Robert Durst Pleads Guilty To Gun Charge, Accepts 7-Year Sentence

U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt has scheduled Durst’s re-arraignment for Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2016, on a charge of illegally carrying a.38-caliber revolver after a felony conviction.

Robert Durst, the multi-millionaire subject of the brilliant HBO documentary The Jinx, looks likely to face charges for the 2000 murder of his friend Susan Berman. Under the plea agreement, the prosecution has to arraign Durst there by August 18.

Durst appeared to make an unwitting confession to a number of killings during filming of the acclaimed six-part HBO documentary “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst”.

He will stay in a Louisiana jail until he is formally sentenced on the gun charge.

The acceptance of the plea means Durst is one step closer to being extradited to California, where is wanted for the 2000 murder of Susan Berman. Durst provided an alibi during that investigation, which was supported by Berman, a magazine writer and the daughter of Las Vegas mobster Davie Berman.

The charge stems from his arrest last march after a revolver was discovered in his new orleans hotel room. At the time, Durst was a convicted felon and therefore, it was illegal for him to possess the gun. If the judge accepts the sentence, then it is up to the Bureau of Prisons to decide where Durst will serve it, though Englehardt can recommend a prison.

Durst’s longtime lawyer – who successfully defended Durst in 2003 after his client admitted killing and dismembering a neighbor in self-defense – says the California case will be challenging. He was also found with $117,000 in cash, which he will forfeit under the plea deal. The maximum penalty Durst could face is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Durst’s voice was captured on a microphone after the interview saying he had “killed them all”.

According to various media reports, Durst ultimately reached a settlement under which the family paid him $60 million to $65 million. Investigators believe that Berman knew some of Mr. Durst’s secrets-including his involvement in the 1982 disappearance of Durst’s wife Kathleen-which put her at risk when authorities began re-investigating Kathleen’s disappearance.