Hans Reiser indicates on a map the locations he'd been considering for renting a storage locker.
Courtroom sketch: Norman Quebedeau/Wired
OAKLAND, California -- Linux guru Hans Reiser conceded in open court here Thursday that he was trying to hide his car from the police in the aftermath of his estranged wife's disappearance.
It was the same tiny 1988 Honda CRX two-seater whose passenger seat was gone when discovered by police. Its floorboards were soaked with an inch of water.
The 44-year-old developer of the ReiserFS filesystem said he was in the tiny town of Manteca, about 50 miles southeast of Oakland, and was searching for storage lockers both to live in and to hide his car two weeks after his wife, Nina Reiser, vanished.
"You were there to hide your car?" prosecutor Paul Hora demanded.
"Yes."
The authorities had a search warrant for the vehicle and were looking for it, according to earlier testimony.
The defendant is accused of killing his wife on Sept. 3, 2006, when she dropped off the divorcing couple's two young children to stay with their father at his residence in the Oakland Hills.
The defendant scrubbed the storage locker idea because "it cost too much to hide my car from the police." He said the rent was $140 per month.
Hans Reiser reacts to a rebuke from the trial judge.
Courtroom sketch: Norman Quebedeau/Wired
"You'll admit that one of the reasons you wanted to rent the storage locker was to hide your car?" Hora asked.
"Yes. That was one of the reasons," the defendant testified on his third day of cross-examination.
Hans Reiser did not say why he wanted to conceal his car. But earlier in the day and during his days on the witness stand, he emphasized that he thought the police were corrupt and said he was "generally paranoid."
"I don't trust the government. I don't trust our government. I don't trust the Russian government."
He testified in a cracked, monotone voice. Jurors sat upright and many jotted notes during the revelation. The gallery was full of trial watchers and reporters -- all seated on creaky, wooden chairs. An unarmed deputy sat to the defendant's left for security reasons.
The defendant claims that his wife abandoned their two kids, a boy now 8 and a girl now 6, when he confronted her with allegations that she bilked his software company, Namesys. He says she may have moved back to Russia, where the couple met in 1998 while he was overseas hiring programmers.
On Wednesday and earlier, the defendant had testified that he had hosed down the inside of the CRX because it was dirty and that he removed the seat because he slept in the car sometimes. He said he threw the seat into a Dumpster after sleeping in the car five nights.
"It wasn't an idea that occurred to me immediately," he testified.
He never explained how he chose Manteca as the location for the storage locker.
"Why did you select Manteca as a place you wanted to go?" Hora asked.
"Why not," the defendant answered.
"Why did you select Manteca as a place you wanted to go?" Hora asked again.
"My answer is why not."
After a brief break, he said it was logical to want a storage locker while living in a car.
"Anybody in that situation would think, Geez, It would be nice if I had a storage locker."
He said he slept in hotels, the CRX and other cars until his Oct. 10, 2006, arrest because he didn't want to return to his Oakland hills residence. It was the house he shared with his mother, and he said he thought she would have a better chance of winning custody of his children while the police were eyeing him as a suspect.
Nina Reiser's mother eventually won custody and moved the children to Russia. The defendant testified Wednesday that, after his wife vanished, he slept at the Oakland Hills house at least three times and went there at least a "half dozen" times despite his concerns about custody.
"Actually, the whole situation was going to suck until I got my kids back and could move back in with my mother," he testified.
As testimony recessed for lunch, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman called the lawyers into chambers briefly and when he emerged, he chastised the defendant for being nonresponsive to questions and for speaking when questions had not been posed.
"Your attitude to this court is disrespectful," the judge said outside the jury's presence.
Threat Level is providing gavel-to-gavel coverage.
See Also:
