Re: Reiser juror: "Never showed sympathy" for Nina


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Reiser juror: "Never showed sympathy" for Nina


Computer programmer Hans Reiser was arrogant while testifying in his
murder trial and never showed any compassion for his estranged wife, one
of many factors that led to his conviction on first-degree murder, a
member of the jury said today.

In an interview today with The Chronicle, Vince Dunn, 61, said although
Reiser had been going through a bitter divorce, "He never showed any kind
of sympathy for the fact that she was the mother of his kids."

Reiser's coldness on the stand and a phone call to his mother in which he
basically justified the reasons that he hated his wife were among the
reasons that led the seven-man, five-woman jury on Monday to find him
guilty of murdering her even though her body has not been found, Dunn
said.

"He was always making her the bad person," Dunn said. "He just focused on
his belief that she was unfit, a thief, not a good mother, on and on and
on, but everybody else was talking about what a nice person she was."

Jurors believed Reiser was "very arrogant," Dunn said.

Reiser, 44, will be back before Judge Larry Goodman of Alameda County
Superior Court this morning to set a sentencing date. A first-degree
murder conviction carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.

Dunn acknowledged that the case had no body, no murder weapon and no
eyewitnesses, making it "tough" at times during deliberations. But Dunn
said he and his fellow jurors "all came to the conclusion that there was
so much circumstantial evidence" and that "all the evidence pointed to him
as the culprit."

Nobody has heard from Nina Reiser since Sept. 3, 2006, when she dropped
off the couple's children at his Oakland hills home. "We were convinced
that she was dead because she would never have left her children," Dunn
said.

Dunn said one of the most compelling pieces of evidence for him was
Reiser's wiretapped phone call to his mother, Beverly Palmer, on Sept. 20
in which he railed against his wife, saying, "She looked for every
possible way to screw me and did it." Reiser said.

Palmer told her son, "no matter all these things that she did, she didn't
deserve whatever it is that's happened to her." Reiser replied, "I think
my children shouldn't be endangered by her."

The panel took at least four votes during three days of deliberations and
never considered acquitting Reiser, said Dunn, who teaches the fifth grade
at Lafayette Elementary School in Oakland and was juror No. 7.

The panel had its share of disagreements, including deciding between
first- and second-degree murder, Dunn said. "We fought like a family," he
said. "We had our share of infighting, but in the end we came out in
agreement."

Dunn declined to discuss the opinions of other jurors.

But he said as a group, the jury was convinced that Nina Reiser's murder
was the result of deliberation because he suddenly stopped using his Visa
card in August 2006 and repeatedly called county Supervisor Gail Steele in
the days before he killed his wife. Reiser believed Steele could help
change the family court system, the supervisor testified during the trial.

How does him not using his Visa figure in? I don't get it?

jc


Dunn said the jury noted that both Hans and Nina Reiser's cell phone
batteries had been removed after she disappeared, making it impossible to
track their locations. A computer expert would immediately be familiar
with the implications of removed batteries, he said.

Dunn said he found it disheartening that poor people can't serve on a
jury. The county pays each juror $15 a day to serve, and many of the 300
prospective jurors were dismissed because they couldn't afford to be on
the panel, he said.

Dunn said the fact that Nina Reiser's blood was found in her husband's car
and home "didn't in the end play as big a part as I thought it would."
Instead, the jury found that it was suspicious that he had removed the
front passenger seat and rear assembly area of his mother's Honda CRX, the
car that prosecutors believe he hosed out after using it to transport his
wife's body somewhere.

Dunn called prosecutor Paul Hora "a real hero" for his work on the case.
"He really worked hard to put on the best possible case," Dunn said.

In contrast, defense attorney William Du Bois, who compared his client to
the strange-looking duck-billed platypus, appeared to rely on "a lot of
drama. It just seems like he was going uphill. It was an uphill battle all
the time."



http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/29/BAKU10DLNG.DTL&tsp=1




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