Nick Reiner avoids death penalty in parents’ killings but still faces life in prison

LOS ANGELES — Nick Reiner will not face the death penalty on charges that he fatally stabbed his parents, Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, after allegedly lying in wait at their Los Angeles home late last year, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at a news conference that the maximum sentence for the 33-year-old, if convicted, would be life in prison without the possibility of parole. Hochman said his office conducted a thorough review before making its decision, including speaking with the families of Rob and Michele Singer Reiner and assessing mitigating factors in Nick Reiner’s favour.

Nick Reiner has pleaded not guilty twice. The alleged lying in wait, the deaths of multiple people and the use of a knife as a dangerous weapon were special circumstances that made a death sentence possible. California has not carried out an execution in two decades, however, and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on the practice in 2019.

Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Greene, Nick Reiner’s lawyer, said prosecutors made the right decision. In a statement, she said he has a serious mental illness and a long history of struggling with self-medication, and that his circumstances illustrate the difficulty people facing significant mental-health challenges can have in accessing and navigating needed treatment and support. Greene said nothing could undo the profound loss suffered by the Reiner family and those who loved them.

Nick Reiner was charged with first-degree murder on Dec. 16, two days after the killings. His former defence lawyer, Alan Jackson, had insisted that Nick Reiner was not guilty of murder under California law. Jackson withdrew for undisclosed reasons he said were beyond his and his client’s control, and a public defender then took over the case.

A grand jury indicted Reiner in July. The judge was deciding whether to release transcripts from the secret grand-jury proceedings, which would likely reveal key details about the killings. Hochman said prosecutors did not oppose their release, but Nick Reiner’s siblings, Jake and Romi Reiner, strongly opposed it, saying it would add to their trauma and harm.

Hours earlier, Rob Reiner was honoured at the Emmy Awards. He received a posthumous Emmy at an earlier ceremony for best guest actor in a comedy series for his role in “The Bear,” and his friend and co-star Jamie Lee Curtis paid tribute to him on Monday night. Curtis described him as generous, kind and very funny, and said he was a friend to all.

Nick Reiner was the second of Rob Reiner’s three children. He and his father co-wrote the screenplay for the 2015 film “Being Charlie,” partly based on the son’s teenage struggles with addiction and homelessness.

Rob Reiner began his career as an actor, playing Michael “Meathead” Stivic in the sitcom “All in the Family.” The character was the liberal son-in-law of Archie Bunker, played by Carroll O’Connor. Reiner won two Emmy Awards for the role and received a posthumous Emmy nomination last month for his guest work on “The Bear.”

He later became a prolific director, with credits including “This is Spinal Tap,” “Stand By Me,” “A Few Good Men” and “When Harry Met Sally…”. He met Michele Singer while making “When Harry Met Sally…”. They married soon afterward and were married for 36 years.