When former Varian engineer Wayne Cox reached out his driver-side window to push the dying Oralia Puga Ramirez, 75, and Enedina Oliva, 70 off the hood of his car, a 1994 Infiniti, did he have to roll down his window first or was it already open? I wonder, because that's a detail that matters — a detail that delineates between confused and calculated cruelty. You're driving along, you hit someone by accident, your window's already open, you reach out to see if the person is OK, they aren't, so you freak out and drive away — that's callous and wrong, but not calculated. Hit someone you didn't see, see they're dying, press the button to send your power window down, wait the three or four seconds for the window to sink all the way, then reach out and push two dying people from the car's hood? That's callous, wrong and calculated — criminal in a way you'd only expect from an engineer. Or least from an engineer like the nine bad guys we list below:

Five days before convicted murderer and former high-tech hero Hans Reiser led police to his wife's body, local writer Stephen Elliott interviewed him for Salon. Reiser defended his innocence and slammed prosecutors and witnesses. Also, he talked about S&M. What many of us still want to know: How does a convicted criminal plea-bargain after he's been sentenced — someone please explain the legal mechanics of that? Some choice quotes from the piece:

Hans Reiser, the wealthy Linux developer who has been described as "brilliant," led authorities to a location in the Oakland Hills where he said they would find the body of his ex-wife, Nina Reiser. The remains found have yet to be identified, but this confirms rumors that Reiser was looking to cut a deal, unearthing the body in exchange for a more lenient sentence of only fifteen years for the murder of the mother of their son. Reiser is due to be sentenced on Wednesday, which would make him sixty upon his release if he serves a fifteen-year term. Meanwhile, Reiser's counsel during the trial are bickering with Reiser's divorce attorney, with both camps claiming to represent the convict. While his trial lawyers are trying to argue that the software developer was and is mentally incompetent, his former counsel is asserting exactly the opposite. (Photo by AP)

After two and a half days of deliberation, an Oakland jury has voted to convict Linux developer Hans Reiser of murder in the first degree in a case involving the disappearance of his ex-wife Nina Reiser, pictured here. The conviction came in the absence of a corpse — with Reiser arguing that his ex-wife had stolen a large sum of money and disappeared back to Russia. Judge Larry Goodman is now responsible for handing down a sentence. Video of Reiser's reaction to the jury's verdict after the jump.

Linux kernel contributor Hans Reiser is accused of murdering his ex-wife Nina Reiser (née Sharanova), the mother of their two children. Today in Oakland, prosecutor Paul Hora finally got a chance to cross-examine the defendant. Reiser's statements this afternoon were "evasive and confrontational" according to Wired's David Kravets. A sampling:

Software developer Hans Reiser, standing trial for the murder of his ex-wife Nina Reiser, yesterday told jurors he suspects she and her boyfriend stole $150,000 from Reiser's company. Reiser's defense lawyers say Nina had a sadomasochistic affair with Reiser's friend, self-described serial killer Sean Sturgeon, and has now fled to Russia. Judge Larry Goodman thinks all that's irrelevant and has struck much of it from the record. Defense attorney William Du Bois told reporters it's unfair:

When police began investigating software developer Hans Reiser, now standing trial for the murder of his ex-wife Nina Reiser, Reiser had a habit of bolting at the sight of television cameras. Today, Reiser finally told his side of the story, taking the witness stand to defend himself in court. Reiser told jurors he last saw his wife on September 3, 2006, when she dropped their children off at his place for the weekend. He said she came in and together, they made lunch for the children. They talked about their divorce. Then she left. She disappeared shortly thereafter and her body has never been found. (Previous coverage.)

Hans Reiser, the open-source developer accused of murdering his estranged wife, is facing mounting circumstantial evidence that Nina Reiser, his Russian mail-order bride, did not flee to Russia as he contends. As the prosecution's testimony draws to a close, a series of witnesses have painted a portrait of a mother who would not leave her two children abruptly and a man who was acting suspiciously following the Labor Day weekend when Nina disappeared.

There's nothing funny about a murder trial. Unless there is. Open-source developer Hans Reiser is being tried in Oakland for the murder of his wife Nina, a mail-order bride. Reiser, who frequently argues with his own defense attorneys in court, is accused of killing his estranged wife to end a contentious divorce and custody battle. The defense alleges Nina, who had an affair with Reiser's friend, Sean Sturgeon, has run away to her homeland of Russia. Sturgeon claims to be a serial killer. With us so far?