Texas

Fugitive heir found not guilty of murder

New York real estate heir Robert Durst, who said he accidentally killed a hotheaded neighbor in self-defense and then chopped up the body because he feared no one would believe him, was found not guilty Tuesday of murder.

The jury took five days to reach the verdict, ending a grisly case that began to unfold when trash bags containing pieces of 71-year-old Morris Black started washing up along Galveston Bay in 2001.

Durst has been estranged from him family for a decade.

In a risky, all-or-nothing strategy by both the prosecution and the defense, the jury was allowed to consider only murder, not lesser charges such as manslaughter.

Virginia

Jury pool narrowed to 28 in sniper trial

The judge in the capital murder trial of sniper suspect Lee Boyd Malvo qualified enough potential jurors Tuesday, and lawyers are to pick the final group today in Chesapeake.

Among those accepted were a retired teacher, a Coast Guard veteran, a hospital worker and a woman who said she was “95 percent sure” she could not impose the death penalty.

From the final pool of 28, prosecutors and defense lawyers each will have six peremptory strikes to reduce the jury to 12 plus four alternates.

Malvo, now 18, is charged with two counts of capital murder in the killing of FBI analyst Linda Franklin on Oct. 14, 2002.