Robert Durst Tested Positive for COVID, Now on Ventilator Days After Receiving Life Imprisonment Sentence

Robert Durst has been diagnosed with COVID infection. His lawyer said that Durst is currently on a ventilator just days after receiving his life imprisonment sentence for the murder of Susan Berman.

Durst's lead defense attorney, Dick DeGuerin, said that his client has been hospitalized and been provided with a breathing aid machine, according to a People report.

He added that they were notified that he tested positive and they were all worried about it.

Durst had appeared in his sentencing wearing a brown prison jumper and a mask. DeGuerin said that his 78-year-old client looked terrible at the sentencing, adding that he was concerned as Durst was having difficulties breathing, as well as speaking.

DeGuerin did not give any other details on Durst's condition or where he is currently hospitalized. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department also refused to give information about Durst's health.

DeGuerin said that Durst's health had deteriorated over the weeks of the trial.

Life Imprisonment Sentence

The jury had convicted Durst in Los Angeles. He also faces a possible murder indictment in New York in connection to the disappearance of Kathie Durst, according to The New York Times report.

Durst noted to filmmakers that before Kathie had disappeared, his marriage had arguments, fighting, slapping, pushing, and wrestling. However, he insisted that he did not kill his wife. Her body has never been found.

A documentary series "The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst" had brought a wave of new public attention to the accusations against Durst six years ago.

Berman was shot at point-blank range in the back of the head in her Los Angeles home in December 2000, according to an NPR report.

Berman was reportedly prepared to tell police how Durst's wife had vanished.

In 2015, he was arrested in a New Orleans hotel. Durst had incriminating evidence against him, with prosecutors saying that it was a confession. He was confronted with evidence and made what prosecutors said was a confession.

Durst could be heard muttering himself on a live microphone in a bathroom, saying, "There it is. You're caught."

Durst was the estranged scion of a New York real estate developer and has made the headlines when his wife vanished.

New York authorities had reopened the case in late 2000. He had escaped close investigation from investigators from when his wife disappeared before the case was reopened again.

He fled to Texas, where he rented a cheap apartment and lived as a "Dorothy Ciner." He pretended to be a woman who couldn't speak and eventually dropped the disguise after walking into a men's restroom.

He testified that he traveled to Los Angeles to visit Berman for a "staycation." He added that he was planning to see some of the tourist sites.

However, Durst had long denied ever being in Los Angeles when Berman died. He claimed during a trial that he found Berman dead on a bedroom floor when he arrived.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Robert Durst hospitalized with COVID-19, his lawyer says - from ABC7