Don’t believe everything you read

The media distorts a lot of evidence, making everybody think they are an expert on the Reiser trial. I went to the trials, I spoke to people who knew the involved parties, I read the court transcripts. Read up on the history of the Oakland PD, you’ll be a lot less inclined to trust them to conduct a proper investigation. Just look at how badly they bungled the Black Muslim Bakery case going on right now. Plus Nina was obviously a shady Russian. Don’t ever underestimate desperate shady Russians.

Miscarriage of Justice

In a tragic blow against innocent people everywhere the jury handed Hans a guilty sentence of first-degree murder. What a travesty.

Sure Hans looked guilty, but the prosecution failed to argue a solid case proving Nina is dead and Hans killed her. The OPD worked on proving Hans innocent, to the exclusion of pursuing alternate leads and suspects. Why did the judge (who is known among local legal professionals as being notoriously pro-prosecution and was obviously biased against Reiser from the start) not allow Sean Sturgeon’s confession to killing eight people, or his admission that Nina broke up with him because he was too into S&M to be mentioned in court? Why the fuck was Hora allowed to display a portrait of Nina smiling holding her baby in the witness box when he gave his closing arguments?

It seemed like the burden of proof shifted to the defense, rather than the prosecution as it should be in a trial free of bias. Sure, anyone would agree the defense’s argument wasn’t airtight or terribly convincing, but that doesn’t convict Hans. He is not guilty until proven innocent. Lack of a good defense (clearly Hans was handicapped by an ineffective lawyer, and he obviously shouldn’tve taken the stand at all) does not prove the prosecution’s case, and I for one was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt Hans was guilty of murder.

Since we have no idea HOW Hans supposedly killed Nina, wouldn’t it be sensible we should choose the less offensive degree? Perhaps Reiser pushed Nina down the stairs in the heat of passion and oops she died gotta clean it up. That’s manslaughter, how in the hell did the jury come up with first-degree murder? How do they KNOW it was not manslaughter?

It’s a sad day indeed, especially when you consider the testimony you don’t read about in the blogs or see in the media. Talking to actual people involved in the case, digging deeper, actually talking to human beings who knew Nina and Hans presents a much muddier picture than Hora advanced in his case. Nina is known to have told her friends she couldn’t move to Russia with the kids as long as Hans can visit him. Why was Nina working as a translator for a mail-order bride service when she was supposedly a wonderful doctor in Russia? What about Sean Sturgeon? There are too many variables to know for sure what happened.

This has been a sad case, and shaken our faith in the criminal justice system. I’m sure much of this and the obvious bias of Judge Goodman will be exposed in the appeals.