Apr 21, 2008 7:11 pm US/Pacific
Reiser Defense: Nina's Death Hasn't Been Proven
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
The defense attorney for Oakland software programmer Hans Reiser, accused of killing his estranged wife Nina, told jurors Monday that the prosecution had failed to prove she is dead, let alone murdered.
"You're being asked to convict this person of murder ... when you don't even know if there was a death," lawyer William Du Bois said as he made his final argument to jurors.
DuBois said Nina Reiser, who was born and educated in Russia, "has contacts around the world" and "has lived most of her life in Europe." He implied she could be hiding out there now.
Reiser's lawyer also compared his marathon murder trial to the war in Iraq, telling jurors that in both instances the government had failed to prove its case.
Alleging that the U.S. went to war in Iraq based on "a circumstantial case that absolutely was without a basis," DuBois said, "In this case the government is doing the same thing" by asking jurors to find Reiser guilty of first- or second-degree murder.
The defense lawyer said there's no evidence indicating Reiser committed a crime, but if jurors disagree, then it was at most manslaughter, meaning it was committed in the heat of passion.
But Du Bois said he does not believe the 44-year-old Reiser harmed his 31-year old estranged wife, who disappeared after dropping the couple's two children off at his Oakland Hills house on Sept. 3, 2006.
Reiser, known as the creator of the ReiserFS computer file system, has testified that he had nothing to do with his wife's disappearance and said Nina left his house alive.
DuBois repeatedly told jurors that Reiser didn't have an opportunity to kill Nina because the couple's son, Rory, also testified that Nina left Reiser's house alive on that Sunday of the Labor Day weekend in 2006.
But prosecutor Paul Hora said Rory was only 6 years old at the time and "he was just too little to accurately and reliably remember the details" about the last day that he saw his mother.
Although Nina's body has never been found, the prosecution claimed there's ample circumstantial evidence as well as blood and DNA evidence to convict Reiser of her murder.
In his closing argument, Hora contended that Hans Reiser had "a hatred (of Nina) that runs deep into his core."
Hora pointed out that Reiser's car went missing after his wife disappeared and when it was located, the passenger front seat was gone and the floorboards were soaked with water. When he was arrested, Reiser was carrying his passport and thousands in cash.
But Du Bois said there are innocent explanations for the circumstantial evidence. For instance, Reiser said he threw away the car seat to make the car more comfortable to sleep in. He said he washed the car floor because it was dirty.
Du Bois admitted his client "is weird. He does seem strange. Not because he was hiding evidence of the crime, but because he is strange."
Jurors are expected to begin deliberating Reiser's fate as early as Tuesday.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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