Ex-SNL Laraine Newman Testifies In Robert Durst Trial On False Alibi – Deadline

Saturday Night Live alumna Laraine Newman said today that a friend created an alibi for alleged killer Robert Durst in the death of his first wife.

Durst is on trial in Los Angeles for the death of Susan Berman, who was shot in December 2000. But Newman testified today about another incident where her longtime friend Berman told her that she provided a false alibi for Durst related to the disappearance of his first wife, Kathie Durst. She was never seen again and was declared dead in 2017.

“Do you know how you found out that (Kathie Durst) had disappeared?” Deputy District Attorney John Lewin asked.

“Susan told me that she had provided an alibi for him, for Bobby, in relation to the disappearance,” the Newman testified. “I remember her saying that she made a phone call.

Asked how sure she was that Berman told her about providing an alibi, Newman replied, “100%.”

“And in discussing this alibi, did she indicate to you whether or not in words whether this was an actual alibi or whether she had done something false?” the prosecutor asked.

“It was something false,” Newman said, adding that she “responded negatively” to the news from Berman, who then backtracked.

The friends never discussed the subject again, she said, but Newman noted that she felt “tremendous shame that I did not appreciate the gravity of what she was telling me.”

Newman will be back on the witness stand Thursday afternoon for continuing cross-examination by one of Durst’s attorneys, David Chesnoff.

The 78-year-old Durst is a real estate scion from New York. He stands charged with Berman’s killing. The murder charge includes the special circumstance allegation that she was killed because she was a witness to a crime.

Prosecutors claims Berman made a phone call on Durst’s behalf, posing as Kathie Durst. The defendant’s attorneys scoffed at the allegation.

The trial has been delayed by more than a year by the Covid-19 pandemic.

CNS contributed to this report.