Doug Miller

KHOU-TV, Houston

HOUSTON — A wealthy New York City real estate heir who was acquitted in the murder of a Galveston man, faces criminal mischief charges after workers said he relieved himself on a candy rack at a CVS store.

A CVS employee told police that Robert Durst, 71, picked up a prescription at the pharmacy on Sunday at about noon, then exposed himself and urinated on some candy in the store before leaving. The CVS employee called police.

The officer presented the complaint to the district attorney's office, which accepted a Class B criminal mischief charge against Durst.

Back in 2001, Durst claimed self-defense in his trial for the killing of a 71-year-old friend named Morris Black, whose corpse he chopped into pieces. He also admitted putting parts of Black's body into plastic bags and dumping them into Galveston Bay.

A trio of Houston's highest profile and probably highest paid defense attorneys — Dick DeGuerin, Chip Lewis and Mike Ramsey — won an acquittal that seemed to stun even Durst himself.

Tuesday, after arranging for Durst to turn himself in to authorities in connection with the odd incident at the drug store, Lewis once again defended his client, whom he said suffers from a form of autism known as Asperger's syndrome.

"I take issue with someone that says 'crazy,'" Lewis said. "Bob's not crazy. Bob's a guy who's just trying to live through the twilight of his life. And it's very difficult when you're Bob Durst."

Before his acquittal in the Black killing, law enforcement authorities had questioned him in connection with at least two other high-profile crimes.

In 1982, Durst's wife Kathie disappeared, and Durst — who friends said physically abused his spouse — waited several days before reporting her missing.

In 2000, after investigators probing that disappearance contacted Susan Berman, a confidante of Durst, Berman was found murdered with a gunshot wound to the back of her head.

If he's convicted of criminal mischief, Durst could face up to 180 days in jail.