OAKLAND, California -- Week three was a good one for prosecutors in the Hans Reiser murder trial.
Testimony for the week concluded Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court, where the Linux programmer faced a barrage of unflattering testimony. Prosecutors scored big points as their circumstantial murder case unfolded before 12 jurors and four alternates.
Reiser, 43, the maker of once-popular open source file systems from his Oakland company Namesys, is accused of killing his wife, Nina. Prosecutors theorize the 31-year-old woman was choked to death, after she delivered the divorcing couple's two young children to the husband's Oakland hills house Sept. 3, 2006.
No corpse has been found. Hans Reiser claims that once his wife of five years became eligible for U.S. citizenship, she moved back to Russia, where the couple originally met. She abandoned her kids, says her husband's defense attorney, as part of a scheme he calls the "five-year plan."
In all, the prosecution called 10 witnesses in week three, the majority of them testifying that Nina was a good mother who would never leave her kids. The most-damaging testimony came Thursday morning, from a police officer who said he advised Nina to "get yourself a gun" to protect herself from the man she was divorcing.
The officer, under direct examination from prosecutor Paul Hora, testified he saw bad vibes between husband and wife, and made the recommendation after he befriended the couple, who used the Oakland Police station as a venue to exchange custody of their kids.
Other witnesses Thursday testified the husband suspected his wife had Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, and was dreaming up ailments for their son. Also on Thursday, the busiest day of the case, a bookstore cashier testified the husband purchased two books about murder days after his wife went missing.
On Wednesday, witnesses portrayed the husband as being "stressed" before his wife disappeared.
Another witness gave jurors the week's most colorful comment about the woman.
Ronald Zeno, executive director of Safe Exchange, testifies Nina Reiser loved her children.
Sketch: Norman Quebedeau"Nina was great with the kids. She was a great person. Every time she walked in to pick up her kids, she would get on one knee and put her hands out, and both kids -- the children -- would run to her," testified Ronald Zeno, executive director of Safe Exchange, a social-services company where the Reisers also transferred their children.
Shelley Gordon, the woman's divorce attorney, took the witness stand Monday and Tuesday. Like other witnesses, she said the mother would never leave her children.
But William DuBois, Reiser's attorney, fought back hard, giving jurors an intimation that the woman wasn't the saint witnesses described. While cross-examining the police officer who recommended the gun, DuBois asked whether his glowing appraisal of Nina Reiser would change, "if you found out she committed multiple acts of grand theft in her spare time."
DuBois was referring to allegations that the woman plundered the Namesys treasury. DuBois also repeatedly castigated the wife for having an affair with her husband's best friend and for trolling the internet in search of men.
Defense attorney William DuBois cross examines Shelley Gordon, Nina Reiser's divorce attorney.
Sketch: Norman QuebedeauDivorce lawyer Gordon testified Nina had asked her "whether she could move to Russia with the children."
"I said, 'I didn't think so,'" Gordon recalled. Moments later, she testified: "I said, 'It probably would not be a very successful motion.' So she abandoned the idea."
The prosecution's case is expected to last a couple more weeks. The husband, as part of the defense case, is expected to take the witness stand.
Expect upcoming blockbuster testimony in Week four from Beverly Palmer, the defendant's mother. After Nina vanished, so did Hans Reiser's tiny Honda vehicle. He began using Palmer's car. She put a Club-style lock on her vehicle's steering wheel, and the defendant's vehicle reappeared.
When police discovered it, the front seat was missing. Inside, the police found the two booksabout murder and a sleeping-bag cover with Nina's blood on it.
The defense attorney, DuBois, said the seat was thrown in a dumpster, enabling the defendant to sleep in the Honda. The sleeping bag had the woman's DNA on it, he said, because she had slept in it.
Testimony resumes Monday.
