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Real Estate Heir Robert Durst To Appear In LA Court On Murder Charge

LOS ANGELES (CBSNewYork/AP) -- New York real estate heir and documentary figure Robert Durst is set to make a long-awaited appearance Monday in a Los Angeles courtroom to a charge of killing his friend 16 years ago.

An afternoon arraignment is scheduled for Durst at the Airport Branch courthouse in Los Angeles for the killing of Susan Berman in 2000. Authorities suspect Durst killed Berman to keep her from talking to Westchester County prosecutors about the disappearance of Durst's first wife, Kathleen, in 1982.

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Los Angeles County prosecutors have been seeking to bring the 73-year-old to California since shortly after his arrest in March 2015.

The arrest came just as the final episode was airing of "The Jinx,'' an HBO documentary that featured Durst and examined his alleged ties to the killing of Berman and several other crimes.  At the end of the show, Durst is heard muttering, "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."

Before he could be brought to California, Durst faced a federal weapons charge in New Orleans. He pleaded guilty to that charge and has begun serving a seven-year prison sentence. He was brought to Los Angeles County jail from a federal prison in Indiana last week.

Durst's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, has said Durst is just as eager to come to Los Angeles County and prove his innocence.

"We've been begging to get to California since two days after he was arrested,'' DeGuerin told The Associated Press in September.

(TM and © Copyright 2016 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2016 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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