[svlug] Hans Reiser charged, pleads innocent, seeks speedy trial

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Bill Ward (bill at wards.net):

> How much do we know about the facts of the case?

Unless any of us is either an alibi, a witness, or anaccomplices, we
almost certainly, uniformly, know only what we see in the papers.  May
I assume your question was purely rhetorical?  ;->


Speaking for myself, I'm merely very interested and concerned.  I've met
Hans Reiser a few times socially, making him, looking from here, a bit
more than an acquaintance, though a bit less than a friend.  The
possibility that someone in the always frighteningly small social circle
of Linux people has committed homicide is of course disturbing:  One
doesn't want to believe that particular accusation about pleasant people
whom one has known for quite some years.  That would, among other
things, make one wonder about one's abilities as a judge of character.

The mechanics of criminal law is always interesting; thus the other part
of my interest in the case.  I've previously dealt with that branch of
law only as a member of mock juries while taking law classes, plus one
attempt thus far at _real_ jury duty.[0]

Anyhow, I'm just attempting to pass along news summaries, as I hear
things I believe are reliable -- and sometimes doing small-time analyses 
of aspects of news reports.  Make of them what you will.


> Personally, I'm neutral and will wait and see what the outcome of the
> case is.

There have also been, to be perfectly cold-blooded about it and ignore
Hans and poor Nina for a moment, some (IMO) very interesting things to
observe about police and court procedure.  However, I haven't gone into
that, as it would be rather too far off-topic.

[0] http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Essays/jury-duty.html