Published:Friday, May 17, 2020
Robert Durst proves that getting away with murder can be a futile effort, especially if you’re rich and a narcissist who cannot shut up. The Jinx: the Life and Deaths Of Robert Durst, published in 2015, introduced us to Durst’s twisted brain, where impersonating an deaf and mute woman was a clever decision to avoid police. In this HBO documentary, he made several bad decisions that led to his arrest for the murder Susan Berman many years later. The Jinx, Part Two shows that not even prison could save him. Durst spent most of his time in The Jinx’s latest installment recording audio and video conversations with friends from prison. Durst displayed a level ignorance that was criminal before he got caught. He talked to New York Times reporter Charles Bagli every time The Jinx was on television, as if it were his job. He fled before the finale of the season aired, and was only caught when he failed to retrieve his voicemails from a pay phone located across the street. Once he is in New Orleans, and being interrogated, he asks openly what he will get for telling the truth. The Jinx Part Two is just beginning.
HBO In the calls from prison, he talked about changing his appearance in order to gain sympathy with the jury. He also spoke badly of anyone who was against him – even if it had been a friend. These weren’t the only unbelievable things that he did while in prison. He tried to get his friends to obstruct the justice. Every criminal knows that mending the truth or withholding information incriminating from the law enforcement is the best way to avoid a conviction. Smart criminals would not conspire to tell the police lies with their friends. Durst can be heard complaining about his stupidity at the end of The Jinx Part Two’s episode one. He was sure he would be able to evade police and hide. Just before the credits began to roll, Durst told a friend that he expected a phone call from Los Angeles District Attorney John Lewin. He then instructed his friend not tell anyone anything. It doesn’t take a lawyer to understand that innocent people do not tell their friends to obstruct the justice system, or do it while law enforcement listens. Durst, who was unaware of this fact, tried to instruct Doug Oliver on what to say in his testimony during a conversation with him while in jail. Oliver reminded the disheveled prisoner that Durst’s lawyers had advised him to not speak about the case. You can assume Durst was also told this before the phone call.
HBO Durst thought he knew more than the justice system. His mistakes did not stop there.
Durst continued to have a love triangle, with both his wife and a friend.
Despite being behind bars and implicated in multiple murders and having been caught on video admitting to at least one murder, Durst still found two women attractive. Debrah Lee Charatan was Durst’s second wife. Susan Giordano, his flirty pen-pal, was the other. Durst, who was fighting a murder trial, still had time to talk to Giordano in jail. In Episode 2, he told her that she should have been his wife and that he would wire her $150,000 for their “love-nest” when he got out. Charatan, Durst’s wife, tells him to never mention Giordano to him. Prison can be lonely, but seeking extramarital love is not only immoral, but also ill-advised. This is especially true when your wife knows secrets that may send you to jail for the rest your life. Here’s where things get even more bizarre. In episode 4, he talks to Emily Altman in jail, the wife of Stewart Altman, his former lawyer and close friend. He asks her to step back and stand up so that he can look at her body. He then tells the woman that she is sexy, and asks whether her husband has told her so. Durst’s haughty ignorance led him to objectify his friend’s wife, who was due to testify for him. The irony of this is perfect for television.
The HBO Emily Altman in the witness stand. The fact that she led him to make his most bizarre decision since The Jinx was broadcasted, is a great example. He admitted lying for decades about the cadaver note.
Emily was rattled when the prosecution asked her about Durst’s location around the time Berman died in December 2000. She couldn’t remember at first if Durst told her that he was in Los Angeles around the time Berman was murdered. After being pressed by police, she admitted that he had told her in December 2000 that he was in Los Angeles. Durst never admitted to law enforcement that he was actually in Los Angeles at the time. He was now in a situation that would require an unwise decision to escape. The first season of The Jinx had a smoking gun in the form of a police note pointing out the location of Berman’s body. Durst said in The Jinx that the person who wrote the letter was likely the one who murdered Berman. Durst could not tell his handwriting apart from that of the author of the note in the first season finale of The Jinx, but he did not admit to writing the note. Durst admitted that he wrote the note after Emily put him in Los Angeles at the time Berman was murdered. Durst’s lead defense lawyer Dick DeGuerin laughed when The Jinx-Part Two director Andrew Jarecki questioned if Durst’s defense team was in agreement with Durst’s decision to make this admission. This was the worst mistake Durst ever made. Train Like” title=”Video player poster image” loading=”lazy” width=”2000″ height=”1000″ decoding=”async” data-nimg=”1″ src=”https://hips.hearstapps.com/vidthumb/f7daca1e-e7af-4f02-ba12-e27d85b7c085/thumb_1920x1080_00002_1710428156_19132.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=1200:*”>
Source: Men’s Health