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Hans Reiser in Court Today
Posted by
Hemos
on Mon Dec 11, 2006 09:35 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.
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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?"
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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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Give him a laptop and let him work (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Give him a laptop and let him work (Score:5, Insightful)
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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.
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Re:Give him a laptop and let him work (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Give him a laptop and let him work (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:Give him a laptop and let him work (Score:5, Funny)
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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
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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)
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Re:Free Hans (Score:5, Informative)
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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.
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police said (Score:5, Funny)
Has she been found yet? (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, I do agree, we need a "tasteless" tag.
Re:his wife (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:We had covered this story... (Score:5, Funny)
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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.
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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?
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Re:We had covered this story... (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:We had covered this story... (Score:5, Informative)
Wikipedia Entry [wikipedia.org]
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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.
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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.
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Re:Plenty of time to write code (Score:5, Funny)
Gods, that'd be even worse!
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Re:Plenty of time to write code (Score:5, Funny)
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