[SGVLUG] Off-topic - Hans Reiser article - murder trial

[Ted Arden]

sorry for the top post, but i still think the
prosecution lacked the proof needed for beyond
reasonable doubt.  true, the end justified the
verdict, however, removing cell fone batteries,
behaving erratically, removing a carseat etc.
do not prove, in my opinion, guilt.  i do agree
with one point you kind of made. if it wasn't for
his pompous arrogance (i.e. you 'everything is
someone elses fault and no self blame) that he could
convince the 'less intellegent' masses, he'd have
gotten away with less of a sentence (voluntary
manslaughte is like 1/2 or more of what 2nd degree
is, i think.. not a lawyer).

anyway, hope the bastard rots for what he did to the
kids and family of Nina.

=ted=

On Wed, 9 Jul 2008, Dustin Laurence wrote:

> I've not said much about this trial because I didn't find it to be a
> very pleasant topic, but now that Hans has not only been found guilty
> but has actually *shown* himself to be guilty I guess I will.
>
> Frankly, I always thought the case against Hans was strong. I don't like
> the idea that, hrm, "one of our own" committed murder, but I thought
> that it was about as good as circumstantial cases get and absolutely
> grounds for prosecution. And this is what bothers me about some of the
> comments from the Linux community: Hans was sometimes made into
> something of a tragic figure being scapegoated because he was
> "different." "Different like us" was meant to imply "this could happen
> to any of us, because society hates us." That was a mistake. Are we so
> paranoid that some sense of grievance or other against society was
> stronger than the fact that all evidence suggested he had been busy
> covering up murder? That isn't just sad, it is scary, because it
> suggests that the popular stereotype of computer enthusiasts as
> maladjusted, socially incapable misfits has a stronger basis in reality
> than we like to admit.
>
> It also gives the lie to our own ethos. Theoretically, technical people
> have learned the hardest lesson of all: that the universe is what it is
> regardless the stories we tell about it. The reason the challenger
> accident was a story of engineers vs. managers is because managers are
> trained to manipulate social reality, and tend to think *all* reality is
> social reality, while engineers are trained to manipulate physical
> reality and therefore recognize that it is not subservient to social
> reality. Yet in this case, quite a few of us behaved as the NASA
> managers: they allowed techie social reality to blind them to what the
> physical facts were saying: that Hans Reiser had in all probability been
> covering up murder, and therefore in all probability must have committed
> it (or been an accomplice, but no one argued that theory that I know
> of). That did not constitute proof and would not justify simply assuming
> guilt (we are all still committed to the idea that freeing the guilty is
> preferable to convicting the innocent, I hope), but it should have been
> a strong warning not to make Hans a martyr or symbol regardless of how
> much we wanted him to be innocent.
>
> Unfortunately I thought the Salon article was pretty accurate, and
> consistent with what I suspected of Hans' character. It hurts, sure, but
> sometimes the universe is just that way. I am glad that Hans revealed
> the location of Nina's body; I hope he doesn't get a lighter sentence
> for it, but it does prove that the jury verdict was accurate and I think
> that's important. I'm sorry that it may bury the Reiser filesystems, but
> I for one don't value filesystems over either a life or over the correct
> functioning of justice. If Hans had gone free, it would have damaged
> every one of us, not so much because a human being died at the hands of
> her ex-husband (that is true, I am just not arguing the point) but
> because it would have damaged the rule of law. I applaud the jury for
> reaching the correct verdict, and (though it doesn't matter) would
> support a stiff sentence (including the death penalty).  I say that not
> because of the murder itself, but because Hans made clear just what the
> Salon article reported; he has no remorse and believes that nothing is
> his fault and everything is the fault of everyone else. He shows signs
> of lacking some of the innate inhibition against taking another human
> life. That makes him a very dangerous person that, I suspect, could and
> would kill again. I do not care to see him on the street for a long,
> long time, and would not cry if that was "never" either because of a
> life sentence or the death penalty.
>
> I could add a diatribe about how it is postmodern Western culture that
> teaches people that they have no responsibility or guilt, that this is
> the inevitable consequence of a very sick, disfunctional society that
> believes with Plato's Socrates that all evil is caused by bad education
> or ignorance, and that only traditional ethics has any chance of doing
> otherwise, but I shall refrain.
>
> Sadly,
>
> Dustin
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> gpg: WARNING: using insecure memory!
> gpg: please see http://www.gnupg.org/faq.html for more information
> gpg: Signature made Wed Jul  9 16:17:55 2008 EDT using DSA key ID 8058ED32
> gpg: Can't check signature: public key not found
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>