Nick Reiner pleaded not guilty in Los Angeles on Monday in the killing of his parents, Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner.
Nick Reiner, 32, was charged with two counts of murder in the first degree in the fatal stabbings at the couple’s home in LA’s Brentwood neighborhood in December. His public defender, Kimberly Greene, entered the not guilty plea on her client’s behalf.
Reiner sat in court behind his attorney in a glass-enclosed custody area. His head was shaved and he wore brown jail clothes.
Reiner spoke briefly during the arraignment, saying “yes” when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Theresa McGonigle asked him to acknowledge waiving a speedy preliminary hearing in his case, as requested by his attorney. During a preliminary hearing, prosecutors present the main evidence supporting the charges and a judge decides if it’s enough for the case to move forward.
McGonigle scheduled Reiner’s next hearing for April 29 and ordered that he continue to be held without bail.
If convicted, Reiner could face the death penalty or a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said after Monday’s hearing that prosecutors were going through a process to determine whether to seek the death penalty.
“We take the process in which we determine whether or not the death penalty should be sought extremely seriously, and it goes through a very rigorous process,” Hochman said outside the courthouse. “We will be looking at all aggravating and mitigating circumstances.”
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Hochman said Reiner’s attorney has been invited to present arguments for prosecutors to consider.
The case was proceeding on track, Hochman said. He said most of the evidence has been provided to Reiner’s attorney and that prosecutors were waiting for the coroner’s report.
Reiner is being represented by Greene after his defense attorney, Alan Jackson, unexpectedly withdrew from the case at what was supposed to be Reiner’s arraignment in January. Last year, Jackson successfully defended Karen Read against murder and manslaughter charges in the high-profile Massachusetts case over the death of her boyfriend, a Boston police officer.
In the Reiner case, Jackson told reporters outside the courthouse he had to step aside due to “circumstances beyond our control, but more importantly, circumstances beyond Nick’s control.”
Jackson didn’t elaborate on the reason, saying he was legally and ethically prohibited from doing so, but he said that Reiner wasn’t guilty of murder “pursuant to the law in California.” Hochman expressed confidence that a jury would convict Reiner.
Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 70, died from “multiple sharp force injuries,” according to the LA County Medical Examiner.
Nick Reiner, the third of Rob Reiner’s four children, was arrested in the wake of his parents’ deaths, which sent shockwaves through Hollywood. Rob Reiner starred in the 1970s TV series “All in the Family” and went on to direct such hit movies as “This Is Spinal Tap,” “The Princess Bride” and “When Harry Met Sally.”