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REISERS_GUILT

                                             February 19, 2017

                                                    
  Hans Reiser, after doing a superb job of creating      
  file-systems (and an impressive job of annoying         FILE_SYSTEMS_REISING
  linux kernel developers), murdered his ex-wife.        
                                                         
  We now know that this is definitely the case, but     
  there was a long period where this was just a
  suspicion, and there was an ongoing debate
  about whether it was well-founded.

  It was the open source world's OJ Simpson
  trial, with people determined to take sides,
  often for reasons that seemed unrelated to
  the evidence of the case.

  Myself, I was annoyed at the treatment Hans
  Reiser was getting-- there was a lot of
  presumption of guilt that in my opinion was just      I remember resenting
  based on the general feeling that Reiser was a        feeling the need to
  weird guy.  The treatment the case recieved from      get into this... none
  police and prosecution was eye-opening in a           of us were on the jury,
  number of respects.  Very few people were willing     but the man was on
  to speak up in defense of Reiser, or even in          trial in a "court of
  defense of his right to fair treatment-- Rick         public opinion", and
  Moen is one of the few who come to mind.              I was developing fears
                                                        that the jury was not
                                                        as isolated from public
  After it was definitely confirmed that he had         opinion as we've been
  killed her and tried to cover it up, a friend         led to believe...
  of mine addressed a gathering asking "So, did
  you think he was guilty?"                                 LETS_PLAY_JURY

  I didn't say anything, and didn't know what I
  should say... thankfully I don't think I ever
  expressed an opinion either way, the kinds of
  things I had been saying was "I have no idea if
  he's guilty, but I'm convinced that if he's
  convicted it's going to be for being too weird
  for the jury, not because he's guilty of murder."

  But my memory was that there were various points where I
  learned (or thought I learned) some detail that made
  me go "Oh no... maybe he really did do it."

  But I was also leery of the quality of the information we
  were getting, and the channels through which it was being
  transmitted... e.g. someone commenting on a newspaper story
  would mention in passing that neighbors had seen him hosing
  down the drive-way in the middle of the night.  That gave
  me a sinking feeling... in confluence with some other odd
  things Reiser had done, it sounded pretty bad.  But then,
  why hadn't I heard it from anywhere else?  Where did the
  guy saying it hear it from?


        Looking over the things that I said
        online during that period is a mildly
        painful experience, and I think I can
        see why I get bogged down in this
        subject when I try to write about it.
        There are a few places where I get very
        close to saying I think he was innocent         But then, I no longer
        (e.g. I declared the prosecution's              have a clear memory of
        evidence seemed "thin" or "weak")--             what I knew about the
                                                        prosecution's evidence
                                                        when I said that.


        The morass:                               What did we know, and
                                                  when did we know it?
           Have I edited some embarassing
           remarks out of my memory?

           But what had I heard about the
           evidence at that stage?                OUTLINE_OF_EVIDENCE

           Could it be that some of the
           things I think I know now aren't
           really quite true?

           Do I want to take the effort to
           research this again, at this
           late date?




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