#Robert Durst’s lawyer vows ‘posthumous acquittal’ following his death

Robert Durst’s twisted legal saga hasn’t ended with his death.

“There will be a posthumous acquittal,” his attorney, Chip Lewis, vowed to The Post Monday, hours after the 78-year-old convicted killer’s death.

A Los Angeles jury in October found Durst guilty of murdering his pal Susan Berman, a conviction that will end up being vacated because Durst died while he was going through the appeals process, according to LA County Deputy District Attorney John Lewin.

In California and other states, a conviction under appeal is vacated if the appellant dies because the higher court did not have a chance to affirm the conviction.

However, Lewin stressed that getting Durst’s conviction vacated wouldn’t change the fact that jurors believed that Durst not only killed Berman in 2000, but also his wife Kathleen McCormack Durst in 1982 and neighbor Morris Black in 2001.

And he also noted that an acquittal isn’t possible in Durst’s case, since the real-estate scion can’t be tried again.

“To acquit means that a jury has determined that the prosecution did not put on enough evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. It’s not the same as someone being found innocent. In California, Durst dying doesn’t mean it’s an acquittal. It’s simply that the conviction is vacated,” Lewin said.

For Lewin, Durst’s death offered a chance to reflect on the three victims whose lives were cut short.

“In the end, Bob Durst was completely unremorseful and unrepentant,” Lewin said. “He refused to take any responsibility for his actions, to the point of repeatedly and continuously perjuring himself during his testimony in trial to a level that I don’t think anybody’s ever seen. For all those reasons, my sympathies are with the victims and families, and I’m gratified that we were able to have a jury listen to the evidence. We had five months of trial and they made the determination that he was responsible for the deaths of three people.”

Robert Abrams, attorney for the family of Durst’s wife Kathie, said that the investigation into “those who helped him cover up her murder” would continue, and an update would be provided on Jan. 31, which happens to be the 40th anniversary of Kathie’s murder.

But Lewin said he believes Durst was the only person who was responsible for the three deaths.

“I worked on this case for eight years,” Lewin said. “There is no credible evidence whatsoever that anybody other than Bob Durst was responsible for the killings of Kathie, Susan and Morris. Period.”