Expert Witness Blog
The trial of Hans Reiser, a 44-year-old Oakland, Calif. computer programmer accused of killing his wife, has become “stranger than fiction.” Reiser’s prominence in developer circles as the founder of the ReiserFS file system software available for Linux, the fact that the body of his estranged wife has never been recovered, and national TV coverage, all add to the drama. Crime scene analysis expert witnesses have testified about biological and trace evidence found, suggesting Nina Reiser is dead, and also tying her husband to the death. Beverly Parr, a psychiatry expert witness who has known Reiser since he was a toddler, testified for the defense that he showed all the signs of having Asperger’s syndrome, which is marked by impaired social skills and a fixation on things. News.com reports that Hans Reiser’s defense portrays:
…his estranged wife Nina Reiser as an adulteress and a possible embezzler. Hans Reiser has long suggested that Nina Reiser might not be dead after all, but could be hiding in her native Russia after stealing money from her husband’s former company Namesys. The couple’s 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter now live with their maternal grandmother in St. Petersburg, Russia.