Millionaire Robert Durst's hearing in weapons case delayed, FBI a no-show
NEW ORLEANS - A Louisiana judge has delayed a weapons charge hearing in the case of millionaire murder suspect Robert Durst after FBI agents failed to show up.
Magistrate Judge Harry Cantrell reluctantly agreed to the delay and set another hearing for next Thursday.
An assistant U.S. attorney told Cantrell that two federal agents and a state trooper assigned to a federal task force were instructed not to testify because more time was needed for a review of their subpoenas.
Durst was arrested in March at at the J.W. Marriott hotel in New Orleans in connection with the 2000 Los Angeles murder of his friend, Susan Berman. Following that arrest, he was also charged in New Orleans with possessing a firearm after a felony conviction, and illegally possessing a firearm along with an illegal drug.
In a motion filed Tuesday, Durst's attorneys argued that FBI agents illegally "rummaged" through the 71-year-old Durst's room without a warrant before he was arrested.
Orleans Parish district attorney's investigator Jim O'Hern testified at Durst's bail hearing that he helped Los Angeles detectives get the warrant on which Durst was arrested early March 15, a Sunday. An FBI agent had inventoried Durst's belongings in his hotel room the afternoon of March 14 and a judge signed the warrant about 2 a.m. the next day, he said.
The affidavit used to get the warrant states Los Angeles police and New Orleans prosecutors got a warrant, then searched the room and found the gun and drugs, according to the Tuesday motion.
Items recovered from Durst's hotel room included a revolver and about 5 ounces of marijuana, according to court records.
A sworn statement supporting the warrant "contains a material misrepresentation designed to cover up the FBI's unlawful, warrantless search of Mr. Durst's hotel room," according to a copy of the motion provided to The Associated Press by Durst's lawyers.
Durst's attorneys also have asked the judge to subpoena Fox News Channel's Jeanine Pirro, a former New York prosecutor who investigated Durst in connection with the disappearance of his first wife in 1982, and all video surveillance for March 14 and 15 from the Marriott and Los Angeles Police Department.
The FBI and Los Angeles police, who have a warrant accusing Durst of killing Berman in 2000 specifically to keep her from talking to Pirro's investigators, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Louisiana State Police referred requests for comment to the Orleans Parish District Attorney's Office. That office does not comment on open cases or investigations, spokesman Chris Bowman said.
Durst has waived extradition to Los Angeles. His lawyers say they want to get him there to fight the murder charge.