As we continue our look at THE JINX PART TWO we come to the first of two big climatic moments in the saga. I remember back when Robert Durst took the stand and was baffled then that he would do so and even at the moment we witnessed that decision again in the last installment I’m still baffled that he bucked counsel and opted to testify. Well, that moment comes to bear in this episode of Jarecki’s documentary series. The other big moment will be the final verdict forthcoming in the conclusion. But first, we need to take in the drama unfolding in “Mostly The Truth”, the 11th installment overall in THE JINX.
As we continue our look at THE JINX PART TWO we come to the first of two big climatic moments in the saga. I remember back when Robert Durst took the stand and was baffled then that he would do so and even at the moment we witnessed that decision again in the last installment I’m still baffled that he bucked counsel and opted to testify. Well, that moment comes to bear in this episode of Jarecki’s documentary series. The other big moment will be the final verdict forthcoming in the conclusion. But first, we need to take in the drama unfolding in “Mostly The Truth”, the 11th installment overall in THE JINX.
It is all about Robert Durst taking the stand and looking the most feeble he could look. Of course, the stress had to weigh on him, and it all played out in the heat of the pandemic as well. I’m fairly certain he had COVID during his prison stay, though that’s not mentioned here and cancer as well. These are all conditions used by the defense to slow or halt proceedings and to register sympathy. Nevertheless, the trial did move on 
as Durst took the stand. In his fashion and as best he could he answered flawlessly all the questions put before him by the defense team. Of course, you don’t know how many times that line of questioning was rehearsed. DeGuerin went for the sympathy angle in his line of questioning. He got Durst to talk about his childhood and how he would team up with his mother at such games as Frisbee catching and the Uno card game against his brother & father. He also opened up about witnessing his mother’s death at the age of seven. She jumped off the roof! He talked about how he was traumatized by her death. Let’s feel bad about this poor guy. One surprise during this portion of the installment was the testimony from a couple of jurors on how charismatic Durst was on the witness stand. It is incredible despite it all that he was still able to exude that quality and the potential for jurors to see the trial end in his favor because of it.
It was a different tune when Lewin and the prosecution had their time with him. In this installment, leading up to the cross-examination, the viewer is told up front the plan Lewin had in mind. He was going to depict Durst as a pathological liar as he had all of Durst’s lies documented. That tactic alone sets in the juror’s mind that no matter how charismatic Robert Durst may come across what he utters is lies and anything he has said or will say is not to be trusted as the truth. What happens is actually quite clever and something I didn’t catch, but Lewin did. It comes to light that if his mother died in 1950, which is a documented fact, Robert could not have played with a Frisbee or a Uno deck because they weren’t invented until years later. With that, revelation Lewin trapped Durst in a very simple lie, and if he would lie about something as arbitrary as childhood toys what other plot points of his life would he take liberty with? What other fabrications would he make and embellish? The lead prosecutor posits that Robert Durst would make plenty of them. I won’t chronicle here all the discrepancies between known facts and Robert’s testimony but time and time again facts did not align including the scheduled ‘staycation’ Durst supposedly had with Susan Berman. Lewin was out to go over every lie Durst ever uttered. This went on for nine grueling days to the point the judge called Lewin to wrap it up. It led to the conclusion that Durst stated, “He did not kill Susan Berman but if he did, he’d have lied about it.”
Jeesh, either he was beaten down by nine days on the stand before the prosecution or he was just fed up and defiant. The only thing left on the table was jury deliberation and a verdict. After two days of waiting a verdict was reached. Robert Durst was not present in court because he contracted COVID-19, or at least that is the word the court received and the media ran with. By now, filmmaker Jarecki had cameras on Kathy Durst’s family to catch their reactions as the verdict of GUILTY was read – GUILTY of murdering Susan Berman.
Andrew Jarecki
The story is not quite over with that verdict however, some unfinished questions lingered. Jarecki leaves us hanging a bit on how this long journey of THE JINX ends. He teases us with one looming question and an unexpected answer; He is good at that over this series. It seems all four members of the defense team hightailed it out of there without relaying back to Robert Durst the outcome of the verdict. He did not find out until the day after by criminal defense lawyer Adam Abramson, Debrah Charatan’s counsel.
Stick around for the last installment of THE JINX.
