Rob Reiner’s son makes first court appearance after parents’ murders
The younger son of Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner made his first court appearance on Wednesday, charged with double murder in the stabbing deaths of his parents, but the arraignment was postponed for three weeks, and he did not enter a plea, according to Reuters.
Nick Reiner, 32, was ordered to return to Los Angeles County Superior Court for a continuation of his arraignment on January 7. No explanation was given in court for the delay in the hearing.
Bearded, wearing eyeglasses and garbed in a blue protective vest, he appeared in court three days after his arrest and a day after he was charged with one of the most shocking celebrity homicide cases in the city’s history.
He is accused of fatally stabbing his parents, actor-director Rob Reiner, 78, and photographer-producer Michele Reiner, 70, in the early morning hours of Sunday in the couple’s mansion in the affluent west LA neighborhood of Brentwood, then fleeing the scene.
The couple’s bodies were discovered Sunday afternoon. Nick Reiner, who has publicly acknowledged a years-long struggle with drug addiction, was arrested that night near a downtown Los Angeles park close to the University of Southern California campus.
Seated slightly slouched behind a glass partition in the courtroom, the defendant spoke little during his few minutes in court, saying only, “Yes, your honor,” in a calm, clear voice when asked by the judge if he agreed to waive his right to a speedy arraignment.
Speaking briefly to reporters outside the courthouse afterward, defense attorney Alan Jackson offered no additional insight, saying the proceedings were merely being paused.
“Today we’re going to rest on where we stand procedurally, which is, this was a continuance of arraignment. Nothing happened today, substantively,” he said.
“This is a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family” Jackson added. “There are very, very complex and serious issues that are associated with this case. Those need to be thoroughly, but very carefully dealt with and examined.”
Authorities said Nick Reiner was taken into custody without incident on Sunday night, and was booked on suspicion of murder into a downtown jail, where he remains held with bond. According various news media reports, he had lived in a guest house on his parents’ property.
If convicted as charged on two counts of first degree murder, he would face life in prison without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman has said prosecutors have yet to decide whether to seek the death sentence.
Capital punishment remains on the books in California, but nobody has been put to death in the state since 2006, and Governor Gavin Newsom imposed an indefinite moratorium on executions in 2019.
