Robert Durst on ventilator battling COVID-19 amid life in prison sentence

New York real estate heir Robert Durst, who this week was sentenced to life in prison for murder, is sick with COVID-19 and on a ventilator, Durst’s attorney told NBC News.

“All we know he’s tested positive for COVID-19, he’s in hospital and on a ventilator,” attorney Dick DeGuerin told NBC. “He looked awful Thursday, worst I’ve ever seen him. He was having difficulty breathing, he was having difficulty speaking.”

Durst, 78, was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for the murder of Susan Berman in 2000. He was found guilty in September after a months-long trial in which prosecutors alleged that Durst had committed the crime because Berman was going to go to the police about a phony alibi she provided when Durst’s wife disappeared. 

Durst’s lawyers said they plan to appeal the sentence.