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Hans Reiser To Reveal Location of Wife's Body

dlgeek writes "The story of Hans Reiser is well known to all Slashdotters by now. Some still placed doubts about the conviction, stating that he might be innocent. It now seems that all doubt has been quelled, since Alameda County District Attorney Thomas Orloff has revealed that Hans Reiser will disclose the location of Nina's body for a reduced sentence. The deal is not yet finalized, though. 'There's been some overtures,' Orloff said, 'But everything is in its preliminary stage.' The deal would reduce his conviction from first degree to second degree murder. In addition, an anonymous source close to the situation said that 'the only real leverage he has is if he can provide a body. He really doesn't have any options left. Even if he won a retrial somehow, he'd likely be convicted.'"

51 of 882 comments (clear)

  1. World's Greatest Detective by alcmaeon · · Score: 5, Funny

    BS. This doesn't mean he did it. It means he is the World's Greatest Detective. He's Batman!

    1. Re:World's Greatest Detective by jo42 · · Score: 5, Funny

      OJ did it!

    2. Re:World's Greatest Detective by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh, sure, blame it on the black guy. That's what they always do.

    3. Re:World's Greatest Detective by Slashdot+Suxxors · · Score: 5, Funny

      You must be new here.

    4. Re:World's Greatest Detective by clam666 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I hope this finally serves as a "wake up call" for Linux lickers and lovers that using Linux does increase chances of violence and murder. For too long now Linux lovers have accused Microsoft of tomfoolery, when Microsoft has only delivered wholesome, moral, and radidly patched products.

      Perhaps now they'll finally start listening to the studies that Linux and open-source leads to genital herpes and PWNING your wife with a .45 and a shovel.

      --
      I'm a satanic clam.
    5. Re:World's Greatest Detective by Skrapion · · Score: 5, Funny

      Are seven-digit users allowed to use that meme?

      --
      The details are trivial and useless; The reasons, as always, purely human ones.
    6. Re:World's Greatest Detective by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 5, Funny

      Oh, sure, blame it on the black guy. That's what they always do.

      you aren't keeping current, are you? the moslems are the new 'black guys'. everyone just moved up one peg.

      isn't america great?

      (ob disc: 'mind of mencia' joke. you really need to hear him tell it.)

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    7. Re:World's Greatest Detective by Directrix1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      All coding and no play makes Hans a dull boy.
      All coding and no play makes Hans a dull boy.

      --
      Occam's razor is the blind faith in the natural selection of least resistance and in universal oversimplification. -- EF
    8. Re:World's Greatest Detective by Fweeky · · Score: 5, Funny

      He doesn't know where he is, but he's got a lot of experience in building b-trees to locate things in sublinear time; how difficult can it be?

    9. Re:World's Greatest Detective by Adriax · · Score: 5, Funny

      I burn copies of linux all the time.

      --
      I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
    10. Re:World's Greatest Detective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      (ob disc: 'mind of mencia' joke. you really need to hear him tell it.)
      Nah... Besides, I probably already heard it from someone else first...
    11. Re:World's Greatest Detective by Andrzej+Sawicki · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Why not? They learned it the hard way.

    12. Re:World's Greatest Detective by paintswithcolour · · Score: 5, Funny
      Exactly Reiser doesn't have to say he killed his wife...he just needs to argue that IF he killed her, this is where he would have hidden the body.

      It's mere coincidence that the actual killer thought the same way.

    13. Re:World's Greatest Detective by trolltalk.com · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Exactly Reiser doesn't have to say he killed his wife...he just needs to argue that IF he killed her, this is where he would have hidden the body.

      It's mere coincidence that the actual killer thought the same way.

      Problem is, he thought he was so smart that that sort of illogic would bamboozle at least 1 of 12 jurors. Let me be the first to say "I told you so!" All you who said he didn't do it, welcome your new "I told you so" overlords.

      He's only doing this because the body will eventually be found anyway, in which case, "In Soviet Amerika, body reveals YOU (to be a killer)."

      Jurors aren't (usually) stupid.

    14. Re:World's Greatest Detective by BEI01 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I guess Hans really did shoot first.

    15. Re:World's Greatest Detective by Neph · · Score: 5, Funny

      I was going to make a joke but I need to chase some kids off my lawn.

    16. Re:World's Greatest Detective by Erbo · · Score: 5, Funny

      You both are a bunch of steenkin' n00bs. Now get off my lawn. :-)

      --
      Be who you are...and be it in style!
    17. Re:World's Greatest Detective by lars · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's spelled "nOOb", nOOb. Back when I joined we had to use smoke signals. Go ahead and try making a puff look like an "e" or a "w".

    18. Re:World's Greatest Detective by cixelsyd · · Score: 5, Funny

      Get off my lawn!

      --
      Take a dollar, divide it by 100, take two and call me in the morning.
  2. *sigh* by afxgrin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wow I feel like a moron for have ever attempted to defend Hans online at all. Like he was friends, and his wife was seeing, a guy that murdered several people.

    Now he's just going to fess up to the murder.

    I guess this marks the end of ReiserFS. I'm sure no one in the Linux community wants to be associated to that piece of work.

    1. Re:*sigh* by Atlantis-Rising · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I guess this marks the end of ReiserFS. I'm sure no one in the Linux community wants to be associated to that piece of work.

      Which, while it might be true, is still stupid.

      Imagine if Albert Einstein had accepted the position of leader of Israel after World War II and ordered some massive war crime, like say slaughtering the Arabs with nukes.

      Would we just toss aside General Relativity, never to see it again, because we don't want to be associated with the author?
      --
      "It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life." -Peak Performance
    2. Re:*sigh* by hostyle · · Score: 5, Funny
      --
      Caesar si viveret, ad remum dareris.
    3. Re:*sigh* by OzRoy · · Score: 5, Informative

      Hans Geiger was a Nazi and betrayed his Jewish Collegues.

      Heisenberg also worked for the Nazi's and attempted to build a Nuclear bomb. That one however is debatable. He later claimed he was secretly sabotaging the project.

      I think what will have to happen is ReiserFS will need to change its name. Once they do that then ithey will be able to move the project forward.

    4. Re:*sigh* by Xiph1980 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      ReiserFS is maybe created by a murderer, but that doesn't mean it's bad. Hans Reiser may have comitted an intolerable crime, but if you would rob yourself of what might be the best filesystem for your application, it would just be a bloody shame. In my opinion using ReiserFS doesn't immediately mean you agree with his actions. It just mean that you prefer ReiserFS over other systems.

      This being said though, I prefer ZFS myself :)

      Also, considering Microsoft has so many employees, I have no doubt, that there have been people working there that comitted far worse than a crime of passion. Doesn't mean that the product is bad... Well, okay it is, but not because of some employee going nuts.
      Besides, I think there are many CEO's or CFO's or any C?O's out there that have comitted far worse than a single murder, like Shell pumping oil in africa, killing thousands knowingly by pollution. If you'd go your route, you wouldn't be able to get groceries anymore in a normal fasion, because the truck getting the groceries might have filled it up with diesel at a shell.

      --
      Manuals are your last resort only
    5. Re:*sigh* by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Funny

      Honestly, I don't see how this invalidates his work. Surely the code didn't drive him to commit murder.
      Are you sure? Have you ever looked at that source? Hell, I almost murdered my wife after spending 15 minutes reading it, never mind trying to write the code!

    6. Re:*sigh* by Frekko · · Score: 5, Funny

      I suggest KillerFS!

    7. Re:*sigh* by elrous0 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Don't forget Werner Von Braun. He used slave labor to build the V2, was an SS officer, etc. But, without his help after the war, the U.S. probably would have never gotten to the moon.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    8. Re:*sigh* by afxgrin · · Score: 5, Informative

      Albert Einstein didn't name his theories after himself.

      But after reading the article, the summary is highly deceptive. The article basically says that Hans needs to reveal the location of the body if he wants a reduced sentence.

      It doesn't say he will. The judge is just assuming that Hans will do that to reduce the sentence.

    9. Re:*sigh* by Bootle · · Score: 5, Funny

      Now that he confessed, I'm sure he's guilty. Wow, glad to know you're on the case there Matlock!
    10. Re:*sigh* by afxgrin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In the end the article just says the judge assumes Hans will reveal the body to reduce the sentence. The summary is bad for this article.

      Hognoxious hit that detail on the head

      "Well if the DA says it then it must be true! I mean a DA is a kind of lawyer, right?"

      Alright alright, I'll RTFA before posting next time.

    11. Re:*sigh* by FictionPimp · · Score: 5, Funny

      If Linus murders, it's obviously for the good of all of us. Just accept it.

    12. Re:*sigh* by afxgrin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There is no confession. Just speculation that he will.

    13. Re:*sigh* by Aneurysm · · Score: 5, Funny

      It is of course possible that the file system is riddled with places where the evil bit has been secretly turned on.

    14. Re:*sigh* by Gilmoure · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Our German scientists were better than the Russian's German scientists.

      --
      I drank what? -- Socrates
    15. Re:*sigh* by fyoder · · Score: 5, Funny

      Linus would never murder anyone. He'd get his ninja wife to do it.

      --
      Loose lips lose spit.
  3. Am I missing something or by Splab · · Score: 5, Interesting

    did the article just speculate?

    No where in the article does it say that he has agreed to it, they are speculating that there might be a reduced sentence if Hans discloses where the body is. Also, he is most likely going to be someone's "slave" once he is in prison, so if he gets 15 or 25 years it is most likely going to be in protected custody (= voluntary solitary confinement) and 15 years alone is going to mess him even up let alone 25 years, either way he is done for.

    Glad I'm not in the US, getting life in prison for something that has way too many loose ends, just isn't right.

    (On a side note, whats with those extremely long terms in prison? Anyone going in for 25 years will never be able to get back into society - I thought the point of prison was to punish and correct the guilty and get them back into working order. There was a couple who got life in prison for mistreating their child to the point of death (raised her as a vegan) - a British couple got 3 years community service for the same thing)

    1. Re:Am I missing something or by jimicus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It sounds like they're in discussions about it. Presumably the DA wouldn't leak something about a deal of that nature unless he's really bad at his job. I would think that kind of publicity from the DA could earn him some censure, at he very least. But there's no hint as to what direction those discussions are taking. Right now, for all we know the discussions are along the lines of:

      Prosecutor: Come on, you've been found guilty. Your only hope of improving your situation even slightly is to admit you did it and tell us where the body is.
      Reiser: Didn't do it.
      (lather, rinse and repeat)
    2. Re:Am I missing something or by domatic · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I thought the point of prison was to punish and correct the guilty and get them back into working order.



      That can be a point of prison but there are at least four not always compatible reasons from prison:

      1. Deterrence.
      2. Reformation.
      3. Punishment.
      4. Removal.

      Ultra long sentences serve 1,3, and 4 at the expense of 2. Furthermore, reform tends to get lip service at best in the US. We're generally a revenge minded lot Who Want Criminals Off The Street And Thinking Twice About Messing Up.
  4. Got any Line? by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 5, Funny

    Great comic strip who didnt believe him HERE.

    Got any lime?

    --
  5. The Anastasia mail order bride ad by edittard · · Score: 5, Funny

    Anyone else consider the Anastasia advert to be in bad taste, given the context of the story?

    --
    At the bottom of the /. main page it says 'Yesterday's News'. Well they got that right.
  6. I would really like to know by Scholasticus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does this mean that some time soon Richard Stallman is going to tell us where the HURD kernel is?

  7. Let's wait until he does cough it up. by tjstork · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've got the troll points for arguing that he was guilty from the get-go, and I think that he is. But, in this case, I think before those people who supported him jump off of a mental cliff, let's let the DA actually deliver the body and the proof of Hans's cooperation. The story is believable enough, but, let's let the DA PROVE it first.

    --
    This is my sig.
  8. reasonable doubt by nguy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wow I feel like a moron for have ever attempted to defend Hans online at all.

    You shouldn't. To most people, even people who "defended" him, it was more likely than not that he was guilty. But the legal criterion is "beyond a reasonable doubt". I think based on the publicly released evidence, there was still a reasonable doubt.

    I still don't feel really comfortable with jurors making decisions based on "looking into people's eyes", as one of the jurors was saying; given how many people believe in astrology, mind reading, new age, and other supernatural stuff, I think there there's a lot of potential for bad decision making there. And there are, indeed, lots of wrongful convictions, so it's not like the system is working perfectly.

    Still, it looks like the jurors were right on this one.

    1. Re:reasonable doubt by alcmaeon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I still don't feel really comfortable with jurors making decisions based on "looking into people's eyes"

      Frankly, that bothers me a whole hell of a lot less than the fact that he was convicted of murder without any significant evidence his wife was dead as opposed to simply missing.

  9. ReiserFS Undelete Option Shown by cryptodan · · Score: 5, Funny

    Reiser shows off his new methods of undeleting a file and recovering it.

  10. this reminds me of oj simpson by circletimessquare · · Score: 5, Insightful

    oj simpson's case was skewered in this country by race. that is, more black people tended to think of oj as innocent, and more white people thought of him as guilty

    the hans reiser case reveals that techies suffer this same sort of prejudice as black people concerning oj simpson. had this guy not authored a file system,

    1. no one would care about this case
    2. most would assume his guilt

    a lot pof people here think of themselves as intelligent and unbiased. if you assumed reiser's innocence, take a good har dlook in the mirror. tribal-level prejudice flows in your veins

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  11. Where is the Corpus Delicti? by mangu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The story is believable enough, but, let's let the DA PROVE it first.

    IANAL, but in all the Perry Mason stories I read, the trial always start with proving Corpus Delicti which, as Perry Mason always explains, is not the body of the victim, but a proof that a crime was committed.


    In this case, I wonder: wasn't Reiser committed wrongfully? Because if finding the body could turn the conviction from first degree to second degree murder it clearly means that first degree murder hasn't been proved beyond reasonable doubt. At least, "beyond reasonable doubt" doesn't seem like something that could be dispelled by examining a body that has been hidden for several years.


    And what if, after examining the body, evidence is found that death could have had a natural cause, or be a suicide? With that reasonable doubt, would the conviction be reversed?


    Finally, the juror mentioned in this article that made his decision based on the accused's eyes really scares me. What if I had been tried? Would a crazy schoolteacher send me to prison for life because he didn't like the look in my eyes? There's so much debate on lie detectors in general, experts cannot agree on which subtle body signals will tell if someone is lying or not. If trained police agents, people with vast experience in interrogation practices, using advanced equipment for evaluating stress, cannot tell for sure if someone is lying or not, how come a fifth-grade schoolteacher is able to tell just by a glance at the eyes?...


    I'm not saying Reiser is either guilty or not. But that juror's statements make me hope I never stand trial, not under that system, unless there's at least one honest man in the jury to restrain the crazy old schoolteachers.

  12. Name change by ericspinder · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How about renaming it for the woman he killed? NinaFS, perhaps?

    --
    The grass is only greener, if you don't take care of your own lawn.
    1. Re:Name change by Se7enLC · · Score: 5, Funny

      Not to mention the usage:

      mount /dev/hda1 -t nina
      fsck.nina /dev/hda1

      the joke goes on and on...

  13. Re:Snarky comments by MightyYar · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, we must never joke about tragedy.

    Have you ever considered that some people might use humor as compensation mechanism to stay sane in an insane world? You may want to stay somber for your own mental health, and that's fine, but have some tolerance for people who want to stay upbeat.

    NASA stands for "needs another seven astronauts", btw.

    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  14. WRONG BITCH! by Ultra64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I can't think of any language or system offhand in which NULL implies zero. What are you referring to?

    #ifdef __cplusplus
    #define NULL 0
    #else
    #define NULL ((void *)0)
    #endif

    More about NULL