Nick Reiner pleads not guilty in stabbing deaths of his parents
Nick Reiner, his head shaved and wearing brown clothes, pleaded not guilty Monday to two first-degree murder charges in the December stabbing deaths of his parents, 78-year-old filmmaker Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, 70.
Reiner’s arraignment had been delayed for several months after his high-profile attorney, Alan Jackson, abruptly withdrew from the case. A public defender, Kimberly Greene, was assigned to take it over.
Reiner, 32, made no public remarks during the brief hearing, responding with a simple “yes” to Judge Theresa R. McGonigle’s question about whether he was pleading not guilty as his attorney had indicated. Greene did not offer any comments outside court.
Reiner has spoken on a podcast about his struggles with drug addiction and his trips to Los Angeles’s Skid Row to procure heroin. Over the course of a decade, he spent time at at least 18 rehab facilities paid for by his parents, and he lived in a guesthouse on their $13.5 million property in Brentwood. The Los Angeles Times reported in late December that Reiner was prescribed schizophrenia medicine before the deaths of his parents. Rob and Nick Reiner explored the impact of Nick’s addictions on their family dynamic in a 2015 film, “Being Charlie,” that Nick Reiner co-wrote and his father directed.
On Dec. 14, Reiner was arrested near the University of Southern California campus several hours after police found his parents’ bodies. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder and is being held in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility without bail.
Jackson, Reiner’s previous attorney, hinted to reporters after a court hearing in January that the legal team might pursue an insanity-defense strategy. He said his team had investigated the case “top to bottom” and believed that, pursuant to the law in California, his client is not guilty of murder.” Greene gave no indication about her strategy at the Monday hearing.
Under California law, an insanity defense would require Reiner’s legal team to prove by a preponderance of evidence that he was incapable of understanding the nature of the act and distinguishing right from wrong at the time of the crime.
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters after the hearing that the case was proceeding expeditiously and that his office had provided the bulk of discovery to the defense counsel and were still awaiting the coroner’s report.
He emphasized again that Nick Reiner could face the death penalty and said his office takes the process of determining whether to seek the death penalty “extremely seriously.”
“It goes through a very rigorous process,” Hochman said. “We will be looking at all aggravating and mitigating circumstances, and we have invited defense counsel to present to us—both in writing and orally, in a meeting—any arguments that they would like to make.”
Reiner’s siblings Jake, 34, and Romy, 28, have not attended recent court hearings. After the hearing in January, a family spokesperson said the siblings “have the utmost trust in the legal process” and would not be commenting further “on matters related to the legal proceedings.”
The next court date—a conference to set the preliminary hearing—is April 29. The judge asked Nick Reiner whether he was aware of his right to a speedy trial and was agreeing to waive that right to proceed with scheduling the April 29 date. He replied, “Yes.”
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