LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Actor-director Rob Reiner’s youngest son appeared in a downtown courtroom Wednesday in connection with the deaths of the famed filmmaker and his photographer wife, Michele, in their Brentwood home, but with evidence still being collected in the case, the court proceedings were pushed back until September.
Nick Reiner, 32, who remains jailed without bail, pleaded not guilty to murder charges on Feb. 23.
In court Wednesday, a date was expected to be set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence for him to stand trial. But attorneys said they were still gathering evidence in the case, and a prosecutor said autopsy reports were still pending.
Another hearing for Reiner — who appeared in court in a yellow jail top and blue jail pants — was scheduled for Sept. 15.
Reiner was charged Dec. 16 with two counts of murder in connection with the slayings of his 78-year-old father and 70-year-old mother, who were found dead about 3:30 p.m. Dec. 14 in the couple’s Brentwood home in the 200 block of Chadbourne Avenue between Sunset and San Vicente boulevards.
The murder charges include the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, opening him to a possible death sentence if prosecutors choose to pursue capital punishment. He is also facing an allegation that he personally used a deadly weapon — a knife.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters outside court following the Feb. 23 hearing that his office will be “looking at all aggravating and mitigating circumstances” and that Nick Reiner’s attorney has been invited to present written and oral arguments before a decision is made on whether to seek the death penalty.
“It will be subject to not only a rigorous analysis, but many of the most experienced individuals in the D.A.’s Office with death penalty experience will be helping me evaluate that information,” Hochman said.
The L.A. 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.”
Nick Reiner was arrested by Los Angeles police in the Exposition Park area near USC less than six hours after his parents’ bodies were discovered.
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell declined soon afterward to provide any details on what led to Nick Reiner being identified as the suspect.
In a statement released the day of their brother’s initial 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,” the two said. “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.”
Jake Reiner described the aftermath of his parents’ deaths as a “living nightmare” in a recent Substack post, writing that he rushed to the family’s Brentwood home after learning of the killings and struggled to process the loss.
“My world, as I knew it, had collapsed. I was in a trance,” he wrote.
He said he was attending a memorial service at Union Station on Dec. 14 when his sister called to say their father had died, then called back minutes later to say their mother was also dead.
“I was robbed of so many things that day,” he wrote, adding that the loss has been “too devastating to comprehend.”
Rob Reiner was best known for his iconic role as Archie Bunker’s liberal son-in-law Michael “Meathead” Stivic on the classic sitcom “All in the Family” — a role for which he won two Primetime Emmy Awards, along with being the director of films including “Stand By Me,” “The Princess Bride,” “A Few Good Men,” “Misery,” “This Is Spinal Tap” and “When Harry Met Sally.”
According to multiple reports, the couple’s 28-year-old daughter discovered her father’s body. One report suggested that a massage therapist had shown up at the couple’s home for a pre-scheduled appointment but got no answer at the door and contacted their daughter, who went inside the home and found Rob Reiner slain. She contacted authorities, who subsequently found Michele Reiner’s body in the house.
Rob and Michele Reiner, along with Nick, attended talk-show host Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party the night before, and sources said Rob Reiner and his son got into a heated argument over his son’s odd behavior at the event. Rob and Michele Reiner wound up leaving the event, but it was unclear when Nick Reiner left. TMZ reported that Nick Reiner checked into a Santa Monica hotel around 4 a.m. the next day, and that blood was later found in the room.
It was reported in December that Nick Reiner had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was taking medications that made him “erratic and dangerous.”
Citing two sources with knowledge of the situation, TMZ reported that he had been under the care of a psychiatrist for mental illness, but that his behavior had grown more alarming in recent weeks.
Nick Reiner has been open about his struggles with drug abuse over the years, even working with his father to produce a 2015 semi-autobiographical movie titled “Being Charlie,” based on Nick’s drug-addiction issues and the family’s struggles to cope.
In media interviews and podcast appearances, he previously described being in and out of rehab programs throughout his teen years, and spending time homeless in various states, including Texas, New Jersey and Maine. He also described an instance when he was high on cocaine for multiple days and trashed his parents’ guest house.
Rob Reiner — who was married for 10 years to actress/director Penny Marshall before they divorced in 1981 — married Michele Singer in 1989 after meeting her while he was directing “When Harry Met Sally.” Reiner often told the story about how his romance with Singer led him to change the ending to the movie — with the characters played by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan reuniting rather than going their separate ways.
Rob Reiner was a vocal Democratic Party activist, helping to spearhead efforts to legalize same-sex marriage in California and to pass a 1998 initiative that created the First 5 California childhood-development services program, funded by a tobacco tax.
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