COVID-19 scare causes abrupt halt to Robert Durst murder trial
LOS ANGELES — Robert Durst’s murder trial was abruptly halted Friday amid a COVID-19 exposure scare, a source confirmed to the Daily News.
Just a few minutes before the lunch break, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mark Windham excused jurors for the weekend, telling them to return at 11 a.m. Monday.
The reason wasn’t immediately clear, but the source said someone recently in the courtroom gallery had tested positive for COVID-19 on a rapid test.
“It was a quick test,” the source said. “Sometimes those come back with false positives or false negatives. Another test is coming.”
The source declined to give any identifying details about the individual. Attempts to reach a court spokesperson were not immediately successful.
Durst, 78, is accused of murdering his best friend Susan Berman in Los Angeles in 2000. Prosecutors claim he shot her in the head because he was worried she might implicate him in the 1982 disappearance of his first wife Kathie Durst in New York.
The heir to a Manhattan real estate fortune claims he has no idea what happened to either woman.
He is expected to take the witness stand in his own defense soon after the trial resumes.
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