YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → EXCLUSIVE: Robert Durst Prosecution Team - Part 2

EXCLUSIVE: Robert Durst Prosecution Team - Part 2 — Transcript

by Crime News Insider Podcast · 7,321 words · 994 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00because in order to understand why Bob
0:03Durst has done the things that he has
0:04done why he's responded the way that he
0:06responds why he says the things he says
0:09you have to know
0:10[Music]
0:23him welcome to crime news Insider you're
0:25listening to part two of our interview
0:27with the Robert dur prosecution team
0:29since the recording of this interview
0:31Robert dur was sentenced life without
0:33parole for the murder of Susan bman and
0:35has been charged in Westchester County
0:37with the murder of Kathy Durst now let's
0:40return to the interview let's talk about
0:43just the magnitude of this case because
0:45the the death Susan Burman that's the
0:47murder but your theory
0:49encompasses both the murder or at least
0:53The Disappearance of Kathy Durst and the
0:56murder of Morris black you even allege a
0:59special circumstance which makes him
1:01eligible for death penalty and life
1:03without parole that Susan Burman was a
1:05witness and Susan Burman the theory is
1:08that when Kathy goes missing there's a
1:11phone call placed to the dean of the
1:13medical school that Kathy dur attended
1:16and the dean says yes Kathy called me
1:19well how do you know it was Kathy she
1:20said she was Kathy and we come to find
1:24out that Susan Burman was telling other
1:26people that she was the in fact the one
1:29that made call at the behest of Robert
1:32dur so she's a witness she's helping out
1:34Robert dur and now your your cases and
1:38encompassing Kathy dur from 1982 and
1:41then Morris black of just how how he
1:44when he's backed in the corner he he
1:46kills Eugene I I have a question for you
1:48you said that you kind of organize all
1:51of this discovery how do you go about
1:53doing that with the case of this
1:54magnitude well I mean wait Eugene's not
1:57allowed to
1:58talk
2:01well I think fine what made it easier
2:03was because it's three distinct cases
2:06we've got all the the discovery from the
2:09Westchester County DA's office regarding
2:12uh Kathy's disappearance so that came up
2:15in a 27 boxes that were sent over to us
2:19and so we organized that and then there
2:20was another 17 boxes that came out of
2:23Galveston we actually all of us went to
2:26Galveston early on in the case to to
2:28meet with a prosecutor in Galveston to
2:31go over the materials that they had so
2:33we were there for about a week um with a
2:36couple
2:37investigators to go through all the
2:39materials make sure that that uh we have
2:41a copy of everything that was in their
2:43possession so we covered those two cases
2:46um with those agencies and then we have
2:48obviously lapd's Robbery Homicide
2:51division that put together their own
2:54Discovery and they they kind of split
2:56their Discovery up into a 2000 an
2:59investigation so the investigation that
3:01took place shortly after Susan Burman
3:04was actually murdered and then after the
3:06case went cold then they reopened in
3:082012 so we had a 2012 set of Discovery
3:11as well so so it actually if you if you
3:14look at that it's kind of like four
3:15separate you know areas of discover
3:18exactly so it made it easier to organ
3:21organize it that way slightly easier
3:23though make it sound so
3:26easy how many how many pages of
3:28Discovery I think there was over almost
3:32190,000 if I'm not mistaken Eugene is
3:35under he's under selling what he did
3:38because he getting the discovery and
3:40organizing it is one thing you know
3:42creating it into a searchable PDF is one
3:44thing but you know as you know a lot of
3:46police reports that are handwritten are
3:48not searchable and notes aren't
3:51searchable Etc so he had a massive
3:55spreadsheet going which cross reference
3:58subject matter by bait stamp range Etc
4:01so you could go into a Excel spreadsheet
4:03word search that and then find some
4:05handwritten notes somewhere within the
4:08discovery so he did a fantastic job
4:10that's really smart wow and did he share
4:13that spreadsheet with the defense I'm
4:15just
4:16kidding I'm sure they would have wanted
4:18to see it they would they would fre
4:21frequently at the beginning of the case
4:23throughout the case they would get up
4:25and they would say we weren't given this
4:28is an AB ination we were never given
4:31this discovery and Eugene would stand up
4:33actually January 5th
4:362017 at bit stamp blah blah blah they
4:38would literally this happened about 10
4:40times and then all of a sudden they
4:42stopped saying it they they they stopped
4:44saying it yeah we really like we said we
4:48invested a lot of time on the front end
4:52on getting all this stuff in order
4:55because we knew it was going to be a
4:56trial from the start and so we knew that
4:59we really needed to make sure that we
5:01were in a position to be able to quickly
5:04find what we
5:05needed when you guys starting so
5:08starting the trial how long did motions
5:11take days like how many days did you
5:13talk about
5:14motions I mean we well no we litigated
5:17we litigated probably more than a 100
5:21complex thousands of pages of I mean we
5:24have motions that were four 500 pages
5:28long wow with exhibits and then we would
5:31have oppositions and responses and
5:34replies so we started litigating motions
5:38almost instantly and we litigated
5:40everything under the sun I mean if you
5:43and most things repeatedly and did you
5:45do that purposefully just so that you
5:47could foreclose issues popping up yeah
5:52so so so we had a plan from the start
5:55pretty much of what we wanted to do and
5:57that involved okay we we're going to
5:59bring in this evidence and we wanted to
6:01make sure that we litigated this
6:02evidence as early as possible so one of
6:05the things that we needed to do was we
6:06wanted to litigate the admissibility of
6:08the statement in New Orleans the defense
6:10was going on TV and they were saying
6:12that you know we had committed
6:13misconduct by interviewing Durst in New
6:16Orleans when we had done it when he was
6:19represented that wasn't the state of law
6:21at all and so that was again one of the
6:24issues where we started filing motions
6:27and we pushed to have all that stuff l
6:29at so there were there were four big big
6:32issues in the case the first issue was
6:35bringing in the situation with
6:38Kathy by charging the special
6:40circumstance of witness
6:42killing uh that automatically meant to
6:45prove the witness killing we had to
6:46litigate all the stuff about Kathy dur
6:48so instead of having to do an 1101b
6:50motion where we are bringing in we're
6:53saying we want to bring in the issue
6:55with Kathy Durst we special cir the
6:58witness killing so that that they would
7:00have to sever it and there's no way they
7:02can do it um and and just so our
7:04audience knows some of them may not be
7:06lawyers 111b motion 1101b is in the
7:10evidence code that basically says you
7:11can't bring in you know prior bad acts
7:14necessarily of uh of a defendant or a
7:18witness certainly unless it's there to
7:20prove something else that's admissible
7:22like this is his Mo this is his scheme
7:25or intent or knowledge so that's what
7:271101b is motion and it's very diff ult
7:29to get it in that way it seems um a lot
7:32of judges are hesitant but when you file
7:34a special circumstance this person was a
7:37witness now you have to prove that that
7:40underlying murder right so so so we did
7:43that and then then as a part of that
7:45once you're bringing in Kathy then she's
7:48in essence a murder victim right so once
7:51she's a murder victim now you have to
7:53prove the motive for that murder and
7:54you're allowed to bring in the prior
7:57violence on Kathy but so we were able to
7:59to uh bring in the issue of the domestic
8:03violence involving Kathy the second big
8:06issue was going to be the murder of
8:09Morris black and the dismemberment yeah
8:11how'd you get that into evidence well I
8:13mean everything starts with Kathy all
8:16right and since everything starts with
8:18Kathy and since the whole reason dur was
8:21in Galveston and the whole reason that
8:24he is saying he cut up Morris Black's
8:26body had to do with the issues of Morris
8:28black I'm sorry Kathy we were able to
8:31make a very compelling argument to the
8:33judge that in essence Morris black was
8:38part of a common planner scheme that has
8:40to do with covering up his murder of
8:42Kathy so Kathy was the beginning of
8:45everything that led to Susan which led
8:47to Morris there were also numerous
8:50issues regarding the way that Morris
8:52black his body was disposed of where
8:54there were circumstantial evidence that
8:55he had done the same thing to Kathy so
8:58we litigated that it was litigated uh
9:02very very very thoroughly the defense
9:05tried to RIT it their writ was denied
9:08they relitigated it probably five times
9:10so we won that the third big issue was
9:13the forfeiture by
9:14wrongdoing and this is an example of um
9:18I'm kind of an Evidence code nut so the
9:21evidence code you know is something that
9:24I try to make sure that I know very very
9:27well and so we had a law clerk at the
9:30time who suggests to khabib and I will
9:33never forget this um what about
9:36forfeiture by wrong
9:37doing and um I had never thought of it
9:41and the reason i' never thought of it B
9:43never thought because we don't use it
9:44very we never use it we never use it and
9:47so you know just by coincidence he he
9:51thinks of it and like oh my God you know
9:53I had never used in a case because
9:55obviously you can only use it where the
9:58person is killed
9:59to prevent them from becoming a witness
10:02those are generally only going to be in
10:04in gang cases my experience is not as a
10:06gang homicide prosecutor it's as a
10:08circumstantial evidence homicide
10:10prosecutor and so but for the law clerk
10:14suggesting it I think we would have
10:15eventually probably have gotten there
10:17but uh that's not where we were thinking
10:20so we filed that motion those were the
10:22big motions in the case and we won them
10:24all and so once those issues were
10:27decided I think the defense really had
10:29their work cut out for them can we can
10:32we talk a little bit about some of the
10:33the challenges of a trial like this one
10:36you're you know your defendant is like I
10:38think 78 years old and has a lot of
10:41issues or madeup issues or just general
10:44medical issues and then you had covid on
10:47top of that how did your team deal with
10:49all those issues it was thought by kind
10:51of the prevailing wisdom was oh Bob's an
10:54old guy and the jury's GNA feel sorry
10:57for him so we elected to one of the
11:00things that we wanted to do and this is
11:03why when you're going to try media cases
11:06you can't listen to what people are
11:08going to say the the so-called experts
11:11they haven't tried cases like this most
11:13of them quite honestly don't know their
11:15head from their ass so they're going to
11:17be up there saying what they're going to
11:19say and we knew from the start what our
11:23case was going to look like it was going
11:25to look like we were going to first of
11:27all introduce the jury to Bob Durst who
11:29is Bob Durst because in order to
11:32understand why Bob Durst has done the
11:35things that he has done why he's
11:36responded the way that he responds why
11:38he says the things that he says you have
11:40to know him and so that's where we
11:42started that's where the case started so
11:44a lot of things about who Bob Durst was
11:47that then you know goes to how Bob and
11:50Kathy got involved and we were very
11:53confident that over time when the jury
11:57understood who Bob dur was it wasn't
11:59going to matter whether he was you know
12:0178 years old whether he was in the
12:03stretch or it would not matter they
12:05would not like who he was for proper
12:08reasons nothing improper about it they
12:10would understand that he was a domestic
12:12violence abuser they would understand
12:15why he killed uh Kathy they would
12:17understand how Susan got involved so the
12:20those Logistics were not problematic the
12:22covid thing was a nightmare and our big
12:25concern was that we were going to have
12:26to start over and we were very very
12:29satisfied with how the trial had gone
12:32the defense started asking for mistrials
12:33during jury selection they did not like
12:36how things were going they wanted to do
12:38over Durst wanted to do over so that was
12:41very stressful for all of us yeah that's
12:43got to be very uh very stressful
12:46thinking that the judge could declare a
12:47mistrial at any stage and I just
12:49listening to some of the clips I mean
12:51the defense is asking for mistrial left
12:53and right one of which is because oh
12:55he's too sick to to go through with this
12:58he can't testify he has I mean it came
13:00out like dementia and um at one point he
13:04had a catheter I got to ask you about
13:06this raise your hand if you're a
13:08prosecutor and emptied someone a
13:09defendant's catheter for him in court I
13:13see no hands raised except for no that
13:16so that was a one of the issues that I
13:18was concerned with was Bob had
13:21significant health issues he's 78 years
13:23old our position was not that he didn't
13:25have signific health issues our our
13:27issue was first of all not going to get
13:29any better if you look at actu he's
13:31going to get worse and we're not he
13:33doesn't get a free ride because he was
13:35old enough and managed to murder enough
13:37people that you know you don't get well
13:40I'm 80 now so yeah you can't prosecute
13:42me for the murders I've committed so
13:44when he ended up having his catheter bag
13:46full and I let the defense attorneys
13:49know that it was full um you know their
13:53response was well we're not going to do
13:55anything and my concern was he was
13:58already having bladder issues I didn't
14:00want him having an infection you know
14:02it's not a big deal you just open the
14:04valve and you drain it so that that's
14:07what we did you know I was not um I was
14:09not performing surgery I just opened the
14:11bag at the toilet it was very strange I
14:15can tell you the look that Bob had when
14:17myself and the bayith went back there
14:19and he sees me I want I didn't say it
14:22but the joke I was going to make was you
14:24know you told me that uh we were going
14:26to talk when you came back from Court
14:29on March 15 2015 now we can finish but
14:33um so so I asked him you know do you
14:36want me to I'm just here to help you did
14:38you want me to change it go ahead so
14:40that's what I did so I so I drained it
14:43and that was that was it and the depence
14:45had no objection clearly and you put on
14:47the record like I just want to put that
14:48on record I went there I changed it it
14:51was all good yeah well you know listen
14:54the um yeah I think it was I wanted to
14:57make sure that there were no all
14:58allegations and um you know the problem
15:01was I asked them to do it and they
15:03didn't seem to have an interest so it
15:05needed to be done and so you know we
15:08wanted to make sure this trial got
15:09finished well that's one way to do it
15:12that's one well you know we try to be
15:14full service here you really were you
15:16you you handled everything we do we can
15:19so you also had numerous jail calls
15:23talking about how he was just faking
15:24dementia and maybe this Asperger
15:27syndrome he tried to to use and I just
15:30want to go to Ethan it seemed like John
15:35was ready and had it at his fingertips
15:38anytime Robert D was testifying under
15:42cross-examination and said something
15:45different or denied something that John
15:47ask him like you said X didn't you no
15:49and then he had it at his fingertips
15:51Ethan how' you go about doing that and
15:54having that ready for for John basically
15:56we had everything that D ever said
15:58transcribe uh go through the transcripts
16:01highlight what we wanted we thought was
16:03important that would be relevant that
16:05he'd either lie about or that we thought
16:07would be important to bring up each one
16:10of those transcripts gets highlighted
16:12and then what I have is I attribute a
16:14code to each quote each clip that we're
16:18going to use that clip then or that code
16:21is then put into Excel Microsoft Excel
16:25and then compiled with the actual quote
16:28the uh the date the transcript page
16:32numbers and then the time code for when
16:34it was cut for the majority of it for
16:36the professional stuff it was almost
16:38exclusively in Avid uh which is
16:41basically what every major Film Studio
16:44is using to cut their or edit their
16:46their films you go and see7 it was
16:48probably edited on Abbot so we had a
16:51licens Abid import everything into there
16:55and then uh export everything as a code
16:58number so that basically Lu could go
17:00through his outline and be like this is
17:02the thing this place so he's got an
17:04outline as he's approaching cross
17:06examination with dur and he's hitting
17:08areas and we know ahead of time that
17:10he's going to hit this particular area
17:12and we have that that quote coded so
17:15that if dur says something inconsistent
17:18he just says okay then play this
17:20internal code number and then we'll pull
17:22it up the most important thing is having
17:24a system of organization so they we're
17:27on the same page and we know exactly
17:29what we're going to put I mean if you
17:31have 800 clips of Robert Durst it's
17:34basically worthless if you can't pull up
17:37what you need when you want it sorry
17:40that was a long answer I'll give you
17:41I'll give you the Tik Tock answer so
17:44Ethan did a fantastic job of uh
17:47categorizing each clip that John
17:49potentially wanted to use it and
17:50assigning a code number and John could
17:53then put those in his outline and when
17:54he wanted to impeach him with something
17:56he could just pull up the code ask Ethan
17:58to play it and Ethan had it at his
18:01fingertips and some of it was even it
18:03seemed just listening to it on replay it
18:07would be of something dur testified to
18:10just you know a couple days ago would
18:12you like just stay up all night and and
18:15yeah so basically every night the trial
18:18was broadcast on YouTube I would
18:20basically pull a clip from YouTube or
18:23pull the day recordings from YouTube
18:25import it into Avid and then add to my
18:29spreadsheet on dur so I'd see like okay
18:32I think this is an important section I
18:34would take copious notes during the
18:36cross-examination whenever dur was
18:38testifying and highlight the or note
18:42roughly what I thought would be
18:43important then when we got to that night
18:46I would go home just uh start pulling
18:48the clips and then adding to the
18:50spreadsheet giving them new numbers uh
18:53and then getting them to Luen so that
18:55he'd be ready to incorporate them into
18:58his uh uh cross-examination uh plan one
19:01of my favorite points in the uh with
19:03regard to that was there was a point
19:06when there was a objection Luan went to
19:08sidebar and the judge was like hey how
19:10are you going to impeach Durst on these
19:13these statements because the judge in
19:15his mind was thinking that in a
19:17traditional trial you you need to
19:18impeach him with transcripts and uh he's
19:22you know we don't have transcripts we
19:23don't have dailies on this and Luen was
19:25like yeah uh we got video clips so I
19:28thought that was pretty cool and the
19:29other cool part about this whole process
19:31was the at its best I could turn around
19:34something at you know after a session so
19:37for example Tim noticed something that
19:39dur said in the uh I think it was that I
19:43can't do you remember you guys remember
19:44what buried Buried buried the body
19:47buried the body yeah yeah yeah D said
19:51like I buried the body so then at our
19:53next break I just pulled that clip and
19:56then we could play it immediately but I
19:58mean the the it's really like it's the
20:00future of prosecution like at some point
20:02you're going to have lots of media lots
20:05of uh uh video and you're gonna have to
20:08be able to Marshall that evidence and be
20:10able to pull it up on a dime because are
20:13the Dream Team yeah one of the things
20:14that that I think is is important to
20:16note is that although you saw khabib and
20:19I doing most of the stuff in court
20:22everybody was working extremely hard all
20:25the time so as an example you know when
20:28I'm
20:32doing doing the the cross-examination
20:35plan took me a year of time going
20:38through it but I'm not able when I'm
20:40questioning him I've got to think of
20:42where I'm going what's my plan what's
20:44the next move what Clips do I do I not
20:47want to use and there's no way that I'm
20:50going to be able to pick up every single
20:52thing that's said and so when you have
20:55four other lawyers that are watching
20:57everything going on nothing got past it
21:00they would see something Tim might see
21:02it Ethan would be texted or they would
21:05pull the clips and we would be ready so
21:08we're not ignorant to go yeah well I
21:10mean you know this is how it should be
21:12for every prosecutor well unless you
21:14have a team of lawyers and the resource
21:17devoted to do it you know this is not
21:18what somebody who's carrying 25 trials
21:21and going to to trial by themselves can
21:23do so we're not ignorant to the fact
21:26that we were were kind of operating in a
21:28whole different kind of situation than
21:31than most line prosecutors even you know
21:35special unit prosecutors find themselves
21:37in all right I have a question how did
21:40you and Habib decide who was going to
21:42open and who was going to close because
21:44that that seems like something you'd
21:46have to arm russle for well I mean how
21:50do we decide it so um all of us are are
21:53very close we're close professionally
21:56we're close personally because it was my
21:59case from the start and I'm and I'm
22:02also the most senior person by time in
22:04the office and age on the
22:06team I was in the end and also
22:10weit wait I'm also the heaviest this is
22:12true and and I have maybe the most hair
22:17which is
22:18amazing given the fact that I'm I'm the
22:20oldest and yes I'm I'm the heav I don't
22:24know if you guys found it distracting
22:25but Ethan's bald head would sometimes
22:27reflect in the in the shot I found
22:31it at time it was hard I mean I almost
22:34wanted to go can we do something about
22:36the bald guy um it was really I'm trying
22:39to do cross-examination here it was very
22:41hard I thought habib's comment about the
22:43uh the her um the picture of Ethan
22:47before and after pretty great that was
22:50awesome so okay so to answer your
22:51question here's what happened the
22:53opening was because it required a
22:58very long narrative and a lot of
23:02knowledge about the case I don't think
23:04um khabib could have done it but I was
23:06in a much better position to do it
23:09closing what we decided was that because
23:14the a lot of the the witnesses
23:15particularly at the end and some of the
23:17more difficult Witnesses were my
23:18Witnesses khabib and Ethan were able to
23:21work on khabib and it's closing and
23:23Ethan's closing throughout the trial So
23:26the plan was always remember the closing
23:28I like on every case where I have
23:30another lawyer that works with me I
23:32always do rebuttal um because my view is
23:36it's the last time and you cannot
23:40pre-plan rebuttal so that's how we
23:43worked it out and then we wanted the
23:46other lawyers to be able to participate
23:49Ethan had done some of the technical
23:51stuff involving the Reconstruction in
23:54Galveston and so he did that part of the
23:56closing on that was it that's how we
23:59kind of arrived at it um let's let's
24:01talk about some other aspects of of the
24:03trial uh or the kadaver note you know
24:07there was motions to I think exclude it
24:10or suppress it and you guys won that
24:13motion and then a couple weeks before
24:15trial is what from what I understand
24:18they stipulate that Robert Durst wrote
24:21this kadaver note and even though they
24:23stipulated to it you guys still went
24:25into it um heavily because I mean that
24:28is that is probably one of the most
24:31damning pieces of the evidence do you
24:33think that if the kadav note was never
24:36written if Robert dur never sent that
24:38note to the police do you think you
24:40still would have won this case well I
24:42mean Jorge if if he wouldn't have
24:44written the cabern note then he wouldn't
24:46have been able to have been impeached by
24:49jurki we wouldn't have been able to get
24:51the admissions we got from
24:53him I me it's real simple forget about
24:55whether we would have been able to win
24:56the case um we wouldn't have been able
24:59to prosecute the case him riding the
25:01kavern note ensured that we had a shot
25:05so no that was
25:07crucial necessary couldn't have done it
25:09without
25:10it does does anybody disagree no I mean
25:14that so that one piece of evidence is
25:17really the lynchpin for your case well
25:20it's the it's it's extremely important
25:22because it's the it's not that in it of
25:24itself it's certainly a huge issue but
25:27open the door for everything else
25:30without that we don't have any of the
25:32other things that we have
25:35so it's amazing you rarely get that in a
25:38case where the case can just turn to I
25:42can't prosecute it to I got this guy
25:44Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and I could I
25:46could build a case that's amazing all
25:48right so let's um let me go to J's
25:51testimony if I can so on on
25:55cross-examination I mean obviously
25:58maybe people don't know this but a lot
26:00of times we don't know what the
26:02defendant's going to testify to yeah you
26:03interviewed him he he gave prior
26:06statements and and you could prepare for
26:08all of that but to backtrack and cover
26:11some of all these other issues that he
26:15has to cover we don't necessarily know
26:17what he's going to say like for example
26:19he tried to claim when he was talking to
26:21himself on the on the Jinx on the hot
26:23mic where he says there it is you're
26:25caught oh you're caught writing the
26:26kadab note which is what I'm admitting
26:29to right now when I said kill them all I
26:32really said they'll think I killed them
26:34all did you know any of the stuff that
26:37he was gonna say was there anything that
26:39really surprised you when he got up
26:41there and testified well F first of all
26:44I didn't care what he was gonna say
26:46great I already knew the whole point was
26:48I was gonna cover his life A to
26:50Z on Cross so whatever he was going to
26:54say on Direct here's what I knew he was
26:56going to have to say wrote the Kadabra
26:58note he was going to have to say found a
27:00body and and anything else that he said
27:04was going to be inconsistent was going
27:05to have to admit that he had repeatedly
27:07committed perjury so there was Zero
27:10concern with oh my God Bob can say XYZ
27:13now that being said he absolutely
27:16shocked us so for instance when he
27:20admitted that he had committed perjury
27:23five times during this very trial at
27:26least five times yeah so certain things
27:29yeah certain things you could not
27:31prepare yourself
27:33for or or when he says that um he felt
27:37um uh her cold breath yes and I I don't
27:42know if you guys saw the
27:44clip my response was
27:47literally wait she's dead you know she's
27:51a stiff she can't breathe you know I
27:55mean so he would say stuff where where
27:57it was just shocking none of us have
28:00ever seen so much perjury in such a
28:03short period of time on so many issues
28:05we'll never see it again I mean I think
28:07you're and he's such such an admitted
28:10perser too you don't really get that
28:11very often I
28:13mean and a shamess a Shameless Burger I
28:16mean he will so there there was a point
28:19where where an Ethan did great work and
28:22khabib in this issue regarding the
28:24Reconstruction so we were able to show
28:27that the whole the Galveston defense was
28:30[ __ ] and that he had murdered Morris
28:33and and we did it by taking apart his
28:36statements about what happened versus
28:38testimony about what happened versus the
28:40physical evidence and even his defense
28:42attorney's Rec defense experts
28:44reconstruction but the part that amazed
28:46me was I don't know if you guys saw this
28:49we're showing him the animation video
28:51and the animation video shows him
28:54grabbing the gun from underneath but his
28:56testimony is is I grabbed it from on top
28:59so we have it frozen where his hand is
29:02underneath it and I'm saying to him uh
29:05Bob where is your hand it's on top of
29:09the gun wait look at the animation video
29:13it's on top of the gun so he's literally
29:16looking at it looking at the sky and
29:18going yeah the the sky is not blue it's
29:21black you're like boy it's blue so he
29:24would not just lie about a logical
29:26things you know you put up a picture of
29:28a dog and he would say it was a donkey
29:30and what do you even where do you go at
29:33times I would just go okay uh I'll move
29:36on to the next area so yeah no that was
29:38crazy but there was nothing that he said
29:40that we were worried about on his
29:42testimony whatsoever what was crazy to
29:44listen to about that gison uh Recreation
29:47for some reason the defense attorneys
29:51were recreating it in court now I don't
29:54know if you know of this La case from a
29:56long time go where you have people
29:59recreating stuff and it goes horribly
30:01South yeah well well so so let me let
30:04let me let me tell you how that came
30:07about this your suggestion right it was
30:09at M
30:11so Bob is up there and he can't and Dick
30:15wants to basically do a kind of a
30:17recreation with Bob like they did in
30:19Galvin this is Dick to Gar in the
30:21defense attorney for B correct and so
30:25the the judge says that
30:27Bob can't stand up and Bob says oh no I
30:30could stand up and then the judge
30:33basically in his in his in his very
30:34subtle way like well no um the bayi says
30:38you can't stand up and the judge says
30:40he's the boss and he ask the bay the bay
30:42says no so Bob can't really reenact it
30:47so I say to to uh dick and Dave to
30:52chesnoff and to Garen you know why don't
30:55one of you do if you're gonna do this it
30:57doesn't make sense why don't one of you
31:00play Bob and one of you
31:03play dick and uh yeah they did it you're
31:07you're just mean now uh and they did it
31:11if I could add on to that one thing is
31:13while they were doing it Luen was so
31:15enraptured with how stupid the thing
31:18looked that he was actually standing and
31:21and blocking the camera and I was
31:22thinking to myself I need this clip so I
31:25pul out of the way the camera and then
31:27one of hi's uh favorite Parts is at the
31:30end of everything after they said
31:32everything and they're like and that's
31:34how it happened and and I said and
31:36they're basically a foot away from the
31:38chair which would have been impossible
31:40because they had to through the
31:41recreation that they wanted to get all
31:44the way through the kitchen uh I mean
31:46the whole thing was ridiculous we we we
31:48we had a much better understanding of
31:51the legal and factual issues of the case
31:53than the other side it seemed that way
31:56uh hey I I'm mindful of the time so I I
31:58just want to get to a couple quick
32:01questions before um we get to the quiz
32:04number one the jury is out I mean this
32:06this trial lasted months right five
32:08months or so the jury was out for seven
32:11and a half hours OJ's jury was out for
32:14four hours before returning a not-
32:16guilty verdict were you feeling nervous
32:18at all when you learned that the jury
32:20reached this quick
32:21verdict absolutely not there was there
32:25was one possibility on this case that
32:27would have been bad only one there was a
32:30small possibility that we would have had
32:32one or two jurors that we're gonna hang
32:35the case as soon as which is every case
32:38right which is every case every
32:40Prosecutor's fear right is there's gonna
32:42be one hanger one or two correct kind of
32:45outliers even on a solid slam dunk which
32:48your case was but any solid slam case
32:51that's always the fear that there wasn't
32:54unless we had a juror who was out of it
32:56or corrupt
32:58um just didn't get it it was going to be
33:00a conviction so once we knew there was a
33:02conviction and I knew as soon as I was
33:05conviction I knew that they had
33:06convicted him on everything because he
33:08would have been told that well we've
33:10reached a verdict on X but we haven't
33:13reached a verdict on the special Circ
33:15and we knew we had a incredible jury and
33:18we knew that once we had so no there was
33:20no nervousness at all we were we were
33:22very we were very uh confident uh at
33:26that situation one one other question co
33:29cold cases are kind of unique because
33:32victims families sometimes are have
33:34passed or or you know aren't around but
33:37what was it like uh delivering news or
33:40having family members and friends both
33:42Susan and Kathy around to hear what had
33:46happened so many years later well I it
33:48was a unique situation because because
33:50it was broadcast there was no delivering
33:52anything everybody knew but you know we
33:55certainly um
33:57you know were mindful of the fact that
34:00you know Susan really did not have uh
34:03many people left and so um you know it
34:07different than it than it's been in
34:08other cold cases I've done you didn't
34:11have that situation of kind of
34:13delivering the news we we gotta we gotta
34:15ask this question of John maybe of his
34:17team about John Luen if there was a if
34:19there was a Netflix movie made about the
34:22trial who would play John L John C dead
34:27Jonah Hill hold on a hold a second Ethan
34:29what was your answer Jonah Hill yeah I'm
34:33so sick of that I'll tell you who I get
34:35it's really demoralizing and this goes
34:38way back 25 years ago a person my office
34:43told me you know who you remind me of
34:45and it wasn't even this probably G be
34:47before you were taught she wanted to say
34:49John litz but instead of saying John
34:51lovit she said I reminded her of the
34:54animated version of John Lovitz in the
34:56critic yes I I mean that's not who
34:59you're looking for um the other here's
35:02who I get all the time I'm told that I
35:04look like Jonah Hill or
35:06mov I person I personally think that I
35:10don't about you guys I think maybe
35:11Channing
35:16Tatum possible John Bob can get Ryan
35:19Gosling I'm holding out for Channing J
35:23humble John le I would say Bob Odenkirk
35:26oh not because of the better call saw
35:27thing but I can I could see him uh
35:30playing you but uh that's good um thank
35:34you so much team you you spent I mean
35:37we're really grateful for you talk to us
35:39as Pro prosecutors to prosecutors you
35:41did an amazing job we're so proud of you
35:43abolutely thank you thank there is one
35:46thing that I think is important I think
35:48I speak for for all of us on this it was
35:50really important to me prosecutors and
35:53especially our office we have just been
35:56taken a part in the media over the years
35:58for high-profile cases and it was really
36:01important to us that we put on as good a
36:04case as we could and that in the end no
36:07one was going to be able to say oh the
36:09L's office is a joke they don't know
36:12what they're doing it was really
36:13important to us and so uh you know we
36:16were given the resources that we needed
36:18and the support that we needed and um
36:21you know I think when prosecutors get
36:24the time and the and the opportunity the
36:26resource es to do good work you know we
36:29do good work yeah absolutely outstanding
36:32well before we end the show do you have
36:33a few moments to play our quiz sure we
36:37have a quiz uh so each week we look at
36:39the laws on the books three are real one
36:42is fake and it's your job to guess which
36:44one is the fake there's a theme in this
36:47quiz and it has to do with Robert Durst
36:50and his many states of where he
36:53committed crimes these are California
36:54laws nope these are laws throughout the
36:57country oh that makes a little tricky
36:59okay so pay attention so three are real
37:01one is fake okay so a in New York it is
37:05illegal to commit
37:07adultery B in Galveston Texas it's
37:10illegal to bury a body except in a
37:14cemetery C in Beverly Hills it's illegal
37:17for a person to discover a body or
37:20acquire the first knowledge of the death
37:21of a person and fail to report it D in
37:26the Louisiana it's illegal to wear a
37:28facial disguise calculated to conceal
37:31your identity except during specified
37:33activities like Halloween marra
37:36Etc all right so sorry three are real
37:39one is fake and why don't we start with
37:41khabib which one do you think is the
37:43fake c c Beverly Hills it's illegal for
37:46someone to discover body and acquire
37:48first knowledge all right you're you're
37:51you're an LA prosecutor maybe you know
37:52Beverly Hills law John what do you think
37:56so we're saying three are real one is
37:58fake yeah so New York it's adultery
38:00Galvis Texas specifically illegal to
38:02bury body except the cemetery Beverly
38:05Hills you have to call the authorities
38:07uh to report a dead body and Louisiana
38:09it's illegal to wear facial disguise to
38:11conceal your identity I just can't think
38:13it can be a law on the books even
38:16currently even if un enforc that
38:17adultery is illegal I'm going to go with
38:19a okay and uh obviously Robert D was uh
38:24having an affair so that's why that's in
38:26that theme Eugene what do you think I'm
38:29gonna go with khabib and and say c as
38:31well c as well all right Rob I'm g go
38:36with also c c all right and Ethan
38:43sorry usually by the way generally
38:45speaking when we would have
38:47disagreements in this case it was always
38:49for against one or five against one so
38:53uh uh so this is uh I have some support
38:56for me
38:57all right and Lori you know I'm gonna
38:59I'm gonna go with a also New York a okay
39:02so that means you all agree that in
39:05Louisiana it's illegal to wear a facial
39:07disguise calculated to conceal your
39:09identity except during activities like
39:10Marty gr and Halloween Etc and as you
39:13know Bob dur was found with this flesh
39:16tone mask that could disguise him John
39:19wisely did not ask him to wear the mask
39:22uh in court that that can go bad and you
39:25all think this one is real and this one
39:26is on the books Louisiana revised
39:28Statute section uh title 14 section 3113
39:31wearing a masks or facial disguises in
39:34public places is prohibited except for
39:36marra religious events Etc so good job
39:40there let's go to B in galison Texas
39:43it's illegal to bury a body except in a
39:46cemetery you all think this one is on
39:48the books and this one is on the books
39:51section
39:5211-1 in galison Texas says it shall be
39:55unlawful for any dead body to be buried
39:58or any person to so bury a dead body
40:00within the city except in a private or
40:03public Cemetery so that should have been
40:06another charge against Robert
40:10Durst okay and let's go with a in New
40:13York it's illegal to commit adultery
40:16Lori and khib no I'm sorry Lori and John
40:19John and
40:21Ethan giv your
40:25order think this is real I'm sorry you
40:28guys think it's fake and this one is
40:30real it's penal code section
40:3325517 A person is guilty of adultery
40:36when he engages in sexual intercourse
40:37with another person at a time when he
40:39has a living spouse or the other person
40:41has a living spouse Class B misdemeanor
40:44that all means in C that is the fake it
40:47is not on the books for B Beverly Hills
40:51but I did find a section in Hudson Ohio
40:54that basically says no person who
40:56discovers the body or acquires first
40:58knowledge of the Death Shall fail to
41:00report the death immediately so good job
41:03everyone good work all right good job
41:06thank you for playing the game thank you
41:07for coming on crime news Insider and
41:10what a tremendous job and thank you for
41:12your service to the public and your
41:14dedication to Public Safety really
41:16appreciate it thank you guys care take
41:18care take care all right and until next
41:22time we'll see you on the crime news
41:23Insider
41:25podcast
41:30[Music]
41:39the views expressed on this podcast are
41:41solely of the speakers and do not
41:43reflect the views of the Deputy da
41:44Association nor the district attorney
41:46questions and comments can be submitted
41:48through our website at
41:51sd.net remember to follow us on Facebook
41:54and Twitter our Twitter handle is @ San
41:56Diego ddas thanks for listening and
41:58we'll see you next
41:59[Music]
42:07[Applause]
42:08[Music]
42:14week

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of EXCLUSIVE: Robert Durst Prosecution Team - Part 2 by Crime News Insider Podcast, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 7,321 words across 994 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.