Robert Durst’s murder trial has been postponed to April 6 due to the spread of coronavirus, according to the Los Angeles Times.
This comes a day after the Los Angeles Superior Court announced that criminal and civil trials will be delayed for at least 30 days amid concerns about the spread of the virus among the court system. Judges were encouraged to shift towards conducting proceedings by telephone to decrease the amount of people in courthouses.
Presiding Judge Kevin Brazile said that for trials already underway, individual judges should decide whether to postpone or declare a mistrial.
Durst’s murder trial began on March 5. Durst, the subject of the 2015 HBO docuseries “The Jinx,” is charged with murdering his close friend Susan Berman on or about Dec. 23, 2000. Her body was discovered in her Benedict Canyon home on Christmas Eve.
L.A. County Deputy District Attorney John Lewin said the prosecution believes Berman knew her killer, saying there were no signs of a struggle, no sign of a break-in and her purse and credit cards were still in the home. Lewin said, “Susan knew her killer. She freely and voluntarily admitted this person into her house.”
Durst was arrested in March 2015 by FBI agents in New Orleans, one day before the finale of HBO’s “The Jinx,” which chronicled Durst’s life and the death of three people close to him — McCormack, Berman and a neighbor in Galveston, Texas. He was not charged with the disappearance of McCormack and acquitted in the death of the neighbor.
Durst has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Berman.