Hans Reiser – Guilty or Not Guilty?

Do you like courtroom drama? If so, you may find the murder trial of Hans Reiser interesting. On September 3, 2006 Reiser’s estranged wife, Nina, vanished. She is presumed dead, although no body has yet been found. The last place she was seen alive was at Reiser’s house. Nina and Hans had been going through a bitter divorce and fierce custody battle. Sounds like a cut and dry husband murders wife in a pissed off rage scenario. Well, not exactly. I have been following this case from the beginning and I am no closer to making up my mind in regards to whether or not he killed her. I would suggest reading this article by Wired magazine to get some background information into the case. There are also a couple of very good blogs that have been giving daily updates as the trial progresses; Threat Level and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Who is Hans and why do we care?

Hans is basically your run of the mill computer geek of the highest order. He is arrogant, aggravating and annoying. His social skills are completely lacking. He has spent most of the trial driving his lawyer and the judge insane. The jurors can’t stand him. No one cares about Hans. I wouldn’t know anything about him were it not for the fact that I read Wired magazine religiously from cover to cover. The entire case against him is just odd. The prosecution claims they have a mountain of evidence against Reiser. The problem (and there are many) is that this mountain is completely circumstantial. If you start to pick apart this mountain and look at every boulder separately, they don’t have dick. Here’s a quick list for you:

• Her minivan was found with bags of rotting groceries along with her purse, wallet and cell phone.
• Her cell phone had its battery removed.
• A fanny pack taken from Hans had over $8,000 in cash, his passport, and his cell phone – with the battery removed.
• Hans had removed the passenger seat and rear deck from his Honda CRX. He had also hosed out the interior leaving an inch of water in the floorboard.
• Hans had purchased two books from Barnes and Noble that dealt with murder and forensics.
• A neighbor testified that he saw Hans hosing the driveway late at night wearing heavy clothing.
• Forensics found blood matching Nina’s DNA on a sleeping bag stuff sack.
• More DNA evidence was found on a post in Hans’ house.
• Nina was a loving mother who would never abandon her two children.

Let’s take a look at this mountain of evidence:

• There wasn’t anything in the minivan that linked it back to Hans. Shouldn’t there have been a hair sample or fingerprints? Why leave her purse behind? If Hans is as calculating as the prosecution would like us to believe wouldn’t he have taken the purse and the cell phone and disposed of them later?
• By the time Hans was taken into custody by the police he was pretty paranoid. He knew they were tailing him. Why did he have so much cash and his passport? Was he planning on fleeing the country? Who knows. The cell phone battery is a bit suspicious. Suspicious in the fact that the picture of the cellphone taken by the police shows it with the battery in.
• OK, the CRX looks pretty suspect. Who takes out a car seat and throws it away? Hans was under tight surveillance for the three weeks after NIna disappeared until his arrest. He was pulled over for a traffic violation on the 12th of September (Nina vanished September 3rd). The car was completely intact. Hans testified that he was sleeping in the car and the passenger seat was in the way. He tore out the rear carpeting to eventually put in a futon. The car stank and was filthy, so he tried to hose it out. It’s a pretty hoaky explanation, but if there was blood all over the car would you drive it around for nearly ten days before doing something about it?
• The books were found in the CRX. Why not throw them out with the car seat? Hans said he bought them to learn about police surveillance.
• I don’t really understand the significance of Hans hosing down the driveway.
• The blood on the stuff sack is Nina’s. The problem with it as evidence is that there is no way of telling how old the sample is. Hans has testified that he and Nina had gone camping and it just happened to be Nina’s “time of the month”. The DNA taken from the post wasn’t collected properly and doesn’t prove much of anything except that some of the DNA belongs to Hans and some of it belongs to Nina. DNA from other unidentified individuals was also taken from the home.
• During the divorce proceedings and custody battle Nina had asked her lawyer if she could take the children to Russia. She was told that this would be impossible. So, where are the children now? With Nina’s mother who has sole custody – in Russia.

If you go through the blogs and read up on some of the testimony (there were over 60 witnesses called), you will find some strange tidbits. There are a few that really stand out. Hans met Nina in Russia where she was advertising herself in a Russian Brides catalog. Nina filed for divorce a few days after getting her US citizenship. Hans’ friend Sean Sturgeon had an affair with Nina while she was still married to Hans. Sturgeon has also admitted to killing 8 people. His testimony was not presented to the jurors because it would creat bias. He wasn’t even interrogated by the police. Nina ended up dumping Sturgeon for another man. Jilted lover? Investigators also found profiles of men who were looking for sex on Craiglist on Nina’s computer. None of those men were ever questioned. This is basically a fucked up mess.

As I have been writing this article the trial is nearing its close. The prosecution has made its closing statements, the defense is wrapping up theirs. The jury may actually start deliberating this week and I have no clue as to what the outcome will be. All I have are three theories:

1. Hans killed her. He murdered her with his bare hands (hence no blood), disposed of her body so well that it hasn’t surfaced yet and is so cold blooded that he can look everyone in the face and proclaim his innocence while being on trial for over a year.
2. Someone else killed her. The police didn’t really investigate anyone other than Hans. Sturgeon has admitted to killing people and is still out on the streets.
3. Nina is alive and well and is living in Russia.

Check back for more updates.