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Updated Sept. 23, 2004, 5:28 p.m. ET

Judge rejects plea deal for Robert Durst, sets trial for Oct. 12
Acquitted murder defendant Robert Durst faces 10 years if convicted on charges of bail jumping and evidence tampering.

Cross-dressing millionaire Robert Durst is set to stand trial on charges of evidence tampering and bail jumping after a Texas judge rejected a proposed plea bargain Wednesday.

Pending the outcome of a Sept. 28 hearing to change the trial's venue, Durst is scheduled to appear in Galveston's 212th District Court on Oct. 12 to face the charges, which stem from his previous trial for the murder of neighbor Morris Black.

The evidence tampering charges relate to Durst's admission at trial that he killed Black in self-defense in September 2001, before hacking his body into pieces and tossing them in Galveston Bay.

Nonetheless, a jury acquitted him of first-degree murder in November 2003.


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When the incident occurred, the reclusive heir to a New York real estate fortune was keeping a low profile in Galveston by posing as a woman amid renewed suspicions that he was involved in the 1982 murder of his wife, Kathie Durst. He has not been charged in that case.

The bail-jumping charge stems from Durst's flight from Galveston in October 2001 after posting bond on the murder charge.

He was caught a few weeks later at a Pennsylvania roadside restaurant, stealing a Band-Aid and a chicken sandwich.

Durst faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of all three counts.

The New York Post reported that the prosecution and the defense had reached a deal that would have landed Durst five years in jail.

But Galveston County Judge Susan Criss, who originally set Durst's bail for the charges at $3 billion, declined to give it the green light.

The acquitted murder defendant will await trial in police custody, his home away from home since November 2001, when he was deemed a flight risk.

An appeals court decision to lower his bail to $450,000, however, could mean that Durst will be out of custody on Oct. 18, the date the new bail amount takes effect.

Meanwhile, Durst has sued two relatives in New York over terms of a trust fund that bar him from naming his little-known wife a benefactor to his share of the Durst fortune.

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