preview.tinyurl.com/ys92sn -> www.dailycal.org/article/100390/berkeley_alumnus_hans_reiser_on_trial_for_wife_s_m
Music Professor Had 'Extraordinary Talent' - 2/5/08 When campus administrators restricted access to computers in the basement of Evans Hall in 1986, UC Berkeley student and software enthusiast Hans Reiser grew frustrated. With some effort, Reiser and some friends persuaded a reluctant technology company to donate several computers, building the foundation for the Open Computing Facility. But Reiser, 44, is now faced with a far more serious problem as he attempts to convince a jury that he did not murder his missing wife. Nina Reiser disappeared on September 3, 2006, while the couple was in the midst of a bitter divorce and child custody battle. After shopping at Berkeley Bowl on Shattuck Avenue, she was last seen dropping off the couple's two children at Hans Reiser's home in the Oakland Hills. Prosecutors say blood found on a sleeping bag case in Hans Reiser's car and on a pillar in his home-which DNA experts have said almost certainly belongs to Nina Reiser-proves he killed her. Hans Reiser has pleaded not guilty, saying his wife may be alive and hiding in her native Russia. The couple married in 1999 and split up in 2004, although the divorce was never finalized. Hans Reiser came to UC Berkeley straight out of junior high. Friends say he had dreaded high school and became excited when he learned that, with a high enough SAT score, he could be accepted without a diploma. He bought preparatory books, earned a high score and enrolled in 1979. That was the start of a 12-year stay, during which friends say he worked software jobs, attempted to design a role-playing game and tried his hand at writing science fiction. Reiser eventually earned a BA in an interdisciplinary major called "Design of Theoretical Models." Until the late-1980s, only Computer Science majors were given access to the Internet. Reiser spent a lot of time hanging around Computer Science laboratories in hopes of using other students' accounts, said Cimarron Taylor, a local software architect who went to school with him. For his thesis, an adviser allowed Reiser to submit work he had done designing a file system. The final product, called ReiserFS, gained him acclaim in programming circles. Taylor said Reiser refused to consider selling the file system, an idea that several of his friends advised. "It was sort of sad to see him miss out on business opportunities," he said. He also alienated his fair share of people with his eccentric and sometimes obnoxious behavior, Taylor said. "I know him pretty well and I have to say he has very little common sense," Taylor said. "He would do things that a person with a little more worldly wisdom would know not to do." According to a local programmer who only wanted to be identified as Pete, Reiser once got upset when he was not greeted with a "hero's welcome" by his friends after returning to UC Berkeley from a job on the East Coast. Reiser confronted Pete and pushed him down, Pete said, adding that he filed a police report but decided not to press charges. "I just wanted it in the record in case it became a recurring problem," Pete said. Prosecutor Paul Hora has called witnesses who have characterized Reiser as a controlling husband and have described his behavior in the days following her disappearance as odd and paranoid. But the defense says Reiser's actions are just reflective of his socially awkward disposition. "It's not unusual for him, the way he's been acting," said Richard Tamor, one of Reiser's attorneys. The defense will present their case over the next few days, Tamor said. Tamor said he is uncertain at this time whether Hans Reiser will take the stand.
|
http://csua.com/feed/