Los Angeles County prosecutors have decided not to seek the death penalty against Nick Reiner, the 33-year-old son of filmmaker Rob Reiner, who is charged with stabbing his parents to death at their home last December.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the decision at a news conference, saying his office weighed the case carefully, consulted both families, and considered mitigating factors. If convicted, Reiner now faces a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole. He has pleaded not guilty twice and appeared briefly in court on Tuesday morning.
The death penalty had been a realistic possibility because of three aggravating factors: the allegation that Reiner lay in wait for his parents, that multiple victims were killed, and that a knife was used. But prosecutors were deciding in a state where no one has been executed in two decades, and where Governor Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on capital punishment in 2019.
Reiner's public defender, Kimberly Greene, welcomed the decision, pointing to her client's serious mental illness and long history of self-medication, and describing the case as an example of how hard it can be to access mental health treatment in the United States.
The case is far from over. A grand jury indicted Reiner in July, and a judge is now considering whether to unseal the transcripts of those secret proceedings — a step his siblings, Jake and Romi Reiner, strongly oppose on the grounds it would deepen their trauma. The prosecution will not object to release, and arguments are scheduled for next month. Separately, Reiner has asked a court to unlock money from a childhood trust set up by his parents so he can rehire his former attorney, Alan Jackson, a prominent defense lawyer; the trustees are resisting, and a ruling is pending. Hochman does not expect a trial before next year.
The decision landed a day after Rob Reiner was honoured at the Emmy Awards, where he posthumously won best guest actor in a comedy series for 'The Bear'. Jamie Lee Curtis paid tribute to her friend and co-star on stage.
Rob Reiner was one of American entertainment's most familiar figures: an Emmy-winning actor on 'All in the Family' before directing 'This is Spinal Tap', 'Stand By Me', 'A Few Good Men' and 'When Harry Met Sally…' — the film on which he met Michele Singer, his wife of 36 years. Nick, their second of three children, co-wrote the 2015 film 'Being Charlie' with his father, a story drawn partly from his own teenage struggles with addiction and homelessness.
For readers, this is a developing legal story rather than a holiday one — worth following for its resolution next year, though anyone travelling to Los Angeles won't encounter anything beyond the usual city. The details likely to emerge from the grand jury transcripts, should they be released, will shape how the case is understood.