Live Blogs From the Hans Reiser Trial

whoever57 writes "The Hans Reiser trial has been underway for some time now, the prosecution is moving towards the end of its case. For those interested, not only in the outcome of the trial, but a detailed description of the trial, including some insights into police methods, two reporters are live-blogging. One report is by Henry K. Lee for the San Francisco Chronicle and the other is by David Kravets and published by Wired"

For those who don't know who

[esocid]

Hans Reiser is a programmer who developed the ReiserFS file system as well as Reiser4. He's on trial for the murder of his wife who disappeared in 2006.

Re:Linux defence

[coolGuyZak]

When I sat on a jury, I wasn't impressed by the mentality of my fellow jurors. Most of them wanted the trial over and done with, so they could get back to their lives/jobs/whatever. It doesn't help that the case was monumentally stupid. The defendant was a well-intentioned idiot, and the plaintiff was a poor middle-aged woman with a greasy, ambulance chaser of an attorney. On occasion, I wish that I wasn't as critical as I am. As we discussed the case, I flipped between issues, making me appear more whimsical than thoughtful. Next time, I think I'll make a run at leading the group, so I can set an appropriate atmosphere for deliberation.

Re:Linux defence

[Aladrin]

I feel I have misrepresented the situation. We were worried that it took so little time to decide not-guilty. So we reviewed everything to make sure there was no argument. We were trying to find any reason to have a real discussion on whether he was guilty or not. Try though we might, we found nothing.

They would have had to -prove- his guilt to me before I'd have voted that way. And I feel most of the others there felt the same, too, though I can't prove that. The reason we were so quick to come up with not-guity was that each of us felt the prosecutor had proven nothing.

I will admit that the prosecutor was absolutely astounded that we came back with not-guilty, though. I supposed there's a chance that all of us were abnormal.

Re:Linux defence

[Hal_Porter]

Not all the evidence is circumstantial, there is the forensic stuff too.

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/01/jurors-shown-st.html [wired.com]

OAKLAND, California -- Jurors in the Hans Reiser murder trial for the first time in the three-month trial were shown actual forensic evidence -- a sleeping bag cover that was stained with blood from the missing wife whom the Linux programmer is accused of killing.

...

[Reiser's car] was littered with trash, clothes, a sleeping bag and its cover, some maps, two books about murder and an Oakland Tribune newspaper with a screaming headline describing the authorities searching his Oakland hills residence. Still, it appeared as though the vehicle might have undergone some serious scrubbing. The floorboards were sopping wet, Cavness testified.

...

Absent was the passenger seat. Inside the vehicle was a bunch of trash, a socket set and receipt showing the tools were purchased two weeks after the woman went missing. The bolts to the car seat were also found inside, and the socket on the ratchet matched the 12 millimeter diameter of the seat's bolts.

Now Reiser says he removed the seat and put it in a dumpster because he was sleeping in the car. But an alternative explanation was that he used the car to move a body, scrubbed the blood off the bodywork and dumped the seat because he couldn't get the blood off it.

Nina Reiser has disappeared. Hans claims she is hiding in Russia, but she was heavily in debt, mostly due to unpaid child support. And she just got offered a $50K per year job.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/07/BAOFUTA27.DTL [sfgate.com]

Two days before she disappeared, Nina Reiser accepted a $50,000-a-year job with the San Francisco Department of Public Health to help Russian immigrants, the woman who hired her testified Wednesday. ...
Also Wednesday, Richard Wilson of the TransUnion credit bureau testified that Hans Reiser was $90,000 in debt as of late last month. The figure includes $29,000 in unpaid child support, he said. Nina Reiser was about $30,000 in debt, Wilson said.

Other witnesses have testified that Hans Reiser complained that his wife was a financial burden to him.

The last two calls Nina made on her cellphone were to Hans before she disappeared, just after she dropped off her children at his house.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/08/BASIUUNE1.DTL&feed=rss.news [sfgate.com]

His behaviour on 20/20 was highly suspicious. Circumstantial admittedly.

http://www.eyesforlies.blogspot.com/2007/11/hans-and-nina-reiser.html [blogspot.com]

But realistically Hans's suspicious behaviour, creepiness and arrogance will probably end up dooming him whether he's guilty or not. I think trials are really a question of which narrative the jury believes. If they believe his story that she abandoned her kids (she had sole custody), boyfriend and a highly paid job to live incognito in Russia he'll get off, but I seriously doubt that. Then again he's a smart guy. Maybe he or his lawyer can work out some Johnny Cochrane type mindtrick to get him off. Then again, maybe not -

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/hans_reiser_trial/index.html#44890938 [wired.com]

Re:Linux defence

[CarpetShark]

I think you missed the fact that his fs used balanced trees ;)

Re:"Jury of your peers"

[juan2074]

I was kicked off the jury on a DUI trial because I actually know how the DataMaster BAC tester works, and that there is a large margin of error that prosecutors don't want you to know about -- even though every measurement device has some imprecision and inaccuracy.

At least two other jurors already thought the defendant was guilty if the police and prosecutor said so. And they served on the jury.

Re:Linux defence

[laing]

Giving up my mod rights on this thread by commenting but there's one important point to be made here. If you are EVER held or accused of a crime, NEVER waive your "right to a speedy trial". The court system is overloaded and your own lawyer may ask you to sign a form doing this, if they do then you should get a new lawyer. Better yet, before you get a lawyer you should make sure they won't do this. Lots of people spend unnecessary time in jail simply because their lawyer is too busy to work on their case. (No, I've never been in jail.)

--
This space for rent

Re:Linux defence

[AKAImBatman]

If they do find a body and evidence that points the finger straight at him hes already been let off, can they even have a new trial?

No. Double jeopardy is not allowed in the US legal system. They could raise new charges if applicable to the incident (e.g. breaking and entering), but they could not retry him for the same crime.

That's why it's always in the best interest of the prosecutor to ensure they have solid case before taking the case to trial. Otherwise a guilty man can walk out of that court and tell the whole world exactly how he got away with a crime.

Re:Linux defence

[anagama]

If you've been reading along from day 1, you'll note that Reiser was continuously interrupting his attorney and DuBois was constantly asking to have things read back. The judge told Reiser to knock it off a bunch of times, and finally said "that's it". That's why the record wasn't read back, bad behavior on Reiser's part. Reiser doesn't like his attorney either.

Anyway, since /. is now going to ruin my user-experience at that blog anyway, I'd suggest starting at day one and reading forward -- you'll have to go back 4 pages from the top.