Durst claims he was high during HBO interview
Real estate heir says he’s world’s ‘worst fugitive’
LOS ANGELES — Robert Durst told Los Angeles prosecutors in an interview last year that he was high on methamphetamines during portions of his infamous interview in the 2015 HBO miniseries “The Jinx,” according to court papers released Friday.
Sitting in a New Orleans jail, Durst agreed to a nearly three-hour interview with Los Angeles prosecutors and said he “had to be swooped” and “speeding” during the interviews for “The Jinx.”
In the wide-ranging questioning, Durst acknowledges that he disliked life on the lam and made light of his repeated, highprofile arrests.
“I was the worst fugitive the world has ever met,” Durst says.
Durst made the statements shortly after he was arrested in the 2000 coldcase murder of writer Susan Berman in Benedict Canyon, a killing that was featured prominently in the documentary.
The six-part series explored the disappearance of his wife, the death of Berman and his acquittal of murder charges in the slaying of a neighbor in Texas. It came to a dramatic finale with footage of Durst muttering into a microphone during a bathroom break: “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.”
The final episode’s revelation was compounded by what happened offcamera. On the eve of the episode’s March 15, 2015, airing, authorities arrested Durst in New Orleans, where he had been staying in a hotel under a fake name. He had marijuana, a .38-caliber revolver, $40,000 in cash and a mask, according to court papers.
The next morning before court, L.A. County Deputy District Attorney John Lewin questioned Durst for about two hours — without defense attorneys present, they say.
Attorneys for Durst filed court papers Thursday that challenge some of the evidence against the eccentric millionaire, including the interview with the prosecutor. They argue that the high-profile murder case was rushed by an HBO miniseries and tainted by an improper jailhouse interrogation by a veteran Los Angeles County prosecutor.
The filing in Los Angeles County Superior Court comes more than a month after Durst, 73, arrived in Southern California for what is expected to be a sensational trial over the death of Berman in 2000 at her Benedict Canyon cottage.
In 2003, Durst, who had moved to Houston, was acquitted of murder charges in Galveston, despite admitting in court that he had carved up the body of a neighbor and thrown the parts into Galveston Bay.