All language subtitles for The.Jinx.The.Life.and.Deaths.of.Robert.Durst.S02E04.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH

What was your occupation
back in the year 2000?

Robert Durst : Jeanne?

Jeanne Clarke : Yes, hello, Bob.

Durst: Long time, no speaky.

Clarke: Yes, I know.
What's going on?

Durst: You know my whole big
trial thing and everything

is gonna be about
my handwriting.

The HBO thing,
the fifth episode,

has writing a, a note

spelling "Beverly"
B-E-V-E-R-L-E-Y.

Did you see that?

Clarke: I saw it on TV.

Durst: Do you ever remember
me writing anything to you?

Clarke: Yes. I think you
did send me something once.

Durst: So, do you remember
me writing "Beverly"

the right way or the wrong way?

Clarke: I don't know.

Debrah Lee Charatan
Hey.

Durst : Hi, Debbie.

I do remember writing
you a couple of things,

for a birthday gift
or a Christmas gift.

Charatan: Yes, I
have that stuff.

Durst: Well, if you have anything
I wrote where I write "Beverly"

the right way, that
would be tremendous.

Charatan: Okay, I will look,

but it's in New York,
and I'm in the Hamptons.

But, I will look.

Charles Bagli: Back in 2010,

in his very first interview
with the filmmakers,

Bob says very flatly

that whoever wrote that
note had to be the killer.

You're writing a
note to the police

that only the killer
could've written.

Bagli: Then, when
Lewin interviewed Bob

after his arrest in New Orleans,

Bob said the same thing.

Bagli: It was, in a sense,

a challenge to the prosecution.

"If you can prove

"that Bob was the author
of the Cadaver Note,

you're locking down
that he is the killer."

♪ Well, you just
think that I'm ♪

♪ Some great survivor ♪

♪ And you just build upon ♪

♪ The light to carry you ♪

♪ Well, I don't
even talk that way ♪

♪ See, I wanted you to stay ♪

♪ And show you the
world's a better place ♪

♪ And as we crawl
to find our way ♪

♪ We even take the shape
of something else ♪

- ♪ You think that I'm just ♪
- (gunshot)

♪ Some great survivor ♪

♪ You think that I'm just ♪

♪ Some great survivor ♪

♪ I'm afraid that the
weight of the world ♪

♪ Is catching up with you ♪

Stewart Altman : Bob.

Durst : Hi,
Stewart. How are you?

Stewart Altman:
I'm okay. I'm okay.

Durst: I'm okay okay, too.

Stewart Altman: Good.

Durst: Do you think you'll
be able to come here?

Stewart Altman: Yes. Yes.
We'll work something out.

Durst: Okay.

Dick DeGuerin: Nyle Brenner
was Susan's manager of sorts,

and they had a
contentious relationship.

And, in fact, in the early
days of the investigation

he was their primary
suspect. Bob was not.

Investigator: So, you struck
up a friendship, and...

You're in what type of business?

Brenner: Well, I'm in the
entertainment business,

so I primarily represent actors,

but begun to work
with a few writers,

and Susan was one of
the few writers that I,

that I worked with.

Susan wasn't selling a lot,

and so the relationship
kinda morphed,

where he was kind of
her, like, errand boy.

Investigator: Would you say that you're
the closest person to her actually?

Brenner: I pro... I mean, in
some ways, I would probably...

I mean, I'd be one of the
closest people to her.

Bagli: She was a
high-maintenance client.

I think he lent her money as
much as he earned her money.

And so one of the motives

that police initially
investigated

was maybe he got sick of it.

Investigator: Did she have
any problems with anyone?

Brenner: Well, I mean, Susan
had problems with everybody, but

investigator: Serious problems.

Brenner: I mean, you know,
she pushed. She pushed people.

You know, she pushed
people to the edge.

She's getting on his
nerves. Maybe he snaps.

Brenner: It's like I need
breathers from this woman.

It sometimes was very
difficult to be with her.

He had also drawn the
attention of police

when he crawled through a window

to get into Susan's house

while it was strung
up as a crime scene.

Brenner: I've been back to
the house a couple of times,

and there's no appearance
of, of anything.

Investigator: How'd you
get in the house again?

Brenner: There, there
was a kitchen window

that's easy to, uh, to open up.

The guy broke into the house.

I mean, you know, it was...
we had a lot to work with.

Investigator: Did anything
look disturbed to you?

Brenner: I mean, obviously the
police were there the day before,

so I don't know how they found
the place and how it was left.

Nyle Brenner failed
a polygraph test.

There-There was just all kinds
of stuff that pointed to him.

And then, they later
look at the book

where he signed in
to be interviewed.

He had written his
name in block letters,

just like the Cadaver Note.

And it went to the LAPD
handwriting expert.

And the original
analyst looks at it

and finds that it's
"highly probable"

that Nyle wrote the letter.

So, when I get the case,

I realize this is a big problem.

David Belcher: Arguably, Nyle
Brenner, the handwriting match,

that alone could be
reasonable doubt.

Because, again, everyone
agrees that only the killer

could've written
the Cadaver Note.

And so, if there's a
doubt in the jury's mind

that maybe Nyle
Brenner wrote it,

like the LAPD initially found,

that could be the
case right there.

Bagli: The other
challenge to proving

Bob is the author
of the Cadaver Note

was establishing he
was in Los Angeles

at the time of Susan's death.

LAPD knew

that Bob had flown
into San Francisco

but there was
absolutely no evidence

Bob
was in Los Angeles.

It's been 20 years,

and there've been
dozens of interviews

and police interviews
and media interviews,

and no one in 20 years
has put Robert Durst

in Los Angeles at the time
of Susan Berman's murder.

But they were able to
put you in California.

California's a big state.

Ethan Milius:
California is a massive state.

And if you have Durst
in northern California,

generally speaking,
that's not very close.

I think everybody who's ever
been associated with this case,

whether you're making a
documentary or investigating,

LAPD, or the DA's office,

if you can put Durst in LA,

you've got exponentially
better case.

But we couldn't. Nobody could.

Bagli: It was a real
hurdle for the prosecution.

Because if they couldn't say

that Bob was definitely
in Los Angeles,

their whole case
goes up in smoke.

Lewin: So, what is the best way

that we can put
Bob in Los Angeles?

And the best thing
we're probably gonna get

is that Bob is gonna
have told somebody

he was there at the
time of Susan's killing.

interviewer: Are you the
wife of Robert Durst?

Yes.

Interviewer: In
the fall of 2000,

before you married Mr. Durst,

had you heard reports that the
Westchester district attorney

was investigating
the disappearance

of Mr. Durst's first wife?

Yes.

Interviewer: Did you discuss the
reopening of the investigation

with Mr. Durst before
you were married?

- Charatan: Yes.
- Interviewer: What did he tell you about that?

I guess that what he told me was

that he was scared.

Interviewer: When
did you marry him?

December 2000.

Interviewer: Uh, would that
have been December 11, 2000?

- Yes.
- Interviewer: Okay. Where did you marry him?

- In New York.
- Interviewer: Where in New York?

At Broadway and 43rd
Street, 44th Street.

Interviewer: Uh, was that
in somebody's office?

- Yes.
- Interviewer: Whose office?

I don't know.

Interviewer: How did you
select the site of the wedding?

The rabbi selected it.

Interviewer: Uh,
besides you, Mr. Durst,

who else was present at
the wedding ceremony?

The rabbi.

interviewer: Why did you decide
to get married to Mr. Durst?

Because he asked.

Interviewer: And when he
asked you, did he tell you

why he wanted you to marry him?

No.

Interviewer: You understood
it would be easier for you

to take care of his affairs
if you were married, correct?

Charatan: Yes.

Interviewer: Am I correct
that right after the marriage,

Mr. Durst went to California?

I wouldn't know.

interviewer: Did you
know Susan Berman?

- Yes.
- Interviewer: How did you know her?

She was Bob's friend.

interviewer: Did you learn
around Christmas of 2000

that Ms. Berman had been killed?

- Yes.
- Interviewer: How did you learn that?

Charatan: I was
driving in a taxicab

on my way home to the city,

to the apartment, and I
heard it on the radio.

Newscaster : Neighbors
of Berman's first noticed

her dogs running loose
on December 23rd.

The next day, they called 911

when they saw her door was open.

Police say Susan Berman died
of a gunshot wound to the head.

They say there was nothing
taken from her house.

Interviewer: Did you have
any understanding at the time

that Ms. Berman was
going to be questioned

by the Westchester
District Attorney's Office?

I did eventually
understand that,

but I cannot tell you
when I understood that.

Interviewer: When did
you find that out?

That's what I just said.
I really don't know.

Interviewer: Do
you recall learning

that he had stayed at
hotels in California?

So, I shouldn't answer?

interviewer: Are you following
your counsel's instruction?

Wouldn't you?

Hon. Susan Criss: I think
it's more than convenient

that the person who could
contradict his testimony

became his spouse and
unable to testify.

I think that's why he
got married to her,

to take advantage
of that privilege.

Lewin: I very much wanted
to speak to Debbie.

And in the end,

she and her lawyer
did not agree to it.

So if I can't talk to Debbie,

I need to find someone else

who might know that
Bob was in Los Angeles.

Balian: I think
John, as we all did,

suspected that given how close

Bob Durst was to the Altmans

and how tight they were, that
if he would have said something

to someone, it would have
been one of those two.

Michael Belcher:
Stewart Altman is Bob's,

or was pretending to
be, Bob's attorney.

And sometimes, he actually
was Bob's attorney.

But, he wasn't like a
criminal defense attorney.

It was kinda like Bob has

a multi-billion-dollar
real estate empire,

and he's kinda like
tossing his, you know,

small-town New York
attorney friend

a little bit of business.

Bagli: Stewart was Bob's
only lifelong friend.

It was the two of
them in high school

and over the years,

the Altmans stayed
in Bob's corner.

When called upon
to vouch for Bob,

they did it so in
a very public way.

newscaster : You'll never
get Bob Durst's old friends,

the Altmans, to believe
Durst is capable of murder.

Stewart has been Durst's friend

and sometime legal
advisor for 40 years.

Stewart Altman: He's
just a regular guy

who happens to have
a lot of money,

and I don't see why people
should hold that against him.

Bob didn't kill anybody.

You know,
he has a heart.

Stewart Altman: He has a good
heart inside. I really think so.

He's not a monster. He's
not a horrible person.

DeGuerin: Stewart
was Bob's counselor,

as lawyers can be,

for almost all
their relationship.

I believed that practically
everything that happened

between them and Emily

should be protected by the
attorney-client privilege.

Michael Belcher: Emily
Altman is the wife

of Bob Durst's friend
Stewart Altman.

And so, I guess in Stewart
Altman's law practice,

Emily would kinda come in
once a week to do the books.

Emily Altman : Hi, Bob.

Durst : They
are very used to me

having a visit with my wife.

They are not at all used to me

having a visit with
the attorney's wife.

We could tell 'em
we're almost family.

Windham: The
attorney-client privilege

shields communications

not just between the
lawyer and the client,

but the lawyer's
staff and the client.

Durst: Emily?

Emily Altman: How
are you feeling?

Well, I'm feeling the
usual way I feel in jail.

Windham: And it's important
for the judge to protect

those privileged conversations.

Okay, now, stand
up and walk back

as far as you can go so
I can see all of you.

You can't keep... Just
let the phone hang.

Okay.

Oh, you look good.

- You look sexy.
- Okay?

Does Stewart know
that you look sexy?

Emily Altman: No, but
thank you.

We've been married
too long for that.

You know that.

- Gosh.
- That's funny.

And so, there was a very
complicated legal issue of,

well, was Emily Altman

acting as Bob's attorney or
staff of Bob's attorney...

Or was... she was part
of the defense team?

And so, if she was, right,
then we can't talk to her

'cause it's privileged
at that time.

No way we're getting
her on the stand.

Durst: I could see this
going through their minds.

"What is this thing
with the defend

with the lawyer's wife?"

'Cause we're friends.
That's why.

Forty-something years, Bob.

Durst: "How did he make
friends with the lawyer's wife?

What did he do?"

Emily Altman: We don't...
We'll never tell, right?

I'll never tell.

Bob and his lawyers
fought extremely hard

to keep Emily and Stewart
from having to testify.

And so, we had to put together,
basically, a motion to say,

"Emily Altman and Stewart Altman

"aren't part of Bob's
legal defense team.

They're personal friends."

So, we went through and
listened to jail calls.

We wanted to get a better sense

of what exactly they
were talking about.

I mean, were they really
talking about legal strategy?

Durst : What's on
TV tonight? Anything good?

Stewart Altman : No.

Durst: Do you have a TV
Guide in front of you?

You know what, the hell with it.

Stewart Altman: Yeah, I got a TV
Guide. Hold on, I'll read it to you.

Okay.

8:00 on channel 2, "Survivor."

9:00, "CSI," which is "Crime
Scene Investigations."

- Durst: I like that.
- Stewart Altman: I do, too.

- 10:00, "The Agency," so that's CIA...
- Durst: I like that too.

Stewart Altman:
Okay. On channel 4,

8:00, "Friends," "Will & Grace,"

- and "Just Shoot Me."
- Durst: Hate it.

- Stewart Altman: Channel 5, forget it.
- Durst: Yeah?

You don't like it, I
don't like it. Seven?

Stewart Altman: Seven,
"Whose Line Is It Anyway?"

and "Who Wants to
Be a Millionaire?"

- Durst: Hate it.
- Stewart Altman: Okay.

- Durst: TBS.
- Stewart Altman: Hold on.

David Belcher: They never
had any conversations

about Bob's legal issues.
It never happened.

Durst: Okay. Now, A&E.

Stewart Altman: Sean
Connery in "The Rock."

Andrew Jarecki: Did you ever
hear any of those calls?

- Or did you get access?
- I h

listened to some phone calls

in order to determine
whether or not the content

amounted to privileged material.

It was not a
professional context.

It was a casual conversation.

Durst: ♪ Happy
birthday to Stewart ♪

- ♪ Happy birthday to Stewart ♪
- Stewart Altman: (laughs) Thank you, Bobby.

- It's nice to hear from you.
- Durst: Bye-bye.

Windham: And this is the context
in which I made the decision.

Finally, we won the motion.
And so, the judge ruled, okay,

we can examine them.

Reporter: The interesting
thing that's going on right now

is that this judge has ordered
an attorney and his wife,

from New York, to head to
Los Angeles and testify.

He and Durst apparently have
been friends since high school.

Robert Durst doesn't have
many friends in the world,

but this is one of

- guest: At least ones that are alive.
- Reporter: That's true, too.

Uh...

Lewin: Stewart was
very difficult,

and he, in essence, pretended

to have no information
about anything.

Michael Belcher: Stewart Altman
is not gonna lay out his friend.

But Emily Altman was
kind of a wild card.

And so, we felt like,

"Well, maybe we can get
something from her."

Lewin: It became clear to me,

after seeing how
hard the defense

was fighting to keep privilege

that Emily must know

something very, very damaging.

I was very confident. But
I didn't know what it was.

Lewin: Now, I knew Bob,

and I knew that it would be

very surprising to me

that Bob would've ever
told Emily or Stewart,

"I killed Kathie,"
or, "I killed Susan."

That's just not him.

So what I figured it
was going to be was

Bob saying that he had been

in Los Angeles or Beverly
Hills at the time.

Now, that was a guess.

I asked her, in essence,

"Isn't it true that
Bob Durst told you

that he was in Los Angeles
at the time of the murder?"

And her response to
that question was...

Lewin: And I'm listening
to that answer,

and it's like the
world slows down.

I have time to say to myself,

"Oh, my God.

She just gave it to me."

Because if she didn't know
anything about Bob being in LA,

instead of saying, "I
wish I could remember,"

Emily would have
simply answered, "No."

And so, I kept pushing
and pushing and pushing.

Ma'am, let me ask you another
question as you're pondering.

When I ask the questions
that I'm asking,

as you're sitting there,
are you considering at all,

"Is my answer going
to hurt Mr. Durst?"

What I'm considering is trying

to be accurate and
not screwing up.

And I don't remember everything
that you're asking me

when you're asking
me, or a timeline

that you're asking
me to remember.

I can't do it,

and you're putting me
under a lot of pressure

to remember things and
dates that I simply don't.

Lewin: So I'm gonna ask
my question again, ma'am,

'cause you didn't answer.

Bagli: You could see how
this is so stressful for her.

And Lewin was relentless.

I mean, it was like a tank
rolling down the street

on a pedestrian.

There was no stopping it.

Milius: When Lewin
does his examination,

I'm usually sitting next to him.

And I'm looking at the
plan, and I'm like,

"The plan accounts for... Maybe
I wasn't in the right meeting

and we knew this because..."
And I'm looking around at Habib

and everyone in
the courtroom like,

"This is fuck... This is crazy."

D-Did she just say that Bob
said he was in Los Angeles?

The electricity in that room,

- I still get chills thinking about it...
- Yeah!

Balian: And then
John, of course,

proceeded to just pepper her

with question after question,
and it just kept getting

worse and worse
for Robert Durst.

David Belcher: She said it.

She, she put Bob in
LA for the first time.

Lewin: Emily Altman
slipped up and admitted

that Bob told her

he was in Los Angeles

at the Beverly Hilton

at the time of Susan's murder.

Lewin: The defense
was shell-shocked.

DeGuerin: Emily said Bob was in.

Los Angeles. She had
no way of knowing that.

There were no records of that.

We tried to find the records

and I can guarantee you
that the prosecution tried

to find the records, too.

I think that she felt
bullied by Lewin and

said anything that
came to her mind.

I think she just made it up.

Michael Belcher: Hearing Bob
impersonate Emily Altman,

uh, crying about putting
him in Los Angeles was just

what a treat. I mean,
that was really...

It was like the
icing on the cake.

I think he knew,
"I'm in trouble now."

Lewin: All that I can suggest

is that I don't think
the defense prepared her.

As a defense, you would
sit down with Emily Altman

and go through everything
that she might say.

They should've known
everything in advance.

I didn't see that at all.

So, Emily Altman
broke this case open.

That's what caused
them to have to do

everything they did after that.

- speaker 1 : Hello?
- Speaker 2 : Hello?

Jarecki: Yeah.

Newscaster 1: It seems
Bob Durst and his team

have done the unthinkable.

Newscaster 2: His defense
team stipulated to Durst

being the one that
wrote the Cadaver Note.

For years, he denied doing so,

even when he was caught on
"The Jinx" documentary series

misspelling the word "Beverly."

According to John Lewin,

the testimony of one of
his former best friends,

Emily Altman, was ultimately
what broke the camel's back.

Lewin: Because of Emily Altman,

the defense ended up

believing that they
had to now agree

that Bob was in Los
Angeles and wrote the note.

Bagli: For 19 years,

Bob had said, "Hey, I
wasn't even in Los Angeles!

"Susan was my best friend!

This has nothing to do with me."

That's what he told the
jury in Galveston in 2003.

That's what he told "The Jinx."

This was a complete reversal.

Lewin: Once they stipulated
that Bob wrote the Cadaver Note,

that means they're saying
Bob was in Susan's house

and Bob found the body.

One of the things one
of the jurors said

after the Galveston
case was that,

"Bob Durst must be one
of the unluckiest people

on the face of the earth."

He certainly has had
a string of bad luck.

There was a decision,
however, here,

to say to the jury,

"We got a new one for you.

He also walked in on that
friend who was murdered."

That was a risk.

It's what Bob said happened.

But there had been a lot
of discussion before that.

Nyle Brenner wrote the note...

And then, all that went away

because now you
had Bob admitting.

But, my suspicion is
that not everybody agreed

on the defense team
that you'd let Bob

admit to writing the note.

Well, you know, I'm
not gonna talk about

the, the discussions
that we as lawyers had.

Um, if you're asking me

were there times when we
disagreed with each other,

of course, there were.

Balian: Once Robert
Durst stipulated

that he wrote the Cadaver Note,

the defense had the
strategic decision to make

whether Bob Durst
is gonna testify.

It's difficult for me to
say what I would have done,

but someone had to get up there

and explain how it is

that he came to write this note.

David Chesnoff: Bob
made up his mind

that he was going to
tell the jury his story.

And when I say "story," I don't
mean like a made-up story.

He was gonna give his
version of events.

It's a truism that all juries

want to hear from the accused.

It can be risky, of course.

But, it is the
defendant's choice.

♪ Oh, I... wanna testify... ♪

♪ Mm, yeah ♪

♪ Ooh, uh-huh ♪

♪ Love just walked in on me ♪

♪ I wanna testify ♪

♪ And took me by surprise ♪

♪ I wanna testify ♪

♪ Happiness surrounds me ♪

♪ I wanna testify ♪

♪ You can see it in my eyes ♪

♪ Now, it was just
a little while ago ♪

♪ That my life was incomplete ♪

♪ I wanna testify ♪

♪ I was down so doggone low ♪

♪ I had to look up at my feet ♪

♪ Don't you know ♪

♪ I wanna testify ♪

♪ What your love
has done for me ♪

♪ I just wanna testify ♪

♪ Oh, what your love
has done for me ♪

♪ Yeah ♪

♪ Sure been delicious to me ♪

♪ Hm, baby ♪

♪ You sure been
delicious to me, yeah ♪

♪ Once, I was a hollow man ♪

♪ In which a lonely
heart did well ♪

♪ Then, love came
sneaking upon me ♪

♪ Bringing hope to
an empty shell ♪

♪ Now, I've heard so
many times before ♪

♪ That your love
can't be so bad ♪

♪ But, I just want to
tell all you people ♪

♪ It's the best
love I ever had ♪

♪ Talkin' 'bout ♪

♪ I just wanna testify ♪

♪ What your love
has done for me ♪

♪ Everybody sing ♪

♪ I just wanna testify ♪

♪ What your love
has done for me ♪

♪ Uh, I just wanna testify ♪

♪ What your love has
done for me, yeah ♪

♪ I just wanna testify ♪

♪ What your, what your
love has done for me ♪

♪ I wanna testify... ♪