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Hans Reiser in Court Today
Posted by
Hemos
on Mon Dec 11, 2006 08:35 AM
from the the-case-grinds-on dept.
from the the-case-grinds-on dept.
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.
Related Stories
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Hans Reiser Arrested On Suspicion of Murder 1651 comments
Many readers wrote about the arrest today of Hans Reiser, author of ReiserFS, by Oakland, CA police on suspicion of murdering his estranged wife. From the San Francisco Chronicle: "Hans Reiser, 42, was taken into custody at 11 a.m., hours after Oakland police and FBI technicians searched his home in the Oakland hills. His estranged wife, Nina Reiser, 31, has been missing since Sept. 3, when she dropped off the couple's son and daughter at his home on the 6900 block of Exeter Drive... Police made the arrest based on circumstantial evidence and have not found Nina Reiser's body, [Hans Reiser's attorney] Du Bois said. 'I have no idea what the circumstantial evidence is,' he said. 'When I hear what the evidence is against him, I'll make a decision as to whether he'll talk to them.'" kimvette writes, "While the disappearance (and possible murder) of his wife is tragic, Linux users will wonder where this will leave Reiser 4. If Reiser is found guilty, will Novell or IBM pick up the pieces and finish up Reiser 4 for inclusion in the kernel or is this the end of the Reiser filesystem project? Will there be any future for the Reiser filesystem, and if Hans is found guilty and the project is continued, will the project be renamed to avoid notoriety?"
[+]
Hardware: The Future of ReiserFS 459 comments
lisah writes "With the announcement of Hans Reiser's arrest this week, many people have been wondering what this will mean for his company, Namesys, and the future of his filesystem work. According to a report at Linux.com, employees at Namesys are circling their wagons and plan to continue working on the project 'in the short term.' One employee admits, 'we are rather shaken and stressed at the moment, although I cannot say we didn't see it coming.'"
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Thank you media (Score:3, Interesting)
This just goes to show you that stuff like this happens all the time that never gets seen in national media.
Re:Thank you media (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally I like the fact that national media leaves a lot of local stories uncovered. It gives the accused a chance to have an unbiased jury, though a change of venue may be required. If they're cleared, the minimal media slam means they can rebuild elsewhere after the page 2 apologies fails to change the minds of those who "know" they're guilty.
Papparatzi chasing famous people while they make fools of themselves in public is one thing. That same mentality destroying careers on the basis of accusation instead of conviction is not what "freedom of speech" was ever about.
Canadian courts typically restrict publication from the initial hearing onwards. The only time you see further information is if the defense is making preliminary statements about their planned approach, especially if they expect to raise constitutional or human rights issues. That serves to warn the bar that there may be a precedence case coming up.
I hope the accusations turn out false, but Hans' infamous temper isn't going to help him with this argument.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Interesting thoughts... (Score:4, Informative)
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: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Thank you media (Score:5, Insightful)
Reiser's wife probrably wasn't as attractive as Laci Peterson. The media only showcases good looking victims.
Other factors:
Laci was pregnant. Laci went missing on Christmas Eve (I believe). Laci had a lot of friends and a large family, all of whom coordinated a media blitz.
Just check the history (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Just check the history (Score:4, Funny)
Give him a laptop and let him work (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Give him a laptop and let him work (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The one thing you didn't mock (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Give him a laptop and let him work (Score:5, Informative)
I'm perfectly content with punishment, but come on:
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:Give him a laptop and let him work (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Give him a laptop and let him work (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The right wingers seem to mention the liberal policy all the time but I'd like to ask which libera
Re:Give him a laptop and let him work (Score:5, Funny)
The butterfly effect (Score:5, Funny)
See, there's no reason to fear abandonment of the Reiser FS if this dude gets locked up.
Think about his kids (Score:5, Informative)
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:
(emphasis added)Re:Think about his kids (Score:5, Funny)
I am the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department BANK OF AFRICA .
In my department we discovered an abandoned bank account you can use for your purpose. We won't charge you anything - in fact we will double your donations.
You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this letter for further clearifications.
Yours faithfully,
DR AMIRI BABO
Free Hans (Score:5, Informative)
http://cbs5.com/topstories/local_story_256204954.
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:Free Hans (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Free Hans (Score:4, Insightful)
And Hans is allegedly a murderer, what's your point?
Re:Free Hans (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm going with "The one who all the evidence points to", namely Hans.
Re:Free Hans (Score:4, Insightful)
Nina's boyfriend Sean Sturgeon allegedly practices BDSM
Assuming that's true, exactly how does practicing BDSM mean you're a likely murder suspect?
raped Nina, made death threats against Hans
Both hearsay arguments made by Hans. I'd like to see some kind of evidence for this other than an ex-husbands allegations.
engages in "death yoga"
I didn't know what this was until I read the article, but apparently it's just slowing down your heart rate. How does that have anything to do with someone being a likely murder suspect? Oh it does have the word "death" in it, so it must somehow involve actually killing people. Are people who listen to "death metal" also potential murder suspects?
cheated with a married woman,
This is probbably at least likely (since the two were together before her death). But what does it have to do with him being a murder suspect?
and stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from Hans Reiser:
Another allegation by Reiser which we have no other real evidence for. But even if true, why is that a motive for him to murder Nina?
Hans Reiser, on the other hand, is a linux developer.
Ahh.. well obviously if he does anything I personally like and approve of he can't be a murder suspect.
Guess which one the cops arrested and which one isn't even a suspect?
Maybe the one who Nina Reiser had a temporary restraining order against him in 2004 for allegedly pushing her? A restraining order is really easy to get and isn't proof that Hans was violent. But it at least shows she was afraid of him. I don't know if Hans did it, the other guy did it, or neither. But the facts that we have point more toward Hans at the moment. Casting suspicion on someone who you have really no evidence to suspect is simply dishonest.
Re:Free Hans (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:+1 Informative on the MQR standard (Score:5, Informative)
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.
police said (Score:5, Funny)
Has she been found yet? (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, I do agree, we need a "tasteless" tag.
Re:Why I think Nina Reiser is dead (Score:4, Insightful)
That's ALL women.
Re:Why I think Nina Reiser is dead (Score:4, Funny)
Replacement for ReiserFS Announced!!! (Score:3, Funny)
Nina got $8,000 a month in alimony (Score:4, Interesting)
According to this article [nbc11.com], Hans Reiser had to pay $8,000 in alimony a month to Nina. Nina was getting $96,000 a year for not working!
I don't condone any killing, legal or not, but if she had indeed cheated on him before their divorce and then got that kind of money, it's easy to see how the feeling of having been so completely beaten by someone he loved could have made him desperate.
Something seems broken with California's alimony law.
Re:his wife (Score:5, Funny)
Re:We had covered this story... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:We had covered this story... (Score:5, Insightful)
Regarding Reiser, as much as it pains me, I think I have accepted that unless they can really clear him of the picture painted by the circumstantial evidence, he's up shit creek. If he did kill her, then he deserves it. A lot of arrogant geeks seem to think they are godlike and that they can get away with anything. It's possible that he fits that standard mold to a T. If he didn't do it, then his side had damn well better find proof because that's what it's going to take at this point. The speedy trial thing actually has me worried. While it's something that I believe everyone should be guaranteed, I also know that it's possible that with the right lawyer he could get away with murder on a technicality. That would not be right, but it's not like it hasn't happened before. Crimes of passion can be quite ugly and I think they do throw the perpetrators mentally out of whack for life. If he did do it, he's certainly got internal demons that will follow him for all the days of his life. Sadly, based on his biography, I'd say he seems to be a perfect fit for the type of arrogant geek who thinks they can get away with anything as long as they plan it well enough. That kind of geek needs to be knocked down the entire set of ladder rungs and then have their face ground into the dirt and through the other side of the planet. Maybe then their overinflated egos will be right sized to a humble enough level. Note that I feel I can say this because I AM a geek and I do believe I have limitations which I happily accept.
Re:We had covered this story... (Score:5, Insightful)
I also know that it's possible that with the right lawyer he could get away with murder on a technicality. That would not be right, but it's not like it hasn't happened before.
Those technicalities that everybody hates so much are what keeps our Government in line. If the police screw up and overstep a warrant or "forget" to Mirandize a suspect then that evidence should be thrown out.
If defendants couldn't win on "technicalities" then what incentive does the Government have to follow the rules?
Re:We had covered this story... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:We had covered this story... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:We had covered this story... (Score:5, Funny)
More HAD please !!!
(and more cowbell)
Re:We had covered this story... (Score:5, Informative)
Wikipedia Entry [wikipedia.org]
Re:We had covered this story... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:We had covered this story... (Score:4, Insightful)
He's a guy who apparently owned neither a GPS NOR a 406 EPIRB.
They weren't out hiking in the wilderness as I understand it. They drove down a closed seasonal road by mistake and got stuck.
Do you carry an EPIRB in your car? I know that I don't.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:We had covered this story... (Score:4, Informative)
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:Compass first, GPS second; always. (Score:5, Informative)
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:Plenty of time to write code (Score:5, Funny)
Gods, that'd be even worse!
Re:Plenty of time to write code (Score:5, Funny)