Prosecutor: Linux Engineer Reiser Coaxed Son to Cover up Mom's Murder
By David Kravets November 07, 2007 | 4:07:42 PM
snips
"OAKLAND, California -- Hans Reiser, the Linux engineer who is a black belt in judo, might have choked his estranged wife to death and possibly coaxed his 6-year-old son to help cover it up, a prosecutor told jurors here Wednesday during the second day of Reiser's murder trial.
"There are a lot of different chokes," prosecutor Paul Hora told jurors as he explained the art of judo. "It's fast. It's quiet. It's deadly.""
and
""We know Nina didn't leave the Exeter residence alive," Hora told the 12-member jury."
and
"Jurors appeared hypnotized by Hora's every word as he described several interviews the authorities had with the couple's 6-year-old son in the days and months following the woman's disappearance Sept. 3, 2006.
During one interview with the boy, according to Hora, the child said "I'm not telling the police anything about my dad." The prosecutor added that the boy said "The police might try to track him down."
The interviewer, Hora said, told the authorities he knew that because "My dad said so."
Still, Hora told the jury that the credibility of the boy was questionable. "He's just not reliable because he's so little," Hora said. He speculated that the boy's answers had "been influenced."
He said the boy, who is expected to testify later, was shaky on the details. Or, Hora said, "He's intentionally not revealing them.""
and
"Hora, the prosecutor, told the jury that in June, the young boy drew a picture of the staircase at the Exeter Drive house and told mental health professionals he had a vision of somebody carrying something big down the stairs the night his mother went missing. "I was scared. I started shaking. I closed my eyes as tight as I could," Hora said, recounting the boy's account.
Hora told jurors that perhaps the boy was telling the truth, or "maybe it was his imagination.""
and
"DuBois (defense attorney) and Reiser's relationship is anything but cordial. The two are often seen verbally fighting one another at the defense table, even as Hora is outlining his case to jurors.
"There's abrasion there," DuBois told reporters. "Hans has an abrasive personality."
DuBois said his client was in low spirits as his trial gets underway. "It's a little bit of a downer to be on trial for murder -- a murder you did not commit.""