Attorney Alan Jackson is reportedly no longer representing Nick Reiner, the son of legendary director Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner accused of murdering his parents because Reiner doesn’t have the money to pay for him, experts told the New York Post on Wednesday (January 7).
Jackson, who famously represented Karen Read when she was acquitted of charges of murdering her police officer boyfriend last year, announced that he and his firm would be withdrawing from Reiner’s case Wednesday prior to a scheduled arraignment.
“In the business, we say Mr. Green didn’t show up,” said Neama Rahmani, a former California federal prosecutor who has represented the likes of actress Carmen Electra and former Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel in civil cases via the New York Post.
“Alan Jackson is one of the best,” Rahmani added. “But for a case like this, he’s going to charge at least a seven-figure retainer.
“Nick Reiner doesn’t have the money, if he did he wouldn’t be living in his parents’ guesthouse. And under the California Slayer Statute, you kill your parents — you’re disinherited.”
The ‘Slayer Statute’ prohibits anyone convicted of “intentionally killing” someone from receiving the victims’ estate, with the Reiners’ estimated to be valued at around $200 million. Reiner, 32, has since been reassigned to public defender Kimberly Greene and he will not enter a plea, TMZ reported.
The Reiner family reportedly plans to release a statement on why Jackson is leaving the case at the conclusion of the proceedings. The change came days after Reiner was reported to have been taken off suicide watch at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility ahead of his arraignment for his parents’ murders, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department source confirmed to PEOPLE on Monday (January 5).
Reiner was placed under heightened supervision when he entered the Twin Towers Correctional Facility’s system on December 15 and is currently being held in solitary confinement. The 32-year-old is now required to wear a yellow jail-issued shirt and blue pants, with the jail having since removed the suicide-prevention smock he was previously required to wear at all times, according to PEOPLE.
Reiner won’t, however, be released from High Observation Housing unless a judge or court rules otherwise and will remain monitored and confined alone. Reiner made his first appearance in a Los Angeles courthouse on December 17 after being charged with two counts of murder in connection with his parents’ deaths. Rob and Michele Reiner allegedly got into a “very loud argument” with their son at comedian Conan O’Brien‘s party, which led to them leaving, prior to their deaths on December 14.
A source had previously told PEOPLE that Nick Reiner was acting erratically at the party.
“Nick was freaking everyone out, acting crazy, kept asking people if they were famous,” an insider told PEOPLE.
Nick had publicly acknowledged his issues with drug addition and homelessness in the past. Rob and Michele Reiner were reported to also have stab wounds to multiple other parts of their bodies, sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to the New York Post.
Rob Reiner, the son of producer, writer and actor Carl Reiner and actress and singer Estelle Reiner, initially gained national prominence playing Mike ‘Meathead’ Stivic on All in the Family and is credit with numerous acting roles during a career that spanned seven decades. The New York City native made his directorial debut with the heavy metal mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap (1984) — having released a sequel earlier this year — which was followed up by The Sure Thing (1985), Stand By Me (1986), The Princess Bride (1987), When Harry Met Sally…(1989), Misery (1990) and A Few Good Men (1992).
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