Betrayal

A Computer Genius, His Russian Bride, The KGB And The Ultimate Betrayal

(CBS)  When it's DuBois’ turn, he tells the jury that Nina was nothing more than a conniving Russian bride who was looking for a free ride to America. And he reveals on the day before she disappeared, Nina was online cruising the personal ads from men who were looking for sex.

Aside from sullying Nina's reputation, graphic personal ads suggest that perhaps Nina had a rendezvous with a mystery man, another possible suspect.

"Here’s the best possible defense: she’s dead and somebody else did it. It’s Oakland. They have a homicide every second day," says Jay Gaskill, a veteran trial lawyer following the case closely on his blog. Gaskill says DuBois' argument that Nina ran off to Russia makes no sense at all.

But prosecutor Hora brings the jury back to earth by calling his first witness. It is none other than little Rory, just off a plane from Russia, accompanied by his grandmother who has decided Rory must tell what he knows.

"I thought it was important for jurors at trial to see and hear Rory in person and hear him say that he hasn't seen his mother," Hora explains.

Jurors hang on Rory's every word as he shows them this picture he drew just prior to the trial; Rory says it shows Hans carrying something big down the basement stairs.

"Here's a boy that has an image in his head of dad carrying a mom-sized bag down the steps. And mommy’s missing," Gaskill notes. "What that means is on some deep psychological level, the boy is willing to believe that daddy killed mommy."

Asked if Rory might not have been coached by his grandmother, Gaskill says, "It might've been coached. It might not have been but the fact that he can have the image. He came up with that image himself."

Rory's testimony, his drawings, and a stack of heartfelt letters to Hans repeatedly asking 'Where is Nina?' are powerful evidence for the prosecution. In one of the trial's most dramatic moments, Rory calls his father a liar and says he no longer loves him.

The trial goes on and on. Jurors would hear four months of prosecution evidence.

Retired police officer Benjamin Franklin Denson testifies that he observed Nina and Hans when they were sharing custody. Their relationship had become so tense that they exchanged their children at police headquarters.

Denson says he didn't like the way Hans looked at Nina and told her so. "I was standing right here, she was on the other side of the counter there and that’s when I told her. I said 'Hey, you need to get yourself a gun. You need protection from this guy.' I saw you know a real menace in his eyes a real hostility toward her. And I thought at that time he was a real, a genuine threat to her wellbeing, her safety."

That evidence is powerful, but Hora wants jurors to actually see Nina, and so he plays a key piece of videotape captured by a security store camera just two hours before she vanished. "I did think it was important for the jurors to see her alive or interacting with her children, buying groceries, acting like a mom in a grocery store with her kids. I mean it was very important," he says.

Hora's last witness was Nina’s mother Irina. "Nina's mother's testimony was valuable because the woman’s grief was so palpably authentic that it immediately and permanently disabused any notion that Nina was somehow hovering in the background and being hidden by the family," Gaskill says.

Behind the scenes, defense lawyer DuBois and his co-counsel Richard Tamor wrestle with how best to deal with the prosecutor's portrayal of their client as arrogant-a picture they actually find all too accurate. "He's difficult to like in fact he's downright unlikable. He's an unattractive personality," DuBois admits.

"Quite frankly, there's a lot of times when I just can’t stand him. I just don’t like him at all," Tamor adds. "I’m not even sure his own mother really likes him. I think she tolerates him."

[colonel_panik]

Hans Reiser led police to Nina's body on July 7, 2008.
See the wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Reiser#Recovery_of_Nina.27s_body_and_sentencing

pretty conclusive. Sean was apparently a "red sturgeon"

[babooph]

Sounds like she may be dead,he may have killed her ,but maybe not.......

[graigrsmith]

"What nailed it for me was the testimony of the son. He drew a picture of his father possibly carrying his dead mother down the stairs. That explains the mother''''s blood on the beam."

i don''t remember ever seeing any news about that. Well if that''s true he probably did do it.

[graigrsmith]

you know. i don''t know how they could actually convict him. they really had no evidence. other than the fact that he was weird and strange and did weird and strange things.

nothing conclusively points out a definitive answer on weather or not he killed her. if i was a juror i would have to put myself in his shoes and look for actual evidence. i could imagine how much it must suck to be imprisoned for something you didn''t do. that''s why there has to be definitive evidence, which i don''t believe they had any of that. just feelings and wishy washy weirdness is all they used to convict him.

[apprxam]

CBS, please don''t turn into ABC NEWS by feeding us commercials on blogs. 48Hours suck anyway.

[patriot12436]

Even if she was a ***, the worst woman in the world, she was a person and had a right to live. Do you think because she came from Russia she wasn''t human ?

[patriot12436]

nopatriot
Are you on drugs or just cannot speak english fluently. Your posts are only babble. I can''t see what point you are trying to make.

[Latrocinor]

But Hans ignored his father''s advice and married Nina in 1999 when she was five months pregnant.
.. .. ..
That say''s it all.

[roscoezzz]

Hans should never have taken the witness stand. He should''ve kept his mouth shut. I read the "statement" after the show, where the police will offer him a lesser charge if he leads them to the body. He''ll take it I''m sure.
What nailed it for me was the testimony of the son. He drew a picture of his father possibly carrying his dead mother down the stairs. That explains the mother''s blood on the beam. Plus, that phone call to his mother was pretty cold and he talked about his ex-wife in a past tense sort-of-way.
It''s too bad. This woman surrounded herself with weird men. Her lover, who claimed he had killed 8 women, I think that was a made up story to throw suspicion away from Hans.

[nanging3]

We can make a difference, lets%u2019 tell the ArchBishop that muzzling %u201CFather%u201D
Pfleger for the 100th time, just won%u2019t cut it. We want him removed, he is a
disgrace to the Catholic church and everything Holy%u2026
Petition site%u2026please pass it on%u2026

www.thepetitionsite.com/1/removable-of
-father-michael-pfleger

[nopatriot]

He really apologized to me again and again.So I did not suit him but I wonder why I had to have court process with my own money to take back my right title "No arrested record". I believe it is not happened in japan, Japanese police apology and will change my status if they did wrong to me, but Oakland police did not charge me but no apology. I want to make a big deal this more than suit police station to get small amount of money. I did not get any money from any law suit yet, because I am not doing this for money but for right human rights.
So I am discussing this issue in japan also inter nationally. I know what''s to happen to me.
I was sleeping in our bed , suddenly my partner started to be temper called 911. Could police arrest me at that time? Thank you for America, you are so kind. And some japanese people talk about these selfish Americans sometime do this way. They don''t care they tell lies or call 911 to proceed their own way. They don''t care if they hit a car and claim victimized to sue real victims etc...
Even Japanese embassy note attention about those crazy Americans involve innocent Japanese in trouble in USA.

[nanging3]

speaking of betrayal...Betrayal to Catholics

www.thepetitionsite.com/1/removable-of-father-michael-pfleger


Please sign the petition to get "Father" Pfleger removed permanently. He is a disgrace to the Catholic church.

[nopatriot]

I had a finger mark he has grabbing my both arms he was pretty excite by himself. But even police did not see any thing to me. Only doctor in Jail listened to me. I believe it was abuse. However he apologized to me and he proceeded to destroy my arrested record but Oakland police rejected. I have never had such a crazy incident in my life. I am a Japanese protected by Japanese police for 38 years, suddenly abused by Oakland police officers who are racists do not ask me anything what'' s happened.
I don''t really believe USA police system, I did not do anything wrong, the crazy boyfriend did not want to stay with me and temporary wanted to take me away from his house. Anyway I hired a lawyer to take back my right status"destroy arrested record"
But I really get upset about this USA system.
IF the charge happened to me at that time, some racists might attack me as a criminal woman who attacked him.I was a successful in Japan, I was better live in japan more than proceed to get marry with temper horrible guy.

[nopatriot]

Only Hans knows what''s happened to him.
But I really felt strange if he had motivation to kill wife more than his successful business life.
By the way, Oakland Police does wrong way sometime.
When I was victimized in small argument, my boyfriend called 911 and told lies to police. Then police came to our house and took me away. It was horrible.Because I had no idea when my boyfriend started to get up set.Police did not listen to me at all. And they asked me "You hit him, scratched him."
Was torture to me. I did not charged (Of corse I did not touch him and I was afraid of him.) But amazingly He had scratch mark. I guess he got a mark from branch of trees or the corner of tray.
I know what'' really happened to me. I asked him "When will you get marry me?" He started to go out of the room and called police and told lies. I stayed at two nights in Oakland jail from his lies.
He insisted on even if he did not lie to police, police could take me away from his house. Yes, he was so mean to me. I had option to go back my own house but he did not let me go.

[carolcape]

This kind of crime happens quite regularly in severe custody disputes. She should never have gone to his home by herself, she was putting her children in harms way also. He definitely did kill her, the money issues and losing his children and the infidelity with his friend, who she left and then picked up with another man, doesn''t give much weight to her integrity. But from all accounts she was a good mother. The father in this case should have gotten custody of his children, with help from family members. He had as much right to them as she did. She should not have gone to his home by herself, she should have taken a lawyer. I''d say they had a severe argument and it got out of hand. The evidence against him was the blood in the home and also the car seat which was not in his car, very suspicious. Yes, the jury was right in convicting him, but I don''t know if they would have if they had the evidence of the boyfriend that killed 8 people, if he is telling the truth. She sure didn''t screen her men too good. Well, there is no justice for the children, because they now are motherless and fatherless, nobody really wins. The law won to get him behind bars, that is a good ending. Hope the children are well and happy.

[carolcape]

Why some of these women still put themselves in harms way when going through a custody dispute. She knew his temper and how volotile he could be, why put herself in his company alone? This is not the first woman who has done this and she is also putting her children in harms way, which has been evident recently by a family being wiped out by the father, because of custody matters. She should have never been in his company alone and should have taken another person with her, even her lawyer. This is a crime that happens over and over again, which doesn''t need to. I don''t think it was premeditated, I believe he went in a rage and killed her. If his carseat hadn''t been missing, possibly he would have gotten away with it. He did not have time to clean up the crime and that is what got him caught. He could have very well have gotten away with it if he hadn''t made so many foul ups, which was an excellent thing to happen for the law. Blessings to the two innocent children, who now have no mother and no father. Nobody wins. The law won here which is excellent. If the jury had known about this other boyfriend that had killed 8 people, I wonder would they have convicted him, I don''t think so.

[gopsoccermom]

Like many women, she just married him for his money and didnt care. Its sad how some women have evolved.

[killtheliars]

she is a Russian and gold digger. who cares what happened to her. She should have never been here in the first place.

[patriot12436]

If the wife was connected to the KGB they could give her a fake identity with a passport. It left out a lot of details as o why Hans was working in Russia, conviction without a body is very rare, a friend that admitted to killing other people and was her lover, another boyfriend, I wonder with so many holes to fill how did the jury convit. They are supposed to listen to the evidence and convict on facts. If i had been on the jury for O.J. Simpson i would have had to vote not guilty and i think he did it, but the prosecutor tuned out to be his best defense. Also why was the grandmother allowed to remove two American citizens to the Soviet Union. Sounds like maybe the sate department had some involvement here.

Hey! Didn''t you watch til the end? Hans is said to be willing to take authorities to where Nena''s body was buried in exchange for a lesser sentence...no body/no murder..ha! You peeps are dopes. Listen to his phone conversation with his mother...speaking of his "missing" wife in the PAST TENSE...wow...ignorance surely must be bliss.