[conspire] (forw) Re: [Evals] Hans Reiser found guilty

[Rick Moen]

----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----

Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:24:07 -0700
From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
To: evals at lists.merlins.org
Subject: Re: [Evals] Hans Reiser found guilty

Quoting RLCallaway at aol.com (RLCallaway at aol.com):

> I think had he just kept his mouth shut he probably would have walked
> but the real irony is I believe him.  Having worked with a lot of
> engineers and programmers for my entire career, his responses seem
> logical to me but most engineers and programmers don't seem logical or
> normal to everyday people like those in the jury. (I hope I haven't
> offended anyone here). 

No, I think you nailed it -- although I personal continue to think it
more likely than not[1] that Nina is dead, was murdered, was killed by
Hans, on a-priori grounds:  Statistically, when an estranged wife
disappears during an acrmonious divorce and child-custody case, it does
turns out to be a spousal murder.  Which is why Oakland PD fingered him
originally.

At bare minimum, though, even people who know engineers would say 
"Eh?  What a freak!" when they hear (paraphrased) "I poured an inch of
standing water onto my subcompact's carpet because I assumed all cars
have drainage holes in their floorboards".  That's at least one big
"WTF?", right there.

BTW, I'd been attempting to be careful about bias in my summaries
(having met Hans socially once or twice), but Patrick Devine's comment
earlier, that he thought Hans was losing whenever he read the _Wired_
blog, but got the dramatically different impression that prosecution
didn't have a case at all when reading my reports, is certainly a good
point.  I tried to not shade my reports, but might have failed.  _Or_
just maybe it was simultaneously true that Hans was losing badly _and_
that prosecution simply didn't (objectively) succeed in proving its
case.  

And I really do still think that.  I think they did not have nearly
enough for any jury to reasonably convict, and that this jury erred.


[1] ...which of course is well short of "beyond a reasonable doubt".


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