In his nine full days of testimony in his trial on charges that he murdered Nina, 44-year-old Reiser hasn't shed any tears about the disappearance of Nina, whom he has accused of being a liar, an embezzler and a manipulator.

But he became emotional when he discussed his reaction to having his son Rory and daughter Nio taken from him by Alameda County Child Protective Services on Sept. 8, 2006.

"They (his children) were really important to me and they (child protective services) just took them," Reiser said.

Weeping, Reiser said, "It was terrible."

Reiser said having his children taken away made him feel "paranoid" and affected his behavior.

Reiser also complained that he thinks that people have been picking on him his entire life.

"When I was in grade school kids would pick on me and chase me," he said.

Reiser added, "One third of the population can be downright vicious to me."

Nina Reiser, who was 31 at the time, was last seen alive when she dropped off the couple's children on Sept. 3, 2006, at the house in the Oakland hills where Hans Reiser lived with his mother.

Nina and Hans met in Russia, where she was born and trained as a physician, and where he often spent time doing business for his file system company.

They married in 1999, but she filed for divorce and separated from him in 2004. Nina was awarded legal custody of their children, but Hans had visitation rights. Their divorce case was still pending when she disappeared.

Even though Nina's body has never been found, in October of 2006 Hans Reiser was charged with murdering her because prosecutors believe that DNA and blood evidence proves that he killed her.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Hans Reiser's attorney, William DuBois, has said that Nina may still be alive and be in hiding somewhere, possibly in Russia.

Although Reiser has repeatedly said that having custody of his children was one of the most important things in his life, he admitted under cross-examination by prosecutor Paul Hora on Tuesday that he wasn't even in the Bay Area for an important custody hearing on Sept. 27, 2006, even though a judge had ordered him to be present.

"You chose to take a three-day vacation in Reno" instead of attend the custody hearing, Hora said to Reiser.

Reiser said on Tuesday that he went to Reno because, "I didn't like being followed by the police, I didn't feel safe, I was worried and I had a pleasant memory of Reno."

Reiser said he believed "police were making an effort to intimidate me."

Earlier Wednesday, two hard drives that Reiser removed from one of his computers shortly after Nina disappeared were produced in court today by his DuBois.

DuBois pulled the hard drives from a large envelope and gave them to Reiser to see if they fit into a computer that previously had been entered into evidence in his trial.

Reiser at first struggled to fit the hard drives into the computer but eventually managed to get them inside.

He smiled and said, "Sorry, it's been a while."

Reiser said they appeared to be the hard drives that he previously testified that he gave to DuBois shortly after Nina disappeared, probably on Sept. 7, 2006.

When he was cross-examined by Hora on March 20, Reiser said he removed the hard drives from his computer because he didn't want Oakland police to have access to them.

But he said that since he had revealed in court that DuBois had possession of the hard drives, he expected they would be turned over to Hora soon.

However, Hora on March 20 asked in a thundering voice, "What good are they now?"

Reiser doesn't appear to be in a hurry to get off the witness stand, even though he's testified for nine days.

He continued to give long and rambling responses to questions Wednesday, even though Alameda County Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman has told him to give simple and direct answers.

DuBois, Reiser's own lawyer, expressed frustration with Reiser many times today, asking him at one point, "Could you answer the question in a traditional way?" and at another point telling him, "This is quiet time now" after Reiser kept interrupting him.

DuBois withdrew several questions after Reiser started to give long answers and asked Goodman to strike from the record one of Reiser's answers because it was "non-responsive" to the question he'd been asked. The judge smiled and granted DuBois's request.

At the end of the day, DuBois said, "I need a break" and Goodman adjourned the trial until Thursday morning, when Reiser is expected to testify for a tenth day.

Goodman told jurors that testimony in the lengthy case, which began on Nov. 6, might end Thursday or Monday.

But in an informal discussion with Hora outside the presence of jurors, DuBois indicated that he doesn't expect testimony to end until the end of the day Monday at the earliest.