Hans Reiser in Court Today

An anonymous reader writes "Hans Reiser has pled not guilty to murdering his wife and invoked his right to a speedy trial. He will attend a hearing today where the judge will decide if the state has a case " We had covered this story back when it had first broke; and for those of you playing catch-up, Hans is the author of ReiserFS.

Re:We had covered this story...

[Fahrvergnuugen]

In memoriam: James Kim, CNET senior editor, 1971 - 2006 [cnettv.com] (Flash Video)
Wikipedia Entry [wikipedia.org]

Think about his kids

[chipster]

I don't know about the rest of the Slashdotters here, but I have 3 kids. Hans has 2, who are in Protective Services right now (not a great place for the kids to be).

Key point about the kids from TFA:

An Education Fund for the Reiser children has been set up. Donations can be sent to 6114 LaSalle Ave. #127, Oakland, CA, 94611.

(emphasis added)

Free Hans

[Dr Kool, PhD]

Nina's boyfriend Sean Sturgeon allegedly practices BDSM, raped Nina, engages in "death yoga", made death threats against Hans, cheated with a married woman, and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from Hans Reiser:

http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_256204954.h tml [cbs5.com]

Hans Reiser, on the other hand, is a linux developer.

Guess which one the cops arrested and which one isn't even a suspect?

Re:Interesting thoughts...

[John_Schmidt]

Not quite. If a full jury (every single member) finds you not guilty, you are done. If any single member can not make up their mind, it is a mistrial, and the state gets to try again. And again. And again.

Re:Free Hans

[Dr Kool, PhD]

Hans drove a CRX which is a popular car among street racers for its light weight. People remove the passenger seat, rear wiper, AC, and other parts from their CRXs all the time for additional weight reduction. The fact that Hans' passenger seat was removed is no shock, of all the cars on the road I'd guess that CRXs are most likely to have the seat taken out.

Re:Give him a laptop and let him work

[Dhalka226]

I'm perfectly content with punishment, but come on:

Yes , rehabilitation is where its at as the triumpant success of this liberal policy over the last few decades has shown ... oh wait....

The United States has the most people in prison of any country in the world--including China, Russia, and the third-world countries we like to lambaste as having no respect for law.

The rate of people in US prisons--737 per 100,000--is the highest in the world. It is roughly seven times the average rate in other western countries of the world.

I'm fairly certain our numbers with regard to some countries (China, etc) are not wholly accurate, but there's obviously an issue here, particularly as we compare our rates to other western nations.

In the face of numbers like that, it's incredibly hard to support your contention that we've had some "liberal policy" of justice for "decades." (Article here [theage.com.au] with these facts; you can find it from any number of other sources as well. I'm pretty sure I read it on Yahoo News from the AP a few days ago.)

The US has always been conservative on the issue of justice. Punishments are getting harsher, not more lenient. We still execute people--and I'm not interested in debating whether that is right or wrong, merely pointing it out as a difference between us and most other western countries, and it's hard to deny that executions are the harshest form of justice short of torture, which isn't really justice at all.

Re:Scott Peterson is laughing

[oblivionboy]

Actually if I recall correctly she was Russian, and studying to be a medical doctor.

Re:We had covered this story...

[jackbird]

OJ didn't get off on a technicality, he got off on a gullible jury and an outmatched prosecutor.

Re:Give him a laptop and let him work

[oliverthered]

Peace and love man... Yes , rehabilitation is where its at as the triumpant success of this liberal policy over the last few decades has shown ... oh wait....

The right wingers seem to mention the liberal policy all the time but I'd like to ask which liberal policy are they refering to? we seem to be locking more people up all the time and it isn't doing any good.

Maybe if there was a real liberal policy inplace you would see the difference.

Re:+1 Informative on the MQR standard

[LurkerXXX]

er, ALL of the points seem to be hearsay from the article. All were claims by Hans, and nothing was reported to substantiate those claims.

I'm sure the police would have looked at her current love interest, and apparently they didn't find cause to suspect him as much as Reiser.

Re:Interesting thoughts...

[Ngwenya]

You guys are lucky! Here in the UK they Government/Police can keep trying again and again until they get the result they want.

Not quite true. Firstly, this only applies to England and Wales. Scotland still has the "no double jeopardy" rule. Secondly, the state can try once for a second trial, but only if evidence which could not have been available at the initial trial is available. ISTR that permission from the House of Lords is needed to even launch another trial - and the HoL will refuse if the evidence is not the sort which would have radically altered the original outcome if not challenged. Also, I think that the offences covered for this sort of double jeopardy must be the most serious type (murder, rape, etc.)

I can't say I really approve of it (equality of arms, and all that), but then, we don't have the death penalty, so it's not like a defendant appeal couldn't be launched. The first conviction under these rules was for someone who had been acquitted and then confessed publicly to the murder [although even a freely given confession doesn't necessarily count as new evidence!]

The block who 'fessed up pleaded guilty at the second trial. See here [bbc.co.uk] for more details.
--Ng

Re:We had covered this story...

[d3ac0n]

I personally carry an inexpensive Garmin GPS. An old-style one with a B&W LCD that cost me $70.00 US. It takes 2 AA batteries, and I always carry a spare 4 pack of those, plus more in my laptop bag. I NEVER travel without it, as I keep it in my Glove-Box and test it before every trip. That plus a laptop loaded with Google-earth, a 9 cell laptop battery and a power inverter to plug in with, and I just plain don't get lost. If I could afford it I would invest in a Garmin or Tom-Tom Nav system,but I don't have the $600.00 to spend on it.

My point being that nobody has an excuse to travel without GPS. You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on a full Nav system, a small handheld GPS is good enough for emergencies. If you can spend $250-$600 US on a freaking GAME CONSOLE, you can spend $100.00 for a handheld GPS. Kim should have had one, we all should when we travel.

Ultimately, the biggest mistake Kim made was to leave the car. He wasn't stuck off the road or buried in a snow drift, and the car wasn't in any immediate danger. It would have been cold, but with a car full of people to generate body-heat it would have been tolerable. NEVER leave your car in a situation like that unless you are in imminent danger (IE: car fire, car sinking in a lake, avalanche about to bury you, Etc.) Your car is a big shiny chunk of painted metal and glass, MUCH easier to pick out in the snow than your tiny little human body. That, and you can run the engine for brief periods to keep warm, and use the car lights to signal with at night. Make sure your car isn't covered in snow, and keep the tailpipe area well clear of any drifting so you won't asphyxiate on exhaust fumes. Then just sit back and wait for rescue.

If Kim had done this instead of trekking off into the wilderness he'd be alive today. Now all we can do is mourn him and try to learn from his mistakes.

Re:my theory

[Anonymous Coward]

Que bono? Who benefits?

That's cui bono... it's Latin, not Spanish.

Re:We had covered this story...

[frank_adrian314159]

Ultimately, the biggest mistake Kim made was to leave the car.

No, ultimately, his biggest mistake was to try to get across the Coast Range on Forest Service roads in November. This is stupid whether you have GPS or not. In Oregon, you stick to main roads in winter unless (a) you know the area very well or (b) you have a very urgent reason to be on those roads. And you sure as hell don't drive them at night if you can avoid it.

Re:police said

[jZnat]

alias rm='rm -i'

Never fuck up a remove again! It might get annoying, but at least you know you won't screw anything up.

You could also use a trash of some sort:

rm()
{
  mv "$@" ~/.Trash/
}

Use /bin/rm when you're sure of what you're doing.

Re:Unbelievable

[Anonymous Coward]

Police: Did you hear arguing?

Son: Now that you mention it, I may have.

Police: Did they tell you you stay in the basement?

Son: Now that you mention it, they may have.

Police: Good. Now what else can you tell us without us influencing your answers in any way?

Police: (to themselves) we better not mention anything about Sean Sturgeon else we might have to investigate a person we have not already decided did it

news article [cbs5.com]:

Reiser alleged that Sturgeon "had been having a secret affair with defendant's wife, Nina Reiser, at the time of the loan."

Reiser said Sturgeon "continues this illicit affair even during divorce proceedings currently in action" and that Sturgeon "even apparently is, in defiance of a court order, residing with defendant's wife and children."

Reiser also alleged, "It is well known and was well known to plaintiff (Sturgeon) that the majority of the allegedly loaned funds were spent exclusively by Nina Reiser."

Reiser said the fact that Sturgeon didn't name Nina Reiser as a defendant and named him as an individual "is clear evidence of his malicious intent to destroy defendant's marriage and leave the defendant to clean up the wreckage and pay the debts."

In a cross-complaint that Reiser filed against Sturgeon on Sept. 8, 2005, Reiser said Sturgeon acted as his financial agent from 1999 through 2002 and had access to and control over deposits, withdrawals and funds at the Patelco Credit Union.

Reiser said Sturgeon "worked with my wife Nina Reiser and eventually drugged her with ecstasy and seduced her."

Reiser alleged, "He then engaged in Bondage, Domination, Sadism and Masochism techniques and continued to redrug her repeatedly over time."

He said Sturgeon engaged in those techniques "in an effort to show that he was a better man than I and to convince my wife Nina to conspire with him to steal the Namesys Inc. company assets."

Reiser alleged that, "Sean has threatened to have me beaten up by some of his associates in illegal activities and that he would hurt me, my mother or my children if he did not get what he wanted."

(emphasis added)

Re:We had covered this story...

[cloricus]

When I did Cadets (think military version of Scouts with rifles...No, not the drunken Scouts) in high school we did a lot of survival training and fielded based exercises. The simple lesson in nearly every scenario that involved a group of less than ten with limited supplies in a remote location (with the assumption that in less than three weeks people would start to look for you) was that you never, ever, ever leave the location you ended up at. If you look at history you'll see this is a strong reality that is repeated over and over...Give in to that urge to try and 'make it on your own' you will simply die.

Re:Compass first, GPS second; always.

[bmo]

Even if you forgot your compass, you can always do this trick if you've got an analogue watch:

This works in the Northern Hemisphere.

Take the watch off your wrist and hold it horizontally.

Point the hour hand at the sun.

Halfway between that and 12 is South.

It's not accurate to one degree, but for getting un-lost, it's close enough.

--
BMO

Re:We had covered this story...

[ArsenneLupin]

Ultimately, the biggest mistake Kim made was to leave the car.

True... However: he already had waited a couple of days before he decided to go an seek help. And that point in time he probably assumed that no help would come, and that he had to get some himself!

He wasn't stuck off the road or buried in a snow drift, and the car wasn't in any immediate danger.

No immediate danger, yes. However, given the time they had already waited they were in danger of running out of food.

It would have been cold, but with a car full of people to generate body-heat it would have been tolerable. NEVER leave your car in a situation like that unless you are in imminent danger (IE: car fire, car sinking in a lake, avalanche about to bury you, Etc.) Your car is a big shiny chunk of painted metal and glass, MUCH easier to pick out in the snow than your tiny little human body.

... if you know that people are searching, and that they are searching in roughly the right spot. However, once a week has passed, you're allowed to assume that no help will come...

That, and you can run the engine for brief periods to keep warm,

They did, until they ran out of gasoline...

If Kim had done this instead of trekking off into the wilderness he'd be alive today. Now all we can do is mourn him and try to learn from his mistakes.

He had done this for several days, until he assumed that no help would come. Little could he know that help would be there in one more day...

Re:Free Hans

[Anonymous Coward]

There actually are forms in Tai Chi / Wu Shu which can be used offensively, e.g. push hands (http://www.taichiacademy.com/pushhands.htm), and they can include the use of a sword.
Granted, it's still not exactly a combat style overall.