NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge on Wednesday approved a plea agreement for real estate heir Robert Durst to serve 7 years, 1 month in prison on a weapons charge.

U.S. District Judge Kurt Engelhardt approved the sentence in New Orleans on Wednesday. The 72-year-old Durst had accepted the sentence as part of his guilty plea in February and was waiting for judicial approval.

Ten years and a $250,000 fine would have been the maximum sentence that Durst could have faced for illegally carrying a .38-caliber revolver after being convicted of a felony.

Durst still faces a separate murder charge in California. Durst is charged in Los Angeles with killing a female friend, Susan Berman, in 2000 to keep her from talking to New York prosecutors about the disappearance of Durst’s first wife in 1982.

His attorneys have said repeatedly that he is innocent, does not know who killed Berman, and wants to prove it.

They filed a motion Monday, asking Engelhardt to recommend that Durst serve his time at Terminal Island, California, about 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles. The location is near the trial venue and has medical facilities Durst needs because of his “advanced age and serious health considerations, including mobility challenges.”