Hans Reiser's confession
At Wired's Threat Level, Kevin Poulsen posts the transcript of linux developer Hans Reiser's confession.
in the most unsophisticated chokehold that any judo instructor would completely despise you for ever using, I choked her. ... And this is the kind of choke that people who have no martial skills at all would employ and uhm, and yet it uh, uh, was completely painless for her. It's the least painful way to die.
Reiser was sentenced to 15-to-life earlier today. With time already served, he'll be out after 13 at the earliest.
PDF transcript [via Threat Level]
the latest
latest episodes
Ok ok, but will he be able to continue work on ReiserFS or not?
He may be homicidal, but he's also rather brilliant at knowledge management.
painless? clearly this guy has never been choked in any way. Maybe his friends at his new home will shed new light on his misconception.
The apology at the end of the transcript is fascinating.
Actually, out of context, that quote about how crappy his choke hold was makes him look like a psychotic monster. Which of course he is, to some degree.
But in context, it seems much less, er, the product of a mind with utterly broken priorities. I agree completely with Xeni, the apology at the end in which he relates on his own that she was a wonderful person, whom he is sorry to have deprived of the world & vice versa, at least makes him seem a bit more human.
Of course, IMO the sentence was completely fair, and generally I tend to think sentences are insanely harsh. 15 years is just about right as the very minimum for someone who could kill someone who wasn't threatening his life and be more concerned about getting caught than racked with guilt.
How thoughtful of him.
Tony, I have been choked and I know how to apply a choke... He's talking about cutting off the blood flow to the brain, a quick and painless transition into unconsciousness, not about strangling/suffocating someone. It's one of the consistently least painful ways to start the process of killing someone with your hands.
His inner Judo instructor told him he was doing it wrong, but not that he was doing wrong?
15 years is lenient.
"Of course, IMO the sentence was completely fair, and generally I tend to think sentences are insanely harsh. 15 years is just about right as the very minimum for someone who could kill someone who wasn't threatening his life and be more concerned about getting caught than racked with guilt."
Are you serious? Really? You think 15 years is "just about right" to exchange for a person's life? Even-stevens if you feel guilty huh? His kids will never have their mom again, sure, but these sentences sure seem "harsh."
In MY opinion chocking the mother of your children to death is pretty freaking "harsh," and I hope the bastard never breathes free air again.
Creepazoid...watch this one.
Painless, except for the I'm Dying feeling.
Wow. 15 years? I don't often get to think about how lucky I am to live in a state that removes people from society after they choke the mother of their children to death.
I said 15 years is just about right as the bare minimum.
And IMO the purpose of the judicial system should not be punishment. The purpose is improve lives by dissuading people from doing wrong to one another, both people who have yet to do it and people who have done it and might again. Fifteen years certainly should be enough to dissuade people from killing in the first place, and long enough to teach you never ever to do it again.