Attorney Alan Jackson will no longer represent the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner and wife Michele Singer Reiner as he faces murder charges in the killings of his parents.
The development came Wednesday morning when Nick Reiner was scheduled to be arraigned in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. He will now be represented by a public defender after Jackson, who has represented clients in other high-profile cases, and his firm withdrew from the case.
Reiner was assigned a public defender.
Jackson spoke to reporters outside the courthouse after arraignment was delayed to Feb. 23.
“You can take this to the bank,” Jackson said. “Pursuant to the laws in this state, pursuant to the law in California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder. Print that.”
Public defender Ricardo D. Garcia issued a statement after the court proceeding.
“The Public Defender’s Office recognizes what an unimaginable tragedy this is for the Reiner family and the Los Angeles community,” Garcia said. “Our hearts go out to the Reiner family as they navigate this difficult time. We ask for your patience and compassion as the case moves through the legal process, as these matters are complicated and require careful consideration.
Reiner was charged with first-degree murder in the killings of Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer Reiner, 68, whose bodies were found Dec. 14 inside their home in Los Angeles’ Brentwood community. Nick Reiner was later arrested in Exposition Park, south of downtown LA and about 15 miles southeast of Brentwood.
Jackson arrived in court early Wednesday morning and went into chambers with prosecutors and the judge. After exiting the chambers, it was announced that Jackson will step down.
Reiner also was in court. Dozens of media members gathered outside the downtown Los Angeles courthouse.
The charges include a special circumstances allegation of multiple murders and an additional allegation that Nick Reiner used a knife in the killings. Special circumstances elevate a murder charge to a more severe level. The charges carry the potential for a possible death sentence, if prosecutors pursue capital punishment.
That decision will be made later, Hochman said.
The Los Angeles County Office of Medical Examiner classified the couple’s deaths as homicides, with both dying from “multiple sharp force injuries.” The death certificates note they were killed “with knife, by another.”
A security hold has been placed on information in the murders of director Rob Reiner and wife Michele Singer Reiner, the county medical examiner’s office told NBC Los Angeles. The security hold, initiated by the Los Angeles Police Department, means no other information on records, including the medical examiner’s report, can be released or posted until further notice, the department said.
At his first court appearance Dec. 17 in downtown Los Angeles, Nick Reiner was ordered to remain in jail without bond. Jackson spoke to reporters outside court, saying there are complex issues associated with the case that need to be “carefully dealt with and examined.
Earlier this week, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Nick Reiner is no longer on suicide watch. The agency told NBC Los Angeles that Nick Reiner is still being monitored, but his anti-suicide smock has been removed.
In December, a sealed and confidential medical order was signed by the judge overseeing the initial stages of Nick Reiner’s murder prosecution that may have to do with his mental health condition and treatment, and could add more delays to the legal proceedings. Three sources with direct knowledge of the case declined to discuss the order’s contents, but confirmed to NBC Los Angeles that Nick Reiner was being treated for schizophrenia at the time of his parents’ murders.
The sources said Nick Reiner was diagnosed years ago with schizophrenia and was being treated with medication. They said Nick Reiner’s medication was changed or adjusted before the killings, but did not provide a more specific time frame.
Nick Reiner was the second of the couple’s three children.
The deaths of Rob Reiner, a celebrated director whose long list of successful films included “When Harry Met Sally…,” “A Few Good Men” and “This Is Spinal Tap,” and Michele Singer Reiner, a talent photographer and producer, stunned the Hollywood community and led to an outpouring of tributes from entertainment industry colleagues, political figures and more. The family’s challenges with Nick were well-documented, including battles with drug addiction.
In 2015, Rob and Nick Reiner worked on a coming-of-age film together called “Being Charlie.” Directed by Rob Reiner and co-written by Nick Reiner, the film explored the relationship between a son and father. In a 2016 interview with the Associated Press, they talked about the film.
“It forced us to understand ourselves better than we had,” Rob Reiner told the AP. “I told Nick while we were making it, I said, ‘You know it doesn’t matter, whatever happens to this thing, we won already. This has already been good.’ We’ve worked through a lot of stuff.”
In September, the family appeared together at the Los Angeles premiere of “Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues.’
Nick Reiner has spoken publicly over the years about his struggles with drug addiction, which began in his teens. He told People in an interview in 2016 that he cycled in and out of treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness and relapses in between.
“I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun,” Nick Reiner told People, adding that, “If I wanted to do it my way and not go to the programs they were suggesting, then I had to be homeless.”
In a statement released the day of their brother’s first court appearance, Nick Reiner’s older brother, Jake, and younger sister, Romy, said, “Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day. The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends.
“We are grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness and support we have received not only from family and friends, but people from all walks of life. We now ask for respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity, and for our parents to be remembered for the incredible lives they lived and the love they gave.”
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