Hans Reiser’s arrogance, self-centered attitude and lingering hatred toward his wife were some of the reasons the jury convicted the 44-year-old computer programmer of first-degree murder, according to one of the jurors.

Vince Dunn, a schoolteacher, said Reiser’s testimony in his own defense and his constant bashing of his estranged wife turned him and other jurors off.

“He just constantly attacked her,” Dunn said. “He hated her.”

Reiser was convicted Monday of first-degree murder in the killing his wife, Nina, who was last seen alive Sept. 3, 2006. He faces 25 years to life in prison.

The couple had been undergoing a bitter divorce at the time of her disappearance. Despite exhaustive searches of the Oakland hills and other areas, Nina’s body has never been found. Nor had any evidence emerged that she fled to her native Russia, as the defense had suggested.

At an arraignment hearing Tuesday, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman set July 9 as the date for Reiser’s sentencing.

Reiser attended the hearing wearing a red jail jumpsuit – a stark contrast from the shirt and jacket he wore during his five-month trial.

According to Dunn, one reason Reiser found himself wearing that jumpsuit was because of a recording of a wiretapped phone call from Sept. 23, 2006 that the prosecution played in court. In that call – between Reiser and his mother, nearly three weeks after Nina went missing – Reiser’s mother says Nina did not deserve whatever happened to her.

“Yeah, well neither did I, neither did Rory,” Reiser said, mentioning the couple’s oldest child. Prosecutor Paul Hora said the phone call was an admission to his mother that he had killed Nina.

“It was like he was trying to justify what he did,” Dunn said. “It really showed where his head was.”

Dunn admitted that the lack of a body or a murder weapon made the jurors’ decision more difficult. But in the end, he said, there was too much circumstantial evidence against Reiser. In addition, the strange coincidence that the cell phone battery had been detached from Nina’s cell phone after she went missing and the fact Reiser had detached the battery from his own cell phone was “a big piece of the puzzle for me,” the juror said.

When the jurors left the courthouse for the weekend Thursday – after slightly more than two days of deliberation – they were mainly trying to decide between first- and second-degree murder convictions, Dunn said. The jury ultimately voted for first-degree murder because Reiser’s weird behavior after Nina disappeared – as described in court – seemed to be that of someone who had planned and carried out a murder, Dunn said.

Finally, Dunn called Prosecutor Paul Hora a “hero” for all the work he put into the case.

“You could see he really worked hard on this case,” Dunn said.

Steven Clark, a former prosecutor in Santa Clara County and now a criminal defense attorney based in San Jose, agreed. He said that without a body, Hora was working with one hand tied behind his back, but in the end got a conviction.

“The prosecutor was absolutely masterful,” Clark said. “He was tough and aggressive. He pulled the case together. And he was able to get under the defendant’s skin when the defendant took the stand for 11 days.”

Michael Cardoza, a former prosecutor in both San Francisco and Alameda counties and now a criminal defense attorney, also agreed Hora presented his case well despite working with largely circumstantial evidence.

“I would trade no body for more evidence,” Cardoza said.

Furthermore, Reiser’s 11 days on the witness stand didn’t help his cause, Cardoza said, because it seemed as if the jurors did not like him or believe his testimony.

“I think Hans Reiser may have dug Nina Reiser’s grave, but he definitely did a better job of digging his own grave,” Cardoza said.

Both Clark and Cardoza also commented on speculation swirling about the possibility of Reiser receiving a lighter sentence if he gives up the location of Nina’s body. Both said that would be extremely unusual, and that there seemed to be little incentive in it for the prosecution to agree to such a deal.

Outside the courtroom Tuesday, Reiser’s defense attorney, William DuBois, wouldn’t discuss the possibility of a deal. He said only that Reiser was coming to terms with being convicted and that, in a conversation with the now-convicted murderer Monday night, Reiser was contrite and apologized to DuBois for not following the attorney’s advice on some issues.

DuBois also was cryptic when answering questions about future proceedings in Reiser’s case, saying, “There may be significant developments.”