The Jinx subject Robert Durst is battling cancer according to a motion by his lawyers filed on Thursday. According to Fox News, Durst’s lawyers were seeking a delay in the murder trial, adding that the formal real estate professional was also battling several other “life-threatening” health issues.
“We are very concerned about his health,” Durst’s lawyer Dick DeGuerin told Fox News. “He’s really gone down in the last year. He’s been in and out of clinics and hospitals frequently.”
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Durst is on trial for the murder of his best friend Susan Berman over 20 years ago and featured prominently on The Jinx, the HBO docuseries that put Durst into the mainstream consciousness. The trial has already been delayed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Durst’s lawyers calling the trial a “grueling” test for anybody, but especially for a “78-year-old man with serious health conditions.”
Some of these health issues include “bladder cancer, esophageal cancer in the past, malnutrition, coronary artery disease with drug-eluting stents, atrial fibrillation, and chronic kidney disease.” To secure his release on bail, Durst has made clear he’s willing to pay a high bail and wear a GPS tracker once released to a hospital or medical care facility.
Durst has been in jail since his arrest in 2015 and pled not guilty at the time. The arrest was sparked by developments dug up by The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, specifically in the final episode with Durst seemingly admitting to the crimes he was being accused of for years.
The trial is set to restart on Monday, May 17, 2021, unless the emergency motion is granted. A prior motion by the defense to call the case a mistrial was denied. The initial start date was March 2020 but was quickly shelved after the COVID-19 pandemic picked up steam in the U.S. shortly after.
Durst is suspected in the murder of at least three people, including his first wife, Kathleen McCormack Durst, who disappeared in 1982. Susan Berman, the victim he is facing charges for in the trial. And then there’s his neighbor, Morris Black, who was killed in Texas in 2001 and ended up allegedly dumping his body parts in Galveston Bay before going on the run. Durst did admit to dismembering Black’s body and acquitted of the murder on the grounds of self-defense. He was not charged for the dismemberment.
