Robert Durst Has COVID-19 And Is On A Ventilator Days After Life Sentence, Lawyer Says

Convicted murderer Robert Durst is currently on a ventilator after being diagnosed with COVID-19, according to his lawyer.

"We were notified he tested positive, so we're all very concerned," Dick DeGuerin, Durst's lead defense attorney, told CNN over the weekend.

He has not immediately responded to Oxygen.com’s request for comment. 

Durst was sentenced on Thursday to life for the murder of his best friend Susan Berman.

"He looked horrible at sentencing," DeGuerin told CNN. "I was really concerned even back then because he was having difficulties breathing, he was having difficulties speaking, worse than he's ever looked."

The attorney told NBC News that “he’s in hospital and on a ventilator." 

DeGuerin said he isn't sure when Durst was diagnosed. 

Durst was not present in court when he was convicted of Berman’s murder last month as he had been exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID-19. During the murder trial, Durst’s defense repeatedly sought a mistrial, citing his poor health. Durst was in a wheelchair for most of it. Before Durst was convicted, prosecutors argued to the jury that Durst shot Berman execution-style because she had information about the 1982 disappearance of Durst's wife, Kathleen “Kathie” McCormack. 

It wasn’t the first time that Durst was on trial for murder. In 2000, months after Berman's death, Durst was hiding out in Galveston, Texas, posing as a mute woman. He ended up killing his neighbor, Morris Black; prosecutors alleged it was because Black had discovered Durst's true identity. While he admitted to killing and dismembering Black then discarding his remains, Durst claimed he shot him in self-defense. He was acquitted of that murder in 2003. 

Durst was the subject of the 2015 HBO docuseries “The Jinx,” which played a big role in the recent trial. Durst was arrested in connection with Berman's death just one day before the finale aired. The docuseries captured Durst on a hot mic while using the bathroom after a contentious interview with the docuseries’ filmmaker Andrew Jarecki. At that moment, Durst seems to mumble to himself that he was “caught” and that he was having difficulty with the questions. He appeared to have said the phrases “Killed them all, of course” and "What the hell did I do?” While the filmmakers edited his mumblings, they provided the full clip to the police. That audio played in its entirety for jurors in 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown postponed his trial.