Report: Hans Reiser might lead authorities to wife's body

It's looking like there could be a deal in the works in which Hans Reiser, the Linux programmer convicted in April of murdering his estranged wife, would lead authorities to her body in exchange for a reduced sentence. That's according a Wired report confirmed in part Friday by the prosecutor in the case, Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff.

"The defense has made overtures" to that effect, Orloff told CNET News.com Friday, declining to comment further because "it's still very preliminary."

In April, following a drama-filled six-month trial, a jury found Reiser, 44, guilty of first-degree murder in the 2006 killing of Nina Reiser, with whom he was undergoing a bitter divorce. Reiser is currently behind held without bail pending his sentencing scheduled for July 9.

Hans Reiser

(Credit: via Stanford University)

Reiser is known to the technology world as the founder of the ReiserFS file system software, which is available for Linux. Nina Reiser, then 31, was last seen alive on September 3, 2006, in Oakland, Calif., as she was dropping off the couple's two children for the Labor Day weekend. Despite exhaustive searches by authorities, Nina's body has never been found.

Throughout the trial, Reiser maintained his innocence. Arguing the so-called "geek defense," his attorney maintained that while Reiser may be strange, arrogant, even abnormal, his odd behavior following Nina's disappearance wasn't evidence of murder.

A completely different story may unfold, however, if the potential deal in the works comes to fruition. Wired writer David Kravets quotes an anonymous source familiar with the deal who says Reiser's cooperation could reduce his April conviction from first-degree murder to second degree. A second-degree conviction in California carries a mandatory sentence of 15 years to life, Kravets wrote.

And the deal "would be off if an autopsy of the body somehow demonstrated that it was first-degree, premeditated murder with, for example, 'two bullet holes to the back of the head,'" Kravets wrote, quoting the source.

[`WarpKat]

The geek defense? That attorney is lucky I'm nowhere near him. I'd stab him in the face myself and wait to be taken in.

Hans Reiser is a ******* and a half. How he ever let himself get talked into the 'geek defense' in the first place is astounding.

Hans should stop being a wuss and just fess up.

I suggest renaming the filesystem to the NinaFS in honor of Nina - no woman...NO PERSON...on Earth deserves to be murdered just because of a divorce or anything else that is a civil matter.

Hans = idiot.

Hans' attorney = scumbag idiot.

I don't know what else can say it.

[The_Decider]

It is no more idiotic than the twinkie defense and that actually worked. Juries are well known for swallowing all manner of idiocy.

[rdupuy11]

Yes, jurors are amateurs who are easily swayed, but don't forget, that 999 out of 1000 they are more likely to err on the side of conviction. That's why thousands upon thousands of innocent people are in jail.

Sometimes they go the other way, such as in the OJ trial, but that is very rare. Very few people have the money for the type of defense you would need to pull something like that off, and the government has unlimited money.

The innocence project has freed lots of men convicted on eye witness evidence, before DNA became available. It turns out eye witnesses are willing to witness against whoever the the police bring in and tell them is the suspect.

[Samrian]

There's a problem here. When Reiser was in jail, and they found a body, he ran to the TV, and watched with rapt attention, while they disclosed the discovery and it's location. He appeared to think that this body might be Nina's. If he hid his wife's body, Reiser should know where it was located, and that obviously wasn't the place. For some obscure reason the Prosecution appeared to think this was proof of guilt, when it fact it appeared to be proof of innocence. I doubt we'll see Reiser disclose the location of the body, due to his jail house behavior. He may have no idea where it's located. IMO.

[benjaminstraight]

What a tragedy.