Defence lawyer Dick DeGuerin said he was notified that Durst was admitted after testing positive for the coronavirus. DeGuerin said he didn't know Durst's condition and was trying to find out more details.

Durst, 78, was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison without a chance of parole for the murder of his best friend more than two decades ago. Durst, who has numerous medical issues, sat in a wheelchair with a catatonic stare during much of the sentencing hearing.

"He was very, very sick in the courtroom," DeGuerin said on Saturday, adding he client was on a ventilator.

Durst was convicted in Los Angeles Superior Court last month of first-degree murder for shooting Susan Berman point-blank in the back of the head at her home in December 2000.

The killing had been a mystery that haunted family and friends for 15 years before Durst was arrested in 2015 following his unwise decision to participate in a documentary that unearthed new evidence and caught him in a stunning confession.

DeGuerin said on Thursday that Durst would appeal.

A multi-millionaire whose grandfather founded one of New York City's premier real estate companies, Durst was long a suspect but never charged in the disappearance of his wife Kathleen McCormack, who went missing in New York in 1982.

Last month a jury found Durst guilty of shooting Berman, 55, at her Beverly Hills home. The jury also found him guilty of the special circumstances of lying in wait and killing a witness, which carry a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Evidence from the trial indicated Berman helped provide Durst with a false alibi in McCormack's disappearance. Prosecutors alleged that Durst killed Berman because he feared she would reveal what she knew to authorities.

with DPA

Australian Associated Press