Cross-dressing heir tried for murder

Durst is heir to a real-estate fortune

A court in Texas has heard how a New York real estate heir who dressed up as a woman allegedly murdered his neighbour and carved up the body "like a side of beef".

Robert Durst, whose family is well known for owning prestigious buildings in Manhattan, shot 71-year-old Morris Black accidentally during a struggle, his lawyers said.

Parts of Black's body - minus the head - were found in Galveston Bay, Texas, in September 2001.

Mr Durst, 60, has pleaded innocent, saying he acted in self-defence.

He faces up to 99 years in prison if convicted.

'Accident'

Mr Durst said Black's death was the result of an accident during a scuffle over a gun after Mr Durst discovered Black in his apartment.

I plead not guilty, your honour. It was self-defence, it was an accident Robert Durst

He says he cut up the body because he could not carry it whole.

Mr Durst suffers from a mild form of autism that explains his unusual behaviour, his lawyer said.

"Does it change the fact the act was self-defence? No. Was it bizarre, grotesque? Yes. Is it explainable? Yes," his lawyer told the court.

But prosecutors say Mr Durst killed Black in cold blood, then carefully dismembered the body, wrapped the remains and later dumped them in the local bay.

He also bought a money order to pay for Black's rent so no-one would look for him, they say.

"This man wasn't running in panic or fear. He was cool and calm because he thought he had gotten away with murder," one of the prosecutors says.

Parts of Black's body were washed ashore in rubbish bags, one of which also included a receipt with Durst's name on it.

Black's head is still missing.

Modest life

The trial got under way on Monday after Mr Durst jumped bail and was on the run for six weeks before his arrest in 2001.

He had been suspected in the disappearance of his former wife Kathleen over 20 ago, and had been linked in the press to the execution-style shooting of a friend in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve 2000.

He has denied these allegations as well.

He is the son of the late real estate mogul Seymour Durst, whose company owns numerous buildings in New York and helped to redevelop Times Square.

Mr Durst's lawyers said their client dressed like a woman and was known as Dorothy Ciner in order to escape the attention attracted by his family's wealth.

His landlord, Klaus Dillmann, said Mr Durst was a "very convincing middle-age woman" who posed as a mute when he rented the apartment.

He is said to have become estranged from his family in the 1990s, and when arrested was living in Texas in a $300-a-month apartment.