Nick Reiner was expected to return to court on Monday for arraignment on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of his parents Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner.
A judge postponed the legal proceedings last month after his attorney withdrew from the case, and was replaced by a public defender. Reiner’s former attorney, Alan Jackson, said at the time that he could not share why he was stepping down, but that his client was not guilty.
The 32-year-old Nick Reiner has been incarcerated since December, when he was accused of fatally stabbing his parents. The bodies of the acclaimed director and actor, 78, and Michele, 70, a photographer, were found in their Los Angeles home by their daughter on 14 December, and police took Reiner into custody that evening.
He was charged with first-degree murder, with a special circumstance of multiple murders, and a special allegation for the use of a dangerous weapon, and is being held without bail.
The killings of the beloved couple, who were also well known for their political activism, left the entertainment industry reeling. The case has drawn extensive media coverage, including of Reiner’s personal struggles and the days and weeks leading up to the incident.
Reiner had a long history of struggles with addiction and mental illness, and collaborated with his father on the film Being Charlie, which was reportedly loosely inspired by his own experiences. Before the killings, he had reportedly been prescribed medication used to treat schizophrenia, according to the Los Angeles Times.
His behavior was said to have become increasingly erratic before the killings, according to media reports. The night before the Reiners’ bodies were found, the couple attended a Christmas party at the comedian Conan O’Brien’s home where Rob and Nick Reiner were heard arguing.
O’Brien spoke about the killings in an interview with the New Yorker on Friday, describing the couple as “lovely people” andsaying he and his wife had grown close to Rob and Michele and saw them often.
“And to have that experience of saying goodnight to somebody and having them leave and then find out the next day that they’re gone … I think I was in shock for quite a while afterward. I mean, there’s no other word for it. It’s just very – it’s so awful. It’s just so awful,” O’Brien said.
“And I think about how Rob felt about things that are happening in the country, how involved he was, how much he put himself out there – and to have that voice go quiet in an instant is still hard for me to comprehend.”
Before stepping down, Nick Reiner’s former attorney, Jackson, had urged the public not to rush to judgment in the case. Circumstances beyond his control had made it “impossible to continue our representation of Nick”, Jackson said last month.
He told reporters: “What we’ve learned, and you can take this to the bank, is that pursuant to the laws of this state, pursuant to the law of California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder. Print that.”
