CrimeWatch

OAKLAND (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ― An Alameda County jury found an Oakland computer software programmer guilty Monday afternoon in the death of his estranged wife, even though the prosecution had no body, no murder weapon, no definite timeframe and no cause of death.

Hans Reiser, 44, was convicted of the first-degree murder of Nina Reiser, who disappeared more than a year ago after dropping the couple's children off at Hans Reiser's home in the Oakland hills.

When the verdict was read, Reiser —dressed in the same gray pants, white shirt, blue blazer and red tie he's worn throughout his trial— looked straight ahead with furrowed eyebrows, then lowered his head and sighed but remained otherwise calm. The conviction carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman —who clashed with Reiser throughout his trial— had a bailiff remove him from the courtroom immediately after the verdict was read. As the bailiff grabbed his arm, Reiser said, "I've been the best father that I know how."

The seven-man, five-woman jury took about two-and-a-half days to deliberate in the nearly six-month-long murder trial.

While the jury's verdict was delievered in a courtroom that was packed with reporters, it didn't include any family members of either Hans or Nina.

Defense attorney William Du Bois expressed disappointment with the verdict because "the facts in the case are not consistent with first-degree murder," while District Attorney Tom Orloff said the verdict "does justice for Nina Reiser and her family."

After the verdict was announced, some court observers raised the possibility that Reiser might seek to have his first-degree murder conviction reduced to a lesser charge, such as second-degree murder or manslaughter, if he agreed to reveal where Nina's body is.

DuBois declined to discuss the topic in detail, but didn't rule out the possibility of some type of post-verdict deal.

"We'll have to talk to the prosecution about that," he said while turning to co-defense lawyer Richard Tamor, who added, "We're open to that idea. We're open to all ideas."

But Orloff dismissed rumors of some type deal as pure speculation, and added, "there's no thought of that in our minds. We honor the result and there's no contemplation of that."

The body of Nina Reiser, who was born in Russia and trained as a physician there prior to meeting and marrying Hans, has never been found, despite extensive searches in the Oakland hills and elsewhere. 
 
But in October of 2006, Hans Reiser was charged with murdering her because prosecutors said that they had DNA and blood evidence proving he killed her.

"We have a body; we just don't know where it is," deputy district attorney Paul Hora told a room full of reporters at a news conference shortly after the verdict.

The prosecution said during the trial that small amounts of Nina Reiser's blood were found in Hans Reiser's home and car and argued that he acted strangely after her disappearance, among other things, throwing away the seat of his car and washing down the floorboards.

Hora also argued other circumstantial evidence against him was strong: the couple was involved in a bitter custody dispute, witnesses testified she would never have left her children and after she disappeared, Reiser started withdrawing large amounts of cash.

At the time of his arrest, police said Reiser was carrying his passport and thousands of dollars in cash.

Hans Reiser, known in programming circles as the creator of the ReiserFS computer file system, pleaded not guilty after his arrest and had steadfastly maintaned his innocence.

He testified for ten days in the lengthy trial, often giving rambling answers and getting scolded by the judge for arguing with the prosecutor.

Hora attributed Reiser's conviction to a mountain of circumstantial evidence as well as Reiser's own testimony, which apparently alienated jurors, although jurors declined to talk to reporters after the verdict was read.

Du Bois portrayed his client as eccentric, but nonviolent, and said he didn't think things would have gone differently if Hans Reiser had never taken the witness stand.

Asked if he had second thoughts about his strategy in the case, DuBois said, "Everybody has 20-20 hindsight. I'd do anything different if I thought I could get a better result."

The defense attorney said he decided to have Reiser testify based on the state of the case after the prosecution rested.

DuBois declined to reveal exactly what jurors said when they talked to him for nearly 30 minutes following the verdict, but he said they told him that Reiser's testimony had a negative impact on them.

He said, "They misread him and didn't give a lot of stock to his disorder."

DuBois told jurors in his closing argument that Reiser suffers from a form of autism called Asperger's Disorder and that the condition explains why he doesn't behave well in social settings and acted strangely after Nina disappeared.

Reiser himself testified that there were innocent explanations for his odd behavior and maintained his wife left his house alive and he had nothing to do with her disappearance. He insisted he didn't kill Nina or harm her in any fashion.

He said he threw away his car seat to make the car more comfortable for sleeping in and washed the car floor because it was dirty. Reiser said he drew out the cash to pay programmers at his company and was in the habit of carrying his passport as a frequent traveler. 

The defense argued there was no proof Nina Reiser was actually dead and suggested she may be living somewhere in Europe. They also said there was no direct evidence linking Hans Reiser to her disappearance.

Nina and Hans Reiser met in her native Russia, where he often spent time doing business for his computer file system company. They married in 1999 but had been separated for two years and were in the midst of a bitter divorce case and a battle over custody of their children when she disappeared Sept. 3, 2006.

Nina, who was 31 when she vanished, was awarded legal custody
of the children but Hans was allowed to have them several days a week.
 
Hora said during trial that Reiser hated his estranged wife, and saw her as "the destroyer."

"She destroyed his marriage. She had an affair. He, although it was never proved, thinks she embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from him," Hora said.

Hora showed jurors a video of Nina Reiser at her son's 6th birthday party, ending with a freeze-frame of the mother kissing her son's cheek.

He also played jurors a tape of an interview with Rory outside of court in which the prosecutor asked the boy if he knew where his mother was.

Rory said he didn't, and that made him feel sad.

"What did you like best about her?" Hora asked. "Everything," replied the boy.

Rory and his sister Nio are currently living in St. Petersburg, Russia, with Nina's mother, Irina Sharanova.

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