The Out-Lawyer's Blog

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Hans Reiser and his wife Nina were embroiled in divorce proceedings on the Labor Day weekend in 2006.  Their marriage bliss ended bitterly (no final divorce has yet been entered), and there have been struggles with support and custody.  According to family law sources, Nina obtained a temporary restraining order against Hans in 2004, after accusing him of “pushing” her; he later agreed to a one year, no harassment order.

On the Sunday of that weekend in 2006, Nina dropped off the couple’s two small children with Hans when he was alone (Hans lived with his mother who was then attending the burning Man Festival in Nevada). 

The time was mid afternoon.  Nina has never been seen since.  Her empty car was discovered later with bags of rotting groceries, intact purse and cell phone from which the battery had been disconnected.

In the absence of a corpus delicti, Mr. Reiser is being tried for the murder of his wife. 

After a long holiday recess, the case is about at its half way point in the Oakland courtroom of Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman before a jury of seven women and five men.

Mr. Reiser, born in December 1963, is a genius; he was involved in the development of Linux, the open source operating system, and he has created two file systems (ReiserFS and Reiser4) for that increasingly popular alternative to Microsoft-based operating systems and software.  Hans Reiser is famous in certain circles. His company, Namesys Inc, is soldiering on in his absence, but there are rumors that it may be sold to help defray its founder’s growing legal expenses. 

On or about Friday, September 1, Hans and Nina bitterly argue – with the help of lawyers – over how their kids’ time would be sent on the coming Labor Day Weekend. An agreement is reached that the time would be split between the parents. 

On Sunday, September 3, 2006, Nina takes the children with her to the Berkeley Bowl grocery store, where she is caught on the security camera.  She places two very brief cell calls to Hans, then shows up at Hans’ place (actually his mother’s home, the so called “Exeter house”) to drop off the children, presumably per the agreement reached on Friday.

Throughout, Nina is driving her 2001 Honda Odyssey Van.

The Reiser’s son, R… - age about 6 - once said (in evidence now left ambiguous) that he saw Mom depart after he and his sister were dropped off.  Rory also once said that he had a dream or a vision of someone carrying a large, heavy object down the stairs the night of September 3. That, too, is in dispute.

Hans’ mother was not home at the Exeter house on September 3.  She was at the “Burning Man” festival in Nevada.

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It was not until Tuesday, September 5 that someone reported Nina missing. Nina’s friend Ellen, called the police after picking up the two kids at school, apparently around 5:30, but can’t locate Nina. She called Hans, told him that Nina is missing and asked him o keep the kids.

His reply: Uh uh” (that I take to be a negative). 

Then Ellen told Hans that she knows Nina was at his house Sept 3. 

Hans’ reply: “I need to talk with my attorney.”

Go to the full article, “The Case So Far” for more details and a hypothetical “body disposal” timeline. http://jaygaskill.com/GURUonTRIAL.htm .