Millionaire New York real estate heir Robert Durst killed an elderly neighbor in a low-rent Galveston, Texas, apartment building last year.  

And that's according to his defense lawyer.  

Apparently rejecting an insanity defense, at least for now, lawyer Dick DeGuerin told a Texas judge Wednesday that his wealthy, eccentric client intends to plead not guilty by reason of self-defense and accident.  

Durst, 58, was already under suspicion for the 1982 disappearance of his 29-year-old wife, Kathleen, when pieces of 71-year-old Morris Black were found floating in Galveston Bay in late October. Black's head was never found, but police said traces of his blood — which had been cleaned up — were found inside his apartment, Durst's apartment and the hallway between them.  

Durst made bail before authorities found out he was a millionaire and skipped town in October. He was brought back to Texas this winter from Pennsylvania, where he was nabbed stealing a Band-Aid and a sandwich. A judge in Galveston scheduled Durst's murder trial for September, giving DeGuerin more time to look at Black's autopsy results and to fine tune what some in the legal community believe will be the Mount Everest of uphill legal defenses.  

Headlines in the tabloids based in New York City, where midtown skyscrapers built by Seymour Durst still attest to the late developer's business acumen, poked fun Thursday at the surprise shift in legal strategy. "Oops, I Killed The Old Man," a New York Post headline blared.

"I could see how they could try a self-defense, particularly if there are no witnesses," said Ron Gold, a Morristown, N.J., lawyer who has followed the Durst case in the media. "But when you have a ton of aggravating factors — concealing what happened and throwing the body parts in the bay and things like that — insanity and self-defense are the last resort."

Gold won an acquittal in a self-defense case last year. Convicted murderer Ambrose Harris killed a fellow New Jersey Death Row inmate, during what amounted to a death-cage match as prison guards and inmates looked on. But in the Harris case, Gold said, there were multiple witnesses and Harris did not even have to take the witness stand in his own defense.  

In Durst's case, there were apparently no witnesses to the killing. Only physical evidence can point to what happened between him and Durst, who moved about the country disguised as a mute woman long before he even got to Galveston.  

DeGuerin and Galveston prosecutors remain under a judge's gag order, but the defense lawyer said in court Wednesday that neither he nor his client knows where Black's head is now. He did not elaborate.  

"Self-defense cases are very difficult and unpredictable. There are numerous hurdles to overcome," said Steve Jablon, a central Florida trial lawyer who has used the self-defense strategy with mixed success. "It is not mandatory that the defendant testify, but there are very few ways of getting around that unless the physical evidence clearly points to self-defense."  

"If the body was cut up and thrown in the bay," Jablon added, "it isn't going to help, certainly."

The alleged attempt to conceal the crime by hacking up the body and dumping it in the bay does not necessarily make a self-defense claim not viable, said Paul Bergman, a law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles.  

"That, in and of itself, could be explained away in a variety of ways," Bergman said. "'Having done it, at the point, realizing the enormity of what happened, I panicked. I thought no one would be believe me.' Whether Texas jurors would accept that may be different from what a downtown LA jury would accept."  

Kathleen Durst's brother, James McCormack of New Jersey, said he does not understand the self-defense strategy but is certain Durst's lawyer is posturing for something.  

"I'm sure there may be a sophisticated legal strategy behind it all.  That's sad," McCormack told Courttv.com.  

McCormack hopes that, if Durst considers a plea bargain on the Texas charges, New York investigators will try to get Durst to tell everything he knows about Kathleen Durst's 20-year-old disappearance as part of any agreement.  

"I don't know if they have that kind of leverage," McCormack said, referring to New York State Police and Westchester County prosecutors. "Let's hope for the best."  

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.