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Hans Reiser Briefly Weeps; Explains Murder Books and Says Nina Dated KGB--UPDATE

By Ryan Singel, Kevin Poulsen, Sarah Lai Stirland, Kim Zetter, and David Kravets

OAKLAND, California -- Linux programmer Hans Reiser wept briefly on the witness stand here Thursday as he described how the authorities removed his two young children days after his wife vanished.

"My kids love me so much," the 44-year-old defendant testified on his third day on the stand. His voice was slow and cracked and he briefly choked up before regaining his composure. His children, a boy now 8 and a girl now 6, give him an "uncomplicated love," he said.

Nina Reiser, the wife who was divorcing her husband, vanished Sept. 3, 2006 after dropping off the two children to her husband's house in the Oakland hills. Days later, the authorities removed the children from his custody.

"So when they were taken by police, did this affect the way you conducted yourself?" defense attorney William DuBois asked.

"Yes." He concluded "I was under investigation by the police."

Then he explained why he spent $28.25 for two books about murder, books the authorities discovered in his car.

"I went to Barnes & Noble to look for books on the topics," he testified. "I never read true crime stories. It doesn't interest me."

The books are David Simon's "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets," an eyewitness account of a reporter following Baltimore homicide detectives for a year. The other, "Masterpieces of Murder," is a review of notorious murder cases written by Jonathan Goodman.

Hans Reiser said he paid cash for the two books he didn't finish reading because he didn't want the government knowing I "purchased the books."

Police secured the video from the Berkeley bookstore and showed it to jurors last year.

"Did it dawn on you, you were being videotaped?" DuBois asked.

"I figured that didn't matter. I didn't want it on my credit card."

A few questions later, the defendant responded: "I didn't want to be arrested with the books in my possession. It didn't seem to my advantage," he said. "I had that arrogance of innocence back then. I figured if I was innocent, it really wouldn't matter."

"But you've revised that theory, haven't you?" DuBois asked.

"Yes."

The defendant has pleaded not guilty and maintains his wife left him and moved to Russia, where the couple met in 1998 while he was overseas hiring programmers for his Namesys company, which produced the open source ReiserFS file system.

UPDATE

Minutes before Thursday's session broke, the defendant said his estranged wife at one time had a boyfriend who was in the KGB.

The revelation, true or not, came as the defendant was explaining why his wife's mobile phone battery was removed when it was discovered in her abandoned van. Authorities discovered the van, about 2 miles from her husband's house, about a week after Nina Reiser vanished.

A person's location can be traced with a powered mobile phone. That is not true when the battery is removed.

The defendant recalled that, when the two were in Russia at some point, his wife told him to remove the battery if he wanted to avoid being detected by the police.

DuBois, his defense attorney, asked him how she would know.

"She told me she had a boyfriend that was KGB some time ago," he said. "She said she knew, learned these things from her KGB boyfriend."

The defendant said he always keeps his battery in his mobile phone. (A police officer had testified that it was discovered removed when authorities detained the defendant.)

"I'm a cell-phone-battery-in-kind-of guy," he quipped.

One juror looked bored silly. The cavities on his teeth could be seen during his yawn. Many jurors sat stone faced as the defendant was attempting to chip away at the prosecution.

The defendant added that he was apprehended with about $9,000 in cash and with his passport because he withdrew money before the authorities seized his account. He said he has carried his passport with him for years.

"I needed to pay legal fees. I needed to pay payroll and I needed to not have the government seize my money," he said.

DuBois asked: "You had a passport in your fanny pack?"

"I carried a passport in my fanny pack continuously since 1996," he said.

Some of that money was withdrawn Sept. 24, 2006 in Truckee, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and just outside Lake Tahoe. The defendant testified he went east to Reno, and spent about three days there. He did not say why.

He said he slept in the parking lot of the Sands Hotel and "paid cash for buffets."

Testimony is breaking. Trial resumes March 17. The judge and jury are going on vacation. Opening statements were Nov. 6.

Here is what happened in earlier testimony Thursday.

THEAT LEVEL is providing gavel-to-gavel coverage.

Sketches by Wired.com's Norman Quebedeau.

See Also:

• Live Blog: Hans Reiser Denies Murdering His Wife
• Hans Reiser Taking Witness Stand Now; Did You Kill Your Wife?
• Defense Planting Seeds of Doubt; Hans Reiser Likely to Testify ...
• Hans Reiser Evading Police Because He Was Upset, Feared Arrest ...
• Hans Reiser Murder Trial: The Ego, the Filesystem and No Mention ...
• Hans Reiser Murder Trial: Indigent, Technospeak and Evading Detection
• Hans Reiser to Testify; Judge Says Sufficient Evidence to 'Sustain ...
• Hans Reiser Murder Trial: The Vilification Defense Begins -- UPDATE II

Full post as published by Threat Level on March 06, 2008 (boomark / email).