Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Hans Reiser Interview on ABC's 20/20

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the murder-makes-linux-mainstream dept.

baegucb_18706 noted that ABCs 20/20 has a lengthy article on the saga of the Hans Reiser murder trial. I'm not sure if this article provided any information that you might not have known if you read the earlier wired interview, but it's still a really strange story.

10 of 482 comments (clear)

  1. She's in Russia by FunkyELF · · Score: 4, Interesting

    She hated him. She staged it and went back to Russia. Aren't their kids over there now? Go interrogate her parents...she can't be too far from them.

    1. Re:She's in Russia by porkThreeWays · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The direct physical evidence against Reiser is limited, but police have built a detailed circumstantial case. In this day and age I didn't know you could take a murder to trial purely on circumstance. I'll admit it's extremely weird, but do they actually think they can convict him beyond a reasonable doubt in this day and age with no direct evidence? It almost seems irresponsible to try otherwise. No body. No DNA. No weapons of any sort found. Basically they have more evidence for Jimmy Hoffa's murder than they do this one. Heck, good luck proving she was actually murdered!
      --
      If an officer ever threatens to taze you, say you have a pacemaker.
    2. Re:She's in Russia by imsabbel · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Of course she also removed his car-seat, and put that "how to dispose a body" book into his stuff, too...

      --
      HI O WISE PRINCE. WHT TOOK U SO DAM LONG?
    3. Re:She's in Russia by Xiph1980 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      You might want to watch this TED-talk about statistics before you say something like that:
      Peter Donnelly: How juries are fooled by statistics

      --
      Manuals are your last resort only
  2. Soo... by DustyShadow · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So Reiser's best friend had sex with Reiser's wife, confessed to the cops that he is a serial killer, but conveniently says he didn't kill Nina...and yet the cops don't arrest him. Sounds like we got the smart ones on that force.

    1. Re:Soo... by Martin+Blank · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Police frequently focus on more than one subject at a time. There have also been cases where they will stop public focus on one suspect while monitoring him for changes in behavior. This doesn't mean that they've ruled out whomever they're publicly talking about, but if the pressure is removed from one that is deemed more likely, then that person may slip up. Details of ongoing investigations are often not public records, so we won't know until after any trial is finished.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
  3. Re:No body by Ossifer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The problem for the prosecution is that in the absence of any real evidence suggesting murder (pool of blood, scene of an altercation, etc.), any conceivable theory by the defense trumps a murder story.

    The cops/prosecution decided Reiser must be guilty since he's really weird, despite no real evidence that a crime was committed at all. Having followed the case locally (from across the bay), I and many others were surprised the case even passed basic plausibility by the judge holding the preliminary hearing.

    The reality is, in fact, that she may very well be alive and well in Russia...

  4. Re:He couldn't get a hotel room? by Wonko+the+Sane · · Score: 3, Interesting

    For several years prior to his wife's disappearance, he's been very strapped for money. He basically bankrupted himself to keep paying the russian programmers who were working on the reiser4 file system. His wife or friend may or may not have been involved in his money problems.

  5. Re:Reiser Must Die! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Your angry ranting leads me to believe you're one of:
    1. A troll - in which case, a very bad one, as you've had to post many times to maintain this thread;
    2. An abuse victim - in which case, unable to bring your tormentor to justice, you take out your anger on a man you only know from press reports;
    3. An abuser - so ashamed of yourself and in such denial that you're condemning your fellow abusers to death to assuage guilt. Like a gay Republican, except that there's nothing wrong with being gay.

    Whichever it is, I'm happy to have had the chance to serve on a jury; I had the opportunity to diplomatically convince my fellow jurors to ignore the preconceived rantings of one prejudiced hick in our group and instead look at the evidence for the crime under consideration. Indeed, this hick happened to conclude guilty as I did - the difference was that I came to the conclusion based on what was presented to me throughout the case and after hours of discussion with my fellow jurors; this dolt had come to the decision by first recess on day one.
  6. Re:Is that pic caption right? by FPCat · · Score: 3, Interesting

    But wouldn't revealing that violate attorney/client privilege?