i want to bring in abc's chief legal analyst dan abrams here tonight. and dan, a lot of people are going to say, that sounds like a confession, plain and simple. but can it be used against him? >> reporter: probably. the defense will likely argue it shouldn't be allowed into evidence. they will say that we can't trust this tape. we don't know where it was. it could have been manipulated. but those are probably losing arguments and ultimately the jury will probably hear it. >> you put that piece of audio aside and you still have that moment with the letters, too. >> reporter: i think it's actually more powerful than the audio tape. on the audio tape, i think he's going to own it. i think he's going to say, yes, i said it. but of course i didn't mean it. i knew they were listening. with the letter -- boy. you look at those side-by-side and it's hard to figure out exactly what he's going to say. sure, he can call in a handwriting expert to dispute it. but jurors just look at the two items of evidence and i think that's going to be big trouble for robert dur

and when you don't know a horse, dan abrams, look at its track record. rved it up for her like that. >> right, right. i try to help. >> let's go back to robin. >> that was amazing. >> it was. >>> also burning up the "heat index," the new fashion trend that is sweeping gyms across america. we just saw you working out there a little bit, amy. let's call them colorful pattern tights. abc's sara haines has the story. >> reporter: leopards, tigers, and snakes, oh, my. fitness fanatics, beware, yoga pants now entering unchartered territory, an out of this world place where kale, yes, kale is the new black. meet the loud print yoga pant. at akt in motion, trainer to the stars, anna kaiser, says she rarely sees black yoga pants in her classes. how many people in the room are wearing the crazy pants? >> i would say 80%. >> reporter: so, the black sheep in the room are the ones with the black leggings. >> with the black leggings. >> reporter: i see a lot of fun things. i think these are blueberries. >> these are blueberries. one leg is a different pattern than the

abc's dan abrams is here with more on this.hink the jury is having such a difficult time coming to a decision? >> because this is a squishy legal standard. it's not did she do it but should we execute her for what she did and the legal question becomes do the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating ones? there's way long list of aggravating ones and mitigating ones and in this case actually the defense has stronger arguments on the mitigating circumstances, meaning there's some factors that the jury wasn't asked to consider last time like remorse, posttraumatic stress disorder borderline personality disorder. these are all things that helped jodi arias avoid the death penalty. >> they don't because -- the process that it's in this jury does not hear all the evidence about guilt or innocence. >> that's right. this is just the penalty phase and that you could argue might lead the jurors to take longer as well because in the first case they knew everything. they'd heard everything about the case. they'd heard all of the

. >>> let's get more on this from dan abrams.durst's lawyer who won a lot of big cases in the cowboy hat and we're seeing the beginnings of his defense. >> and helped durst previously. we are see the defense and that will be pointing the finger at the documentary. the problem with that, of course, is he's saying it's not based on the facts. well, of course, it is based on the facts that were learned as part of a documentary that did get good ratings, okay, fine, but that doesn't -- it's a nice slogan but it doesn't address the fundamental question of, did robert durst do it? >> now, at the same time, you know, you saw the durst lawyers want to get to california to face the charges right away but he's facing this gun charge in new orleans which could be 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted. >> yeah, i'm sure the california prosecutors want him there. i'm sure the defense attorneys want to move this case over there but there could be a delay. i mean, it could be that they decide in louisiana to move forward with that case and ther

let's bring some of them to dan abrams right now. first thing you say is wow. >> this doesn't happen in real life, right? the idea that you're doing a documentary and then at the end of the documentary you get what sounds like a confession. >> off camera. >> off camera to an unsolved case involving a high-profile guy. i mean, you know, you wouldn't believe this if it were a fictionalized movie. >> the legal question coming up right now, will that apparent confession be admissible in court? >> i think it's likely. the only legal question will be sort of the sanctity of that tape. meaning, where was it? who had control of it? is it accurate? those are the sorts of questions that will be asked. there's no doubt that his defense team will try to get it excluded from evidence but i think it will be tough. remember, you're in the middle of doing a tv interview. it's not like you have an expectation of privacy there. >> the timeline is going to be key, when was this tape discovered and when was it turned over to authorities? >> because the

matt gutman, let's talk to dan abrams about that.questions about the -- whether the admissibility of that tape or not but one of the interesting things we learned in one report is that the l.a. prosecutor saying they didn't even rely on the tape in order to bring the charges. >> we talked about this before. the letter that when you compare a letter that was sent to the police department where it was clear the person knew susan berman was dead and you compare that to the handwriting of robert durst. >> dead match. >> almost identical with the same misspellings, et cetera. that's got to be the key piece of evidence that changed everything in connection with this investigation. when the police say, this had nothing to do with the documentary. let them say the timing of the arrest wasn't timed to coincide with the time of the last episode. but to suggest that it had nothing to do with the documentary is, of course, absurd. >> not credible at all. >> the reason they were able to get this incredibly important piece of evidence is because o

dan abrams here for more on this and there does seem to be layers. >> so much seems to have changed aboutse from the beginning. but the question becomes how much does all of that matter legally? and the answer is maybe not that much. because -- >> why? >> the fundamental legal question is it self-defense and who shot first? and it sounds like the police believe they have evidence that the defendant shot first. now, what evidence could that be? first of all his own statements. it seems he was talking to friends and made a statement to the police. they may have physical evidence at the scene meaning shell casings or other evidence which suggests and this is a very important point you heard in the piece there that maybe he shot at the car before they got to the house first. >> that would be one thing but if he shot first does that end the case? >> no but it certainly is strong evidence. the only reason you'd be justified in shooting first would be if somehow you were reasonably in fear for your life. someone has a gun to your head and you shoot first you can probably claim self-defense but w

when you don't know a horse, dan abrams look at his tract record.rd. i can't believe you served it up for her. >> i try to help. >> back to robin. >> it's amazing. >> it was. also burning up the "heat index," the new fashion trend that is sweeping gyms across america. we just saw you working out, amy. let's call them colorfultern tights. abc's sara haines has the story. >> reporter: leopards tigerers and snakes. oh, my. fitness fanatics beware yoga pants now entering unchartered territory and out of this world place where kal he yes, kale is the new black. meet the loud print yoga pant. at akt in motion trainer to the stars anna kaiser says she rarely sees black yoga pants in her class. how many are we the crazy pants? >> i would say 80%. >> reporter: the black sheep is the one -- >> with the black leggings. >> reporter: i see a lot of fun things. i think these are blueberries. >> one leg is a different pattern than the other leg. >> reporter: and they're flying off shelves. here at bandier in new york city they've been selling crazy pants like hotc

. >> okay let's talk to dan abrams about that.r what the pressure must have been like. >> sounds like it was frustrating for them but let's also remember that the holdout is allowed to be a hold-out. she's allowed to come in there, feel strongly after listening to all the evidence and then not come over to their side. now, what she's not allowed to do is come in there with a preconceived opinion that she could never impose the death penalty and the jurors actually asked her about that in the jury room asking her multiple times, are you saying that you could never impose the death penalty? she said no, no i could then they proposed possible scenarios and none of them they said fit the bill. >> isn't that question asked before someone -- >> absolutely absolutely. to get on a jury like this you have to have said in jury selection i could impose the death penalty in a particular case. >> now, the judge said he would not take her off the jury. was that ever conceivable? >> no because, look, i understand that the jurors were frustrated

. >> let's talk about that impact with dan abrams. he's here right now.ually you appear in that hbo documentary in 2003 saying i can't believe he's been acquitted. >> can you believe he cooperated in this documentary? i mean it is astounding. remember this is a guy who the local authorities believe is connected to a 1982 murder of his wife the 2000 murder of his friend to cover up the 1982 murder and then charged in 2001 in the case that he of course was acquitted in. so the fact that he even cooperated in this is astounding and so it's not that surprising to me that now that they have durst on camera and they have renewed attention to this case that they've got themselves some new evidence and robert durst could find himself in some big trouble. >> got that letter where the handwriting may match. >> absolutely and that becomes a crucial piece of evidence. i mean they've been lacking that one thing to link him. they've always suspected it. they felt it in their guts. they said to themself wait a second. how could it be anything else? if they can link that

dan abrams here to weigh in. we'll continue your coverage on that scare in the sky.ling a threatening traveler after takeoff. they held him down while the pilots returned the plane to the airport. we'll have the very latest on that dulles flight disturbance. investigators revealing how the mom's death once believed to be an accident was actually murder. we will have the details on a possible motive. >>> and then "dancing with the stars" kicking off season 20 with a bang. former contestant amy purdy is here live to dish about all the new competitors coming up on "gma," matt and tam. happy saint patrick's day to you. hope you're wearing green. i can't see you but i'll believe you if you tell me you. >> are she got me. >> half of us are. the nonirish half. >> reporter: someone should pinch you then matt. >> go ahead. eye want to be pinched by tam. >> looking on the ben franklin bridge starting to get a little busier westbound as you come into the city and you can see what happened eastbound. they started that construction again blocking the right lane now. you've got on

. >>> turn to dan abrams. what do you think of the strategy of the defense?d of the only strategy. you've got video of him. you've got his scrawlings in the boat. there's almost no defense for him to suggest he didn't do it. you know, typically this would be the sort of case where you might see the defendant say i'll plead guilty and i'll admit it, just take the death penalty off the table and in most cases prosecutors would accept that. not in this case. they're not taking the death penalty off the table for him. >> so, is it proper for them to say it's more of his brother's fault? >> not really. meaning as a legal matter, they can't say it's more his fault than it is mine. the judge has made that clear, too. the judge has said you're not going to be saying he's more at fault but what they can be saying is explaining how this all happened and that's what the defense is going to do. they're going to explain in their view why this happened, how this happened, but they have to be very careful about not doing exactly what you just said. >> the defense wanted to