Hans Reiser convicted of Murdering Nina Reiser

Hans Reiser took the stand during his murder trial and insisted he didn't kill his estranged wife when she dropped off their children at his Oakland hills home.

But a jury found otherwise on Monday. At the end of a six-month trial in Oakland, it convicted the computer programmer of first-degree murder in the death of Nina Reiser after concluding that her slaying in 2006 was deliberate and premeditated even though her body was never found.

The verdict capped a case that drew widespread attention largely because of Hans Reiser's 11 days of testimony - in which he accused his wife of caring more about her career than their children, antagonized the judge with his rambling answers and wept for his children, who now live in Russia with their grandmother.

"I've been the best father that I know how," Reiser, 44, said after the verdict when Alameda County Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman directed bailiffs to remove him from the packed courtroom.

Reiser, who faces 25 years to life in prison, is due back in court today to set a sentencing date.

Jurors, who spent three days in deliberations, left the courthouse without commenting. But prosecutor Paul Hora said the lack of a body wasn't an insurmountable challenge for the seven-man, five-woman panel.

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"We have a body," Hora said, referring to evidence of Nina Reiser's blood in Hans Reiser's car and home. "We just don't know where it is."

Defense attorney William Du Bois said he was disappointed with the verdict but added: "We weren't completely surprised." He said he expects his client will appeal.

Du Bois said he was sure that Reiser's behavior on the stand - such as demanding that his attorney object to questions, talking back to the prosecutor and giving rambling answers - "negatively impressed the jurors."

Reiser had argued during his murder trial that although he and his wife were going through a contentious divorce - she filed papers in 2004 - she left his Oakland hills house without a scratch after dropping off their young son and daughter on Sept. 3, 2006. Nina Reiser was never seen again - not by her mother, her children or her friends. The defense argued that there was no evidence that the 31-year-old mother was dead and suggested that she could be living in her native Russia or anywhere in Europe.

But after three days of deliberations, jurors agreed with prosecutors: Although her body hasn't been found, Nina Reiser is dead, and Hans Reiser murdered her.

How she was killed might never be known. But the jury concluded there was enough circumstantial evidence to piece together what turned out to be a simple case of a woman murdered by her estranged husband.

Platypus defendant
The prosecution pointed to blood belonging to Nina Reiser that was found in Hans Reiser's car and home on Exeter Drive in the Oakland hills, the fact that he removed the passenger seat from the car in an attempt to destroy evidence and his "callous" lack of concern after she went missing.

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"Based on all the evidence in this case, she's dead," Hora said in his closing argument. "He killed her, and he hid her."

Jurors rejected the defense argument that while Reiser might be a geeky, egotistical computer nerd - his attorneys compared the founder of the Namesys computer company to the odd-looking duck-billed platypus - he didn't commit murder. The defense had argued for an acquittal or a voluntary-manslaughter conviction.

The prosecution dismissed Reiser's explanations of why he suddenly went on a cleaning spree, removing the passenger seat of his mother's car, hosing off its interior and washing down the driveway of his home.

During the trial, the prosecution painted a portrait of a man who had so much hatred for his wife that he killed her after accusing her of making up illnesses for his son and resenting that she wouldn't give him legal custody of their children.

In his lengthy time on the witness stand, Reiser rambled so much that the judge rebuked him repeatedly. After one tirade this month, Goodman said: "You are rude. You are arrogant. There's not enough words in the English language to describe the way you are. You have been trying to make a mockery of these proceedings."

Assorted explanations
On the stand, Reiser gave assorted explanations for why he behaved the way he did after his wife disappeared.

He said he removed hard drives from his computer because he resented the government taking all his possessions. He withdrew thousands of dollars in cash so that he could pay his Russian programmers, he said.

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And he was cleaning - even though it was uncharacteristic for him to do so - because his mother, Beverly Palmer, had called him an "inconsiderate slob" and threatened to kick him out of the home they shared, he said.

Reiser also verbally attacked his wife, calling her a manipulative woman who "worked" people and was "incapable of love," put up a false front in public and cared more about becoming a doctor than being a good mother. Reiser accused his wife and his former best friend, Sean Sturgeon, of stealing from Namesys and suggested that Sturgeon - who had had an affair with his wife - should be looked at in connection with her disappearance.

He wept twice - not over his wife but over the fact that his son, now 8, and daughter, now 6, were taken away from him. They now live with their maternal grandmother, Irina Sharanova, in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Both Sharanova and the boy testified, saying they haven't seen Nina Reiser since she went missing. In an interview played for the jury, Hora asked the boy what he liked best about his mother: "Everything," he replied. Hora showed jurors a video of Nina Reiser kissing her son's cheek at his birthday party when he turned 6.

The jury also heard from dozens of friends, teachers and others who said the same thing: Nina Reiser would never abandon her children. The defense said she did leave her children - with her mother.

Legal analyst Steve Clark, who has worked as both a prosecutor and defense attorney, expressed surprise at how quickly the jury reached a verdict, particularly one for first-degree murder.

"I did not see evidence of planning before the murder, particularly when the murder happened in the house with the kids present," Clark said. "You think if Hans wanted to kill his wife, he would have done it when the kids were not home."

Clark said putting Reiser on the stand "backfired badly because not only did the jury not like him, but he filled in the blanks for the prosecution. There was nothing left for the jury to consider."

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The Reiser case
Highlights from the trial of Hans Reiser, at top, for the murder of his wife, Nina, above:

-- Reiser testified that he did not kill his wife, saying she vanished nearly two years ago after they talked about their rancorous divorce. Her body has never been found.

-- Police found Nina Reiser's blood in his car and home in the Oakland hills. Prosecutors say Hans Reiser removed the car's passenger seat in an attempt to destroy evidence.

-- His attorney said jurors were "negatively impressed" by Reiser's 11 days of rambling testimony.