Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner's son will not face the death penalty on charges he fatally stabbed his parents after lying in wait at their home in Los Angeles late last year, prosecutors said.
If convicted, the maximum sentence 33-year-old Nick Reiner could get is life without the possibility of parole, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at a news conference. Before reaching its decision, Hochman said his office did a thorough review, including speaking to Rob and Michele Singer Reiner's families and evaluating mitigating factors in Nick Reiner's favour.
Nick Reiner has twice pleaded not guilty. Special circumstances in the case put the death penalty on the table, including the lying-in-wait allegation; the fact that multiple people were killed; and that a dangerous weapon, a knife, was used. However, it's been two decades since California's last execution, and Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom declared a moratorium on the practice in 2019.
Reiner's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Greene, said prosecutors made the right decision.
"Nick has a serious mental illness and a long history of struggling with self-medication. His circumstances are a tragic example of how difficult it can be for people experiencing significant mental health challenges to access and navigate the treatment and support they need," Greene said in a statement. "Nothing can undo the profound loss experienced by the Reiner family and those who loved them. Our hearts remain with the family."
Nick Reiner was charged with first-degree murder on December 16, two days after the stunning killings. Reiner's former defence attorney, Alan Jackson, adamantly insisted that "pursuant to the laws of California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder".
Jackson had to withdraw for undisclosed reasons that he said were beyond his and the client's control, and a public defender took over for him.
A grand jury indicted Reiner in July. The judge in the case was deciding whether to make public the transcripts of those secret grand jury proceedings, a move that would likely reveal many key details about the killings.
Hochman said his office did not oppose the transcripts' release, but Nick Reiner's siblings Jake and Romi Reiner were adamantly opposed, saying it would add to their trauma and harm.
Hours earlier, Rob Reiner was honoured at the Emmys
Rob Reiner received an emotional tribute at the Emmy Awards. He won a posthumous Emmy at an earlier ceremony for best guest actor in a comedy series for his role on The Bear, and was honoured by his friend and Bear co-star Jamie Lee Curtis.
"He was generous, kind and funny as hell, and a friend to all," Curtis said. "And we all miss Rob and Michele and all those we lost this year."
Nick Reiner was the second of Rob's three children. He and his father co-wrote the script for the 2015 film Being Charlie, which was partly based on the son's teenage struggles with addiction and homelessness.
Rob Reiner began as an actor, starring in the TV sitcom All in the Family, as Michael "Meathead" Stivic, the liberal son-in-law to a much more conservative and bigoted Archie Bunker, played by Carroll O'Connor. Reiner won two Emmy Awards for the role, and last month got a posthumous Emmy nomination for his work as a guest star on The Bear.
He became a prolific director whose work included some of the most memorable and endlessly watchable movies of the 1980s and '90s. His credits included This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, A Few Good Men, and When Harry Met Sally... during the production of which he met photographer Michele Singer. They wed soon after and were married for 36 years.
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