OAKLAND, Calif. -- The defense of Hans Reiser against charges that he murdered his wife Nina got off to a rocky start Tuesday with the judge in the case threatening to throw Reiser out of the courtroom and admonishing his lawyer for asking improper questions.

When Reiser, a 44-year-old computer engineer, whispered to his attorney, William DuBois, as he has throughout his lengthy trial, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman said to DuBois, "Tell your client to be quiet before I have him removed" from the courtroom.

A short while later, when DuBois repeatedly asked an attorney who represented Reiser in divorce proceedings with his estranged wife if she had been "dishonest" during depositions, Goodman said DuBois' questions were "improper" because they were hearsay and were based on facts not in evidence in Reiser's murder trial.

The judge's rebuke came during DuBois' third round of questioning divorce lawyer Gregory Silva, who represented Reiser from late December 2005 until the time that Nina Reiser, who was 31 at the time, disappeared on Sept. 3, 2006.

Goodman said DuBois didn't have a sufficient basis for a third round of questioning of Silva, who also was cross-examined twice by prosecutor Paul Hora as the two lawyers traded rounds of questions.

"You have to do better than that to call him (Silva) back" to the witness stand, Goodman told DuBois.

The judge then told Silva, "Step down, you're excused" and ordered DuBois to call his next witness.

Nina Reiser was last seen alive on Sept. 3, 2006, when she dropped off the couple's two children at Hans Reiser's home at 6979 Exeter Drive in the Oakland hills.

Her body has never been found, despite extensive searches in the Oakland hills and elsewhere, but Hans Reiser was charged with murdering her because prosecutors believe that DNA and blood evidence proves that he killed her.

Hans and Nina married in 1999 but she filed for divorce in August of 2004 and eventually was given sole legal custody of their two children, although he had regular visitation privileges.

The couple was still going through bitter divorce proceedings at the time she disappeared.

Hans Reiser has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

DuBois has said that Nina Reiser may still be alive and be in hiding in Russia, where she was raised and was trained as a doctor.

In his testimony Tuesday, Silva said he suspected that Nina Reiser embezzled large sums of money from Namesys Inc., the computer firm that Hans Reiser founded and where she worked as a bookkeeper, and said she also admitted in a deposition in the divorce case that she had a lengthy affair with Sean Sturgeon, who was one of Hans' best friends and also worked for Namesys.

But under cross-examination by Hora, Silva admitted that he was unable to prove that Nina stole any money from Hans, even though he represented Hans for nine months.

Silva said there were "inconsistencies" in Nina's testimony about how she obtained and spent money compared to transactions listed in her financial accounts, but he also admitted that in divorce cases involving extensive documents and lengthy testimony inconsistencies are common.

Reiser's trial began on Nov. 6 and Hora called 57 witnesses before finally resting last Thursday.

Silva was DuBois' first witness. Late in the day he was followed on the stand by Coralie Weldon, a retired teacher who said she was a good friend both of Nina as well as Hans' mother, Beverly Palmer.

Weldon said that in a conversation at Nina's house in October of 2005 Nina whispered to her "in a secret hush-hush voice" that she wanted to go to Russia to work as a doctor so she could make more money and wanted to take the two children with her.

But Weldon said Nina told her that she wouldn't be able to take the children to Russia as long as Hans still had visitation rights.

Under cross-examination by Hora, Weldon admitted that she phoned DuBois to volunteer to testify on Hans Reiser's behalf because she thinks her information is "significant" and she doesn't think he killed Nina.

Weldon also admitted that she's visited Reiser in jail at least eight times, most recently 10 days ago.

"I've indicated to him (Hans Reiser) that I don't find it (the murder charge) comprehensible."

When Hora questioned Weldon about how close she was to Nina, Welson she doesn't know Nina's birthday, didn't participate in the search efforts to try to find her, never called Nina's mother to express sympathy and can't recall seeing Nina after their conversation in October of 2005.

Hans Reiser's father, Ramon Reiser, waited in the hallway outside court all day today and is expected to testify Wednesday morning when the trial resumes. Beverly Palmer, Hans' mother, is expected to testify later this week.

DuBois said he still hasn't decided if Hans Reiser will testify but said it's a possibility.