NEW ORLEANS—A New York real estate heir pleaded guilty in New Orleans on Wednesday to a weapons charge and agreed to an 85-month prison sentence, a move that could usher in his extradition to California to face murder charges.
U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt told Robert Durst that he will not make the plea final before he reviews a pre-sentencing report due in two weeks.
Durst, 72, appeared frail. He said mostly “Yes, your honor” and occasionally “I’m sorry; I couldn’t hear that.” Defense attorney Richard DeGuerin occasionally repeated questions into Durst’s right ear; he told the judge that Durst’s left ear is completely deaf.
Durst wore an orange jail jumpsuit, and his hands were shackled to his waist. When Durst was sworn in, the judge told him to raise his right hand, quickly amending that to “as best you can.”
Durst admitted that he illegally carried a .38-caliber revolver after being convicted of a felony.
The charge stems from his arrest in a New Orleans hotel last year by FBI agents who feared he was about to flee to Cuba. The gun was found in the hotel room he had taken under the name Everette Ward. After his arrest, a package with $117,000 in cash arrived, addressed to Everette Ward. Durst will forfeit that money, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McMahon said after the hearing.
Durst was charged last year with the 2000 death of his friend Susan Berman after mumbling “killed them all” during the taping of an HBO documentary. His lawyer, Richard DeGuerin, says Durst did not kill Berman.
