Man Convicted in Blast That Injured Calif. Firefighters

He cursed his lawyer. He said he was convicted by "a kangaroo court." He bellowed that the whole thing was "unfair."

Robert William Durst stiffened a bit before the bailiffs handcuffed him, and then he sobbed while they walked him out of a Sacramento courtroom Thursday -- convicted by a jury of arson in a natural-gas explosion in Oak Park two years ago that destroyed his next-door neighbor's house and nearly killed four city firefighters.

The Sacramento Superior Court jury needed less than a day of deliberations to find Durst guilty. One member of the panel said the defendant's recorded admissions to police about his responsibility for the blast made it easier for the panel to return the conviction.

"It was pretty damning," juror Merry Cardoza, 49, said of Durst's confession to investigators.

Durst's lawyer told reporters after the verdict that the confession his client made to police was "coerced." The attorney, Assistant Public Defender Richard Cohen, said he plans to appeal the verdict on the basis of a ruling by Judge Marjorie Koller to exclude him from eliciting testimony on police interrogation tactics from a psychology professor.

"I do believe it was a false confession," Cohen said.

Cardoza, the juror who was interviewed outside the courthouse after the verdict, didn't see it that way.

"I understand it was a brotherhood, police and fire, a very sensitive brotherhood," she said. "But all along, they kept asking him, 'Do you feel we tricked you? Did we make you tell us answers you didn't believe in?' And all along, he said, 'No.'

"It's not like they went along for days and days. It was just a few hours. They were giving him breaks. They gave him food and water. He didn't seem to be under any duress at all. He didn't break down and cry, 'I'll tell you whatever you want to hear.' There was none of that."

Besides the confession, investigators found out that somebody turned the gas on inside the damaged house around 1:20 a.m. the morning of the July 5, 2010, explosion. A neighbor told police he saw Durst on his own front porch next door right about that time, smoking a cigarette and drinking a beer.

Just before 10 a.m. the next day, firefighters, who were responding to a gas leak call, broke into the house in the 3800 block of 25th Avenue. Almost as soon as they did, the place exploded. The flames badly burned firefighters Jeffrey Coats, Michael Feyh and Scott McKinney and sent them to the hospital for a week. Firefighter David Storck also was injured in the blast.

In searching through the wreckage, detectives discovered a decorative candle used to ignite the blast in the corner of the living room. The investigators traced the candle to Durst's house. A search of his residence also turned up a water heater and a ceiling fan stolen from the place he was convicted of blowing up.

Along with the arson, the jury found Durst guilty on two counts each of burglary and possession of stolen property. It also found him guilty of being an ex-convict in possession of a firearm.

Deputy District Attorney Rod Norgaard said the evidence against Durst was "overwhelming."

"The jurors didn't need his confession," Norgaard said. "They did a great job."

Norgaard also lauded the firefighters.

"Those guys are heroes," he said.

In his confession to police, Durst, 46, said he had been sitting on his roof, drinking, and watching a Fourth of July firework show -- and stewing inside about a disagreement in which he felt he had been cheated in pay by the next-door neighbor who hired him to do a plumbing job.

Durst told officers he then got the idea to do a little damage to the neighbor's house. He went inside the place, opened up a gas jet in the kitchen and lit a candle and put it in the living room.

"We don't think he really intended to hurt anyone," juror Cardoza said. "He was just drunk and forgot to open a window."

Deputy Fire Chief Lloyd Ogan said the department was "very pleased" with the outcome.

"It helps close the loop for our people who were involved in that incident," Ogan said. "They're all back to work and performing their duties fine. Obviously, the psychological impact of something like this is something that we deal with. But they're on their road to recovery and this will help a lot."

Ogan said, "I think it would be fair to say this was definitely a potential life-threatening event for them."

After the verdicts were read, Durst berated his attorney and voiced his displeasure with the jury's findings. Cohen said his client's reaction did not surprise him.

"Of course he's upset," Cohen said. "He's going to spend the next 20-odd years of his life in prison. That's going to upset him. If somebody did not a commit a crime and will spend 20 years in prison, he would be even more upset."

Koller scheduled Durst's sentencing for May 24.

Copyright 2012 - The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service