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Robert Durst blames being high on methamphetamines for The Jinx 'confession'

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Robert Durst told Los Angeles prosecutors in an interview last year that he was high on methamphetamines during portions of his infamous interview in the 2015 HBO miniseries The Jinx, according to court papers released Friday.

Sitting in a New Orleans jail, Durst agreed to a nearly three-hour interview with Los Angeles prosecutors and said he "had to be ... swooped" and "speeding" during the interviews for The Jinx.

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The Jinx: Robert Durst jailed for seven years

The real estate heir will now face charges for the murder of his best friend Susan Berman after being sentenced for an unrelated gun crime.

In the wide-ranging questioning, Durst acknowledges that he disliked life on the lam and made light of his repeated, high-profile arrests.

"I was the worst fugitive the world has ever met," Durst says.

Durst made the statements shortly after he was arrested in the 2000 cold-case murder of writer Susan Berman in Benedict Canyon, a killing that was featured prominently in the documentary.

The six-part series explored the disappearance of his wife, the death of Berman and his acquittal of murder charges in the slaying of a neighbour in Texas.

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It came to a dramatic finale with footage of Durst muttering to himself (and into a microphone) during a bathroom break: "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."

In papers filed to the LA County Superior Court yesterday was a jailhouse interview transcript, dated March 15, 2015, in which Durst told prosecutors: "Yeah, well, the whole long weekend, when I did the interviews for The Jinx I was on meth.

"The whole time I was on meth. And when I looked at the little pieces of it, I was going like this, and like that. And I was – it should have been obvious. And I'm surprised my lawyer let me go ahead with it, 'cause it just – I looked like there was something going on."

Until the alleged bathroom confession, Durst had repeatedly denied his involvement in two murders during his onscreen Jinx interviews with director Andrew Jarecki.

The final episode's revelation was compounded by what happened off-camera. On the eve of the episode's March 15, 2015, airing, authorities arrested Durst in New Orleans, where he had been staying in a hotel under a fake name. He had marijuana, a .38-caliber revolver, more than $US40,000 in cash and a mask, according to court papers.

The next morning before court, LA County Deputy District Attorney John Lewin questioned Durst for about two hours – without defense attorneys present, they say.

Attorneys for Durst filed court papers Thursday that challenge some of the evidence against the eccentric millionaire, including the interview with the prosecutor. They argue that the high-profile murder case was rushed by an HBO miniseries and tainted by an improper jailhouse interrogation by a veteran Los Angeles County prosecutor.

The filing in Los Angeles County Superior Court comes more than a month after Durst, 73, arrived in Southern California for what is expected to be a sensational trial over the death of Berman in 2000 at her Benedict Canyon cottage.

In his first court appearance in November, Durst sat in a wheelchair and pleaded not guilty, telling the judge, "I did not kill Susan Berman." He remains in custody at LA County Jail.

In his questioning, Lewin confronts Durst and asks, "if you had killed Susan, would you tell me?"

"No," Durst replies.

Los Angeles Times​, with Aja Styles