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The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has filed two first-degree murder charges against Nick Reiner, the son of legendary Hollywood director Rob Reiner and photographer and producer Michele Singer Reiner. According to authorities, Nick gruesomely murdered his parents in the family apartment on Sunday (December 14).
If convicted, the 32-year-old faces a life sentence without the possibility of parole or possibly the death penalty, according to prosecutor Nathan Hochman, who announced the charges at a press conference on Tuesday (December 16).
Death penalty in California and legal details of the charge
Hochman said Nick Reiner “also faces a special charge of personally using a dangerous and deadly weapon, namely a knife.” He said his office was still considering whether to seek the death penalty. Governor Gavin Newsom has currently imposed a moratorium on executions in the state.
Authorities declined to comment on whether Nick had a history of mental illness in addition to his admitted addiction problems. “If there is evidence of mental illness, it will be presented in court in as much detail as the defense desires,” Hochman said.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson confirmed to Rolling Stone on Tuesday that he is representing Nick and that his client had not yet been “medically cleared” to go to trial as of Tuesday. Jackson, a former Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, previously represented Harvey Weinstein in his criminal trial in California.
Police remain silent about the motive
Police responded to the Reiners’ home in Brentwood around 3:40 p.m. Sunday to investigate a death. The Reiners’ daughter, Romy, 28, discovered her murdered parents.
Police said Tuesday that the search for Nick led them to Exposition Park near the University of Southern California, where they easily apprehended Nick around 9:15 p.m. Sunday. They declined to answer questions about a possible motive. Nick remained jailed without bail pending his first court hearing, scheduled for Wednesday.
Rob Reiner, “Being Charlie” and Nick Reiner’s Addiction
Rob Reiner, director of numerous ’80s cult films such as This is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me and Harry & Sally, previously worked with Nick on the 2016 film Being Charlie. Nick co-wrote the screenplay, loosely based on his struggles with heroin addiction, and Reiner directed it.
Nick told People in 2016 that he was just 15 years old when he first checked into rehab for his drug addiction. He said more than a dozen more stints in rehab followed and he was homeless in Maine, New Jersey and Texas.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Reiner and his wife said they tried desperately to help their son, but made some mistakes along the way. “The program works for some people, but it can’t work for everyone,” Reiner said. “When Nick told us it wasn’t working for him, we didn’t listen to him. We were desperate, and because people had diplomas on the wall, we listened to them when we should have listened to our son.”
Michele added that the couple was “so influenced by these people. They told us he was a liar and was trying to manipulate us. And we believed them.”
Strengthened connection between father and son
“Being Charlie” tells the story of the troubled, drug-addicted son of an actor with political ambitions in California. In 2016, Rob Reiner called the film the most personal and “most satisfying creative experience” of his career.
“The fact that we dealt with the things that Nick had gone through and how I had dealt with it and how his mother had dealt with it…That forced me to see more clearly and understand more deeply what Nick had gone through. And I think it forced him to see things that I had experienced during that process. And it definitely brought us closer together,” Reiner said. “It helped me understand him a lot better.”
Nick described the film as a “bonding” experience with his father.