Irresistible TV, but Durst Film Tests Ethics, Too

It was the sort of publicity you cannot buy. The day before HBO broadcast the final episode of the six-part documentary series “The Jinx,” the subject of the film, Robert A. Durst, was arrested on a murder charge. But with this cinematic coup came questions.

When had the filmmakers shared their most incriminating discoveries with law enforcement officials? Had justice been delayed -- and a suspected murderer allowed to remain free -- for the sake of their story? Could the climactic grand finale of “The Jinx” ultimately become fodder for Durst’s defense team? “There’s going to be a suggestion that this was just done for the ratings, that it was nothing more than a made-for-TV prosecution,” the celebrity defense lawyer Mark Geragos predicted.