NEW ORLEANS — Real estate scion Robert Durst told a criminal court judge on Thursday, "I am not guilty, your honor," in response to firearms offenses stemming from his arrest last month.
Durst, 71, was indicted Wednesday on two local weapons charges. FBI agents who arrested him at his New Orleans hotel in March said he possessed a .38-caliber revolver, five ounces of marijuana and $42,000 in cash.
As a convicted felon, Durst is not allowed to possess a firearm, prosecutors say.
At the time of the arrest, agents were apprehending Durst on a murder charge in the death of his confidant, Susan Berman, who was found fatally shot in her Beverly Hills home in 2000.
His defense team has tried to get the charges in Louisiana dropped in order to focus on the murder charge in Los Angeles. They have also argued that the weapons charges arrest was illegal because agents did not have a warrant to search his hotel room.
An evidentiary hearing has been set for May 7.
But Durst is expected to be in court sooner when he faces a federal judge on April 16 for a separate federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Durst's lawyer, Dick DeGuerin, confirmed to NBC News that a complaint has been filed and he would appear in court.
The Department of Justice in the Eastern District of Louisiana has not responded to requests for comment about the charge.
An FBI affidavit obtained by NBC News also reveals how Durst was handcuffed to a table while agents searched his hotel room. Durst told agents that the "only money" he had was in a backpack, according to the affidavit, and when they opened it they found a bag of pot, on top of a "significant number" of $100 bills.
The affidavit also said that Durst "spontaneously" volunteered that he had a revolver in the pocket of his jacket.
IN-DEPTH
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