruesome it might be, do you get a different verdict yesterday?
BIRKBECK: Yes. I think you should have gotten a different verdict anyway. Had they just put holes into the defense's arguments about Mr. Durst and the reasons why he was even in Galveston.
HEMMER: He's been questioned in the past 20 years or so for two other murders. Did you see anything in this case that might reopen those, mainly the investigation of the mysterious disappearance of his wife?
BIRKBECK: If anything, it's going to make it harder. I mean, to get off after admitting that you killed someone, and then dismembered them and tossed their body into the ocean kind of puts a damper on these other two cases, which are circumstantial. You know, Janine Pirro in Westchester County has had some strong circumstantial evidence for several years now and hasn't moved forward. Whether she'll move forward now is another question.
HEMMER: Matt Birkbeck, thanks. The book is "A Deadly Secret." Nice to see you again.
BIRKBECK: My pleasure.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
