LOS ANGELES _ A judge on Thursday ruled there is enough evidence for New York real estate scion Robert Durst to stand trial for the 2000 slaying of his best friend, in a case that drew national intrigue after an HBO series chronicled Durst's life.
The decision came at the end of a lengthy preliminary hearing in Los Angeles, where Durst is charged with shooting writer Susan Berman in the back of the head inside her Benedict Canyon home.
Prosecutors allege that Berman was slain to keep her from telling authorities what she knew about the disappearance in New York of Durst's first wife years earlier. Los Angeles prosecutors have sought to build a case that Durst, the son of a prominent real estate tycoon, killed his wife, Kathleen, in 1982.
Durst, 75, has denied killing both his wife and Berman, and has pleaded not guilty in the Los Angeles case _ a case his lawyers argue was based on television hype, not evidence.
The eccentric multimillionaire was the key figure in "The Jinx," an HBO miniseries, which focused on his wife's disappearance, Berman's death and the 2001 killing of Morris Black, Durst's neighbor in Galveston, Texas. He was arrested in connection with Berman's slaying on March 14, 2015, the day before the series finale aired.
