Days after Rob and Michele Reiner were found dead inside their Brentwood, Calif. home, their son and suspected killer, Nick Reiner, appeared in court for the first time after being charged with double homicide against his parents.
Reiner, 32, appeared in the courtroom on Wednesday wearing a blue suicide prevention vest. When a judge asked if Reiner waived his rights, Nick said, “Yes, your honor.” His arraignment is set for Jan. 7.
One day prior, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the charges Tuesday during a press conference with LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.
“These charges will be two counts of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of multiple murders,” Hochman said. “He also faces a special allegation that he personally used a dangerous and deadly weapon, that being a knife. These charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.”
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However, if the death penalty is pursued, Nick would not be executed due to the moratorium instituted by California Governor Gavin Newsom in 2019.
While the executive order did not repeal capital punishment in California, it has halted all executions indefinitely, Oakland criminal defense lawyer Jo-Anna Nieves told Fox News Digital.
“The executive order issued by Gavin Newsom halted executions, closed the execution chamber at San Quentin, and paused lethal-injection protocols, but it did not repeal the death penalty or invalidate death sentences imposed by courts,” Nieves said. “California still has the death penalty on the books, and prosecutors are legally permitted to seek it in eligible cases.”
“Practically speaking, even if prosecutors pursue the death penalty against Nick Reiner and obtain a conviction and death sentence, no execution would occur under the current moratorium,” she added. “The sentence would legally exist, but its enforcement would remain suspended unless the moratorium is lifted by a future governor or the law is changed through legislation or voter action.”
The moratorium, however, could be overturned once a new governor is elected in 2026.
During Tuesday’s press conference, Hochman also told reporters that they will take the “thoughts and desires of the family into consideration” when it comes to Reiner’s sentencing.
“In California, it is routine for prosecutors to consider the ‘thoughts and desires’ of a victim’s family at this stage. Under California’s Victims’ Bill of Rights, commonly known as Marsy’s Law, victims and their families have the right to be heard and to confer with prosecutors about charging and sentencing decisions. That said, their views are one factor among many, including the strength of the evidence, aggravating and mitigating circumstances, and broader policy considerations.”
Nieves said the family’s input is “meaningful,” but “not controlling.”
“California law gives victims and their families the right to express their views, submit impact statements, and participate in key stages of the process, but the ultimate charging decision, and any decision to seek the death penalty, rests solely with the prosecution,” she said. “Courts have been clear that prosecutors cannot base a death-penalty decision exclusively on a family’s wishes. While Marsy’s Law ensures that families are heard and considered, sentencing outcomes must still be grounded in statutory criteria and constitutional requirements.”
On Wednesday, Rob and Michele’s children, Jake and Romy Reiner, opened up about the “unimaginable pain” the two are experiencing after the death of their parents.
“Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day,” a statement provided to Fox News Digital read. “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.”
“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.”
Shortly after Nick’s court appearance, his attorney, Alan Jackson, admitted there were a myriad of issues in the case against his client.
“First of all, and most importantly, this is a devastating tragedy that has befallen the Reiner family,” Jackson said while addressing the media Wednesday.
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“We all recognize that, our hearts go out to the entire Reiner family. There are very, very complex and serious issues that are associated with this case that needs to be thoroughly but very carefully dealt with, and examined and looked at and analyzed.”
On Sunday, Nick, was arrested on suspicion of murdering his parents, who were found dead inside their Brentwood, Calif., home just hours after allegedly getting into a verbal altercation with their son at Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party the night before. Nick was located and taken into custody at approximately 9:15 p.m. near the University of Southern California campus.
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The 32-year-old was initially booked on $4 million bail, but records now show he is being held without bail. On Monday, he was transferred to the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department.
The night before the murders, family friends of the Reiners told the Los Angeles Times that Nick got into an argument with his parents at O’Brien’s Christmas party. Many people noticed Nick was behaving strangely, according to the outlet.
“Nick was freaking everyone out, acting crazy, kept asking people if they were famous,” a source also told People magazine.
Per TMZ, after Rob and Nick got into a “very loud argument,” the director and Michele left the party.
Nick reportedly also got into a tiff with comedian and actor Bill Hader at the same party. A representative for Hader had no comment when reached by Fox News Digital.
Nick has had his share of battles throughout the years. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Nick’s childhood yoga instructor remembered an intensity about him, noting he was “just very, very intense, very hyperactive.”
Alanna Zabel, who wrote the book “A Chair in the Air” inspired by Nick, first started working with Michele, and they eventually “began discussing just how much energy [Nick] had and how disruptive he was.”
“And she suggested, ‘What if you did yoga just with him? And I said, ’Sure.’ Right, so I started doing privates with Nicky and that’s how the book was born,” Zabel said. “So it was my very first children’s book, and it’s a bit ironic and prophetic today, obviously. You know, I was looking back at it this week and, you know, crying.”
“Just like, especially the page where he’s on the horse and then [magical guide] Mahini Yogini is kind of guiding him to say, ‘Listen, your energy is a gift, your zip is a gift, it’s just, how are you going to choose to use it? And there’s the road to happiness and there’s a road to sadness,’ and it’s just, you know, knowing where we are today, it’s just devastating.”
When asked if she realized Nick needed a different type of support outside of yoga, Zabel said: “A lot of this, I referred to Michele and Rob, you know, we were making good progress. You know he was doing the class. He wasn’t rebelling against it. So it wasn’t something — and I also wasn’t the sole person or a therapist or part of a therapy program. This was just something to be doing on the side to see if it worked. So we thought it was positive and there just came a point where we stopped doing it. I honestly think Nicky got bored with it.”
WATCH: Nick Reiner’s childhood yoga instructor recalls his ‘disruptive’ behavior
According to friend and cinematographer Barry Markowitz, the Reiners’ lives were “business as usual” weeks before the brutal murders.
Markowitz, who worked with Rob and Nick on “Being Charlie,” stayed with the couple at the end of November while in town for a film premiere.
“Romy was in and out [of the house] and at dinner time she comes over and we all bulls— together,” Markowitz told Page Six. “[We would] scream at the TV, we watched a movie and a basketball game. Played with the dogs. Family time. One big love fest.”
According to Markowitz, Nick seemed to be “on the upswing.”
“He looked great. He was sitting and talking with the family,” Markowitz shared. “They eat dinner together, old school, and a lot of love, always a lot of love.”
The cinematographer claimed he didn’t see “anything strange” between Nick and the Reiners during his five-night stay.
“He helped out, he took out the garbage, he watched TV, he washed dishes,” he recalled. “He’d bring me something to drink. He was just normal in that sense.”
Nick’s arraignment has been set for Jan. 7.
“No matter how you look at it, this case is a tragedy,” San Diego criminal defense lawyer David P. Shapiro told Fox News Digital. “Two individuals appear to have been brutally murdered. In essence, a third life may be lost in the event Nick Reiner is convicted and spends the rest of his life in prison. The family’s heartache must be immense.”
Fox News Digital’s Larry Fink contributed to this report
