Linux guru Hans Reiser had his day in court and was convicted in April of murdering his estranged wife. Now Friday likely marks his very last day in court, when the developer of the ReiserFS file system is scheduled to be sentenced and is likely to say in open court how he killed Nina Reiser.
If all goes according to script, Reiser will be handed a 15-to-life prison term as part of a deal with prosecutors. In July, the 44-year-old led authorities to his wife's unmarked grave in Oakland, California after he was convicted of first-degree murder, which carries a 25-to-life sentence.
A key part of the deal requires Reiser to waive his state and federal appellate rights -- and to do so publicly, in open court. If he goes through with it, that would close the final chapter in his criminal case.
In a six-month-long jury trial, Reiser and his attorneys claimed Nina Reiser was alive, and had abandoned the divorcing couple's two young children after he accused her of bilking his Oakland software company, Namesys.
For 11 days on the stand, Hans Reiser told Alameda County jurors to discount any guilty behavior he exhibited in the aftermath of his wife's disappearance. After all, he said, he was a scientist, a misunderstood computer geek who stared at a computer screen for so long he hadn't a clue of societal cues.
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But any doubts about whether justice was served were dispelled on July 7, three months after the jury's verdict. Reiser, wearing his jail jumpsuit and handcuffed to his attorney William DuBois, brought authorities to a dirt road about a half-mile from his house and showed them where he buried the mother of his two children. From the stand, however, he had decried the case against him as "silly."
Reiser married his bride a decade ago. The once happy couple met in Russia, when Hans Reiser was overseas hiring Russian programmers to help develop the ReiserFS file system.
Prosecutor Paul Hora told jurors the defendant had "motive coming out of his ears" for killing Nina, including hefty child support payments. She had an affair with Hans Reiser's best friend and she allegedly faked illnesses for their eldest child, a boy now 8.
But he had more motive to give up his ruse, and the body, after being convicted of premeditated murder: a reduced term in a deal crafted by prosecutors and Hans Reiser's defense team. If Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman approves the reduced sentence on Friday, Reiser is eligible for parole in 15 years instead of 25.
Underscoring how much the defendant thought he could pull one over on the jury, it's since emerged that the defendant initially rejected a three-year prison offer in exchange for producing Nina's body, and opted instead for trial.
The deal for the body was done to bring closure to family and friends, to allow them, not the defendant, to chose her burial site. She is now buried in her hometown of St. Petersburg, Russia.
In California, both of Hans Reiser's potential sentences are known as "indeterminate terms". That means it's up to state parole officials to grant his release. And California's governor has almost carte blanche authority to override a parole board decision.
sebabnya aku tak reti nak start new thread.
Bila click new, option yg ada ==> New Poll / New Activity.
Takkan aku nak buat poll pulak.
Dulu aku rasa ada new thread punya button.
Post time 1-9-2008 01:32 AM
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