Robert Durst Charged with First-Degree Murder

Robert Durst, the real estate heir and subject of HBO's documentary The Jinx, was officially charged Monday with one count of first-degree murder with the special circumstances of murder of a witness in the murder of his friend Susan Berman, ABC News reports. He was also charged with lying in wait and gun use allegations.

Durst, 71, was arrested Saturday in New Orleans on a homicide warrant issued by Los Angeles police, which has reopened its investigation into Berman's 2000 death as a result of The Jinx. Besides Berman's murder, he is a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife Kathy Durst and the murder of his neighbor Morris Black (a charge he was acquitted of).

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"Prosecutors have been working closely with the Los Angeles Police Department for the past two years investigating the cold case murder," the district attorney's office said in a statement. "Durst is charged with murdering Berman on or about Dec. 23, 2000. Her body was discovered in her Benedict Canyon home on Christmas Eve."

The charges carry the death penalty.

Outside the courtroom, Durst's lawyer Dick DeGuerin said, "Let me just say that we came here to waive jurisdiction and to go back to California and to get it on. Bob Durst didn't kill Susan Berman -- he's ready to end all the rumor and speculation and have a trial but we're frustrated because the local authorities are considering filing charges on him here and holding him here."

On Sunday's finale of The Jinx, Durst seemingly confessed to the murders while miked in a bathroom, muttering to himself, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course." It is unclear if the tape will be admissible in court, but The Jinx filmmakers Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling said in a statement Monday that they had turned over the tape and other evidence to authorities months ago.