Witness: Reiser was rarely emotional, often arrogant

A witness in the murder trial of Hans Reiser testified that the California-based computer engineer rarely showed emotion in his life, and never seemed distressed, even at the most stressful moments of his life.

Earlier in the trail testimony was offered that Mr. Reiser had Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism. This has been offered to explain his behavior that is seen as eccentric and disconnected.

Reiser is on trial for the murder of his wife, Nina. Nina's body has never been found and there is little forensic evidence linking him to the crime. The defense contends she disappeared, escaping a bad marriage, and leaving behind two children.

The defense called Cimarron Taylor, a friend of Reiser’s for over 20 years, to testify that he was just not the kind of person whose temperate would lead him to kill his wife or anyone else.

Taylor testified the only time he had seen Reiser upset was in 1987. A fellow student at Cal Berkeley once wrote a program that sent 5,000 junk emails to Reiser, causing his computer to shut down.

Reiser confronted the man but, Taylor assured, there was no anger or violence.

I’m shocked by this. Not by the fact that Reiser didn’t deck the guy; I just didn’t know that anyone was sending anybody emails in 1987. I certainly wasn’t.

Stay tuned.