The preliminary hearing opened on December 11, 2006 with Reiser being represented by attorney William Du Bois.
At the hearing a forensic technician testified that blood matching Nina Reiser's DNA was found on a bag in Hans Reiser's car, and on a pillar in Palmer's house, where he had been living since the separation. Police also testified that they found a 40-piece socket set which may have been used to remove the passenger seat, a receipt for the purchase of the socket set from
Kragen Auto Parts, four seat bolts and a wrench with a socket in it, suggesting that the seat may have been removed recently.
During the third day of the preliminary hearing, on
December 16, 2006, Officer Gino Guerrero stated that Reiser had engaged in a lengthy cat-and-mouse game with surveillance officers who were trailing him on the evening of
September 18, 2006.
When Reiser left family court at 600 Washington Street in Oakland in the afternoon of
September 18, he was trailed by police officers using both cars and an airplane. According to a probable cause statement, Reiser and a male friend “appeared to be conducting counter surveillance” to avoid police by driving at varying speeds, turning down small residential streets and making abrupt stops.
Reiser and his friend eventually dined at Fonda restaurant on Solano Avenue in Albany and afterwards the friend dropped Reiser at the corner of San Pablo and Ashby avenues in Berkeley.
Guerrero said Reiser walked around the area furtively, stopping occasionally to look in all directions, and eventually got into a 1988 Honda CRX that was parked on Acton Street near Carleton Street.
Guerrero said police then followed Reiser as he drove the car to 2425 Monterey Road in Oakland, less than three miles away from where Reiser was living with his mother.
Palmer testified on Tuesday that she had been out of town the weekend Nina Reiser disappeared and was surprised to learn that her son was driving her car, a 2003 Honda Hybrid, and that his Honda CRX wasn't at the house.
Palmer said that when she asked her son where the CRX was, he said it wasn't working and “he'd take care of it and I should never mind.”
On January 17, 2007, the Reisers' son, Rory Reiser, was scheduled to testify, but failed to appear. Judge Julie Conger asked that Rory return to court and clarify his conflicting testimony, but he never did because his maternal grandmother failed to bring the children back from Russia as promised.
She has since begun
Russian court custody proceedings and it is unlikely the boy will return for trial, if at all. Alameda County Juvenile officials allowed the Reiser children, Rory and Niorlene, to leave the United States without any available legal protections in place on December 22 which ensured that the
Russian court custody actions of the maternal grandmother to keep the American‐born children in Russia would succeed whether the children wish it or not. Prosecutor Greg Dolge stated that he spoke to the grandmother and Rory is under the care of a therapist in Russia and the therapist wants him to stay in Russia for further treatment. It was also revealed that Nina Reiser obtained Russian citizenship for her daughter 2 years before and surreptitiously obtained Russian citizenship for her son two months before she disappeared.
Initially Judge Julie Conger said that on Feb. 23 she would hold closing arguments and rule on whether there's enough evidence to order Hans Reiser to stand trial. On Feb. 22 the closing arguments were postponed until March 9 because Reiser's attorney was involved with another unrelated trial which was running longer than expected. On March 9, the judge ruled that Reiser would stand trial.
Reiser's arraignment was set for March 23.
On March 23 Reiser pleaded not-guilty before Judge C. Don Clay. The trial date was scheduled for June 11, but has moved again, this time until at least September.
On June 11, Reiser's trial was assigned to Alameda County Superior Court
Judge Larry Goodman, who has presided over a number of murder and death penalty cases, including the trial of
Alex DeMolle. Prosecutor Paul Hora said that it may be several weeks before testimony begins in Reiser's trial because a number of pretrial motions must be addressed.
On July 23, 2007, hearings on pretrial motions began. Potential jurors were brought to court on Aug. 29, Aug. 30 and Sept. 4 to fill out questionnaires, but prospective jurors weren't questioned until September 20, 2007.
Opening statements were expected to begin October 29, 2007; however, they had been postponed and were scheduled for November 5, 2007. The defense stated the delay is due to possible prejudicial information in an upcoming television segment about the case to be aired November 2nd. The prosecutor, on the other hand, said the delay was necessary as more time was needed for additional pretrial motions.
Hans Reiser's murder trial began November 6, 2007 with opening statements from prosecutor Paul Hora. After three days of the trial, prosecutor concluded his opening statements urging jurors to convict Hans Reiser for killing his wife. A daily summary of testimony and arguments in the trial may be found at
Wired's Threat Level. A more detailed summary can be found on
Henry K. Lee's
blog for the San Francisco Chronicle.
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