OAKLAND, California -- Prominent Bay Area Linux programmer Hans Reiser, 43, must stand trial for the alleged murder of his estranged wife, who's been missing since September, a judge ruled Friday.
Judge Julie Conger concluded that there "was a strong suspicion that, if not personally responsible, Reiser had some part in the disappearance" of his wife, 31-year-old Nina Reiser.
The ruling capped three months of preliminary hearings to determine if there's sufficient evidence to try the case. According to William DuBois, Reiser's lawyer, Reiser is now likely to go to trial within the next 90 days.
Nina and Hans Reiser had been separated for nearly two years when she disappeared on Sept. 3rd. She was last seen at the home Reiser shared with his mother in the Montclair area of Oakland. Her van turned up five days later, abandoned on a quiet residential street two miles from Reiser's home.
Though no body has been found, Reiser was arrested Oct. 10 after the Oakland Police Department found small drops of blood in his house and on his Honda CRX. DNA testing tied the blood to Nina Reiser.
Prosecutors allege that Reiser lured his wife to the house, murdered her and eventually drove her body away in his car. At Friday's hearing, Conger was clearly convinced that Nina Reiser was dead, but challenged prosecutor Greg Dolge on his theory of how the crime took place.
The judge repeatedly noted the testimony of the Reiser's 8-year-old son, who said he saw his mother get in her car and leave the Reiser family home alive.
Dolge responded that the child was not a reliable witness.
In the end, Conger indicated she was swayed by the fact that Reiser had removed the front passenger seat of his car sometime after his wife's disappearance. The seat has never been located.
The judge also noted that Reiser bought a book titled Masterpieces of Murder soon after the disappearance. She found there was sufficient evidence to make him stand trial for murder.
"It's sort of a downer," DuBois concluded as his client was shackled and led from the courtroom.
The ruling casts into further doubt the future of Reiser's company, Namesys, and the ReiserFS Linux file system Reiser invented. Reiser is in talks to sell the company, according to his father, Raymond Reiser.
Reiser is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Alameda County. His arrangement is set for March 23rd.
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