Aug 30, 2008 12:31 am US/Pacific
Judge Accepts Plea Deal For Hans Reiser
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
Oakland software programmer Hans Reiser apologized to his two children on Friday for murdering their mother after a judge accepted a plea deal that reduced his first-degree murder conviction, resulting in a sentence of 15 years to life.
Reiser, 44, was convicted in April of first-degree murder even though his estranged wife's body had not been found. During the trial, he maintained his innocence, and his defense attorney suggested that Nina Reiser, who was 31 at the time, could have run away to her native Russia.
After his conviction, Reiser reached a plea deal with prosecutors and led authorities on July 7 to the Oakland Hills site near his house where he had buried his wife's body — in exchange for lessening the murder charge to second degree.
On Friday, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman reduced his conviction, and then Reiser spoke to the courtroom filled to capacity with the his former neighbors, reporters, Nina Reiser's friends and members of the jury who convicted him.
Everyone leaned in to hear Reiser dressed in red, state-issued garb and shackled as he quietly apologized to his two children and the public.
"I'm very sorry for terrible harm I've caused my children," said Reiser. "I wish to humbly apologize to society for my crime. I know human life is sacred, and I took the life of a human being."
Reiser added, "I don't think I'll ever make up to society for what I've done, but I'll try to the extent I can. If I'm able to, I'll try to contribute to society while I'm in prison."
The reduced charge still carries a potential life sentence, but Reiser will now be eligible for parole after 15 years, compared to 25 years for first-degree murder.
Judge Goodman said objections by some people that Reiser "somehow played the system" and got a good deal are inaccurate because "there's no certainty of his ever getting out" of prison.
As part of the deal, Reiser also provided details of how his 31-year-old Russian-born wife was killed during a heated argument on Sept. 3, 2006.
In a statement submitted to court, Reiser said he became enraged during the argument with his estranged wife over the custody and care of the children.
In the 30-page confession, Reiser chronicled how he punched Nina Reiser in the face and then strangled her while their children played downstairs at his Oakland Hills home at 6979 Exeter Drive.
Reiser said Nina's comments to him "caused me to become enraged and, um, I killed her. And I shouldn't have. I'm very sorry that I did it."
Reiser, who took judo lessons for many years and had a black belt, said he placed his hands on both sides of Nina's neck "and in the most unsophisticated chokehold that any judo instructor would completely despise you for ever using, I choked her."
"And this is the kind of choke that people who have no martial skills at all would employ and yet it was completely painless for her. It's the least painful way to die," he said in the statement taken on Aug. 21.
Reiser said his children, Rory and Nio, were busy playing games in the basement that day and "never knew what happened."
Reiser then put his estranged wife's body in a duffel bag and stored it in his car, a 1988 Honda Civic CRX, for two days while he dug a hole in a ravine in the Oakland Hills. After two nights of digging he buried the body in the dirt, he said.
At the end of his statement, Reiser told prosecutor Paul Hora and his inspector, Bruce Brock, "You know, Nina was wonderful in so many ways. I'm so sorry."
He added, "I will regret for as long as I live what I did and I don't know how I could... I'm very sorry."
In court Friday, Reiser said he had started a trust fund for his two children who now live with their grandmother in Russia. He also said if authorities allow him to do so, he would like to work while he's in prison "to make money to make their life more comfortable."
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