Quote:
Originally Posted by ko
Seems like a very strange judicial system to me. There is no evidence that she was murdered.
How can someone be convicted of murder if nobody can prove there was a murder?
Hard evidence and suspicions of foul play are quite different things.
Regards, Ko
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If I was the prosecutor, I'd learn hard on the difficulty of arranging passage back to Russia. First, I'd make sure that I had contact with the relatives in Russia and verify that she isn't there. Second, I'd point out that she came from a mail-order-bride system. At some point she would have had to have attained a visa, passport, greencard, or other information putting her on both Russian and US immigration systems. Things like that can be tracked by airports. That no airport or airliner(US or Russian) has stepped forward with information reporting that somebody with her name and passport has been through, especially in the days after she disappeared and in the intervening time, travel back to Russia seems like a distinct impossibility. Basically, they may not be able to prove that Hans murdered her in cold blood, but proving that she didn't go back to Russia should be childs play.
The result is that the case turns into a missing persons case. After a certain amount of time if no evidence is discovered indicating that the person has left on their own free will, foul play becomes a factor. This is where the extenuating factors of the divorce and custody come into play. Basically, the prosecution is going to have an easy time proving that Hans had both the motivation and the opportunity to do away with his wife.
Going into court, I think the prosecution is going to ride out Hans statements and trip him up. I'm also going to go out on a limb and indicate that the police probably have some hard evidence that will only be admitted as evidence during the trial.
Even if no hard-evidence is shown at the trial, all the prosecutors have to do is convince the jury that Hans Reiser is a dangerous individual, and possibly mentally deranged. Unfortunately for Hans, there are thousands of emails out there that paint him as one throughly insane individual, which the prosecution will no doubt exhibit as character information. A few choice flames from here and there is all it will take.
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My gut feeling is that no matter how this turns out, Hans Reiser is going to end up in a jail. Either on murder charges, or under state supervision for being mentally impaired.
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edit: one other item I forget to cover that falls under potential hard evidence. Hans Reiser has been in print, web, and broadcast media multiple times over the charges of the murder of his wife. Prosecuters will probably bring up that if his ex-wife was alive and well, had left of her own accord, and had not been the victim of foul play, that she would have been able to have contacted an authority, been seen, or been noticed passing through some legal or financial barrier, such as caching a check or making a charge on a charge card. That no such evidence has arisen or been produced is further indication of foul play.
As I see it, the Defenses chances rest solely on the lack of physical evidence. However, people have been convicted of murder before on smaller amounts of non-physical evidence than that brought against Hans Reiser... and have later confessed they indeed committed a crime. Again, given that the defense believes they will have a difficult time defending Hans Reiser indicates that there is more to the prosecutions case than is currently revealed.
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Further edit : On the converse side of things, there is the possibility that Nina is alive and well and voluntarily chose to disappear. If this was true she would also be facing prison time for the costs of both the prosecution and the defense, as well as the police and court system, as well as being held in Contempt of Court. One of the reasons I think the story was driven to broadcast media is to insure that Nina's face has been seen. Given the amount of time between the accusation of murder and the upcoming trial, I think the prosecution is fairly confident that they can argue that Nina did not leave of her own voluntary will.
Which brings us back around to charging Hans. Currently there appear to be no other candidates available with the motives and opportunity to commit foul play in regards to Nina Reiser. Something the prosecution will likely press on is the distinct lack of evidence suggesting that anybody but Hans Reiser could have made Nina involuntarily disappear.
Basically, where there is little physical evidence that we know of that absolutely confirms Hans as a murderer...
There is even less physical evidence that we know of that could indicate another party.
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and yes... I've put WAAAAY to much thought into this.