Robert Durst defense rests; testimony ends in murder case

Testimony has concluded in the Robert Durst murder case after the New York real estate heir defended himself for weeks on the witness stand

LOS ANGELES -- Robert Durst's marathon testimony over three weeks — in which the ailing millionaire denied killing his wife and best friend but also said he'd lied if he had done so — concluded Wednesday and lawyers rested their cases in the murder trial. The New York real estate heir tried to counter or explain incriminating evidence in three killings that have shadowed him for decades, but was crippled by a cross-examination that the judge said was “devastating” to Durst's believability. It will be up to jurors to weigh his fate. Closing arguments are scheduled Sept. 8 and deliberations are expected to begin a week later. Durst, 78, has pleaded not guilty to murder in the point-blank shooting of his friend, Susan Berman, in her Los Angeles home in December 2000. On the witness stand, he repeatedly denied killing her and said he doesn't know who did.