Nick Reiner will not face the death penalty if the youngest son of Rob and Michelle Reiner is found guilty for the killing of his parents, the Los Angeles County District Attorney said Tuesday morning.
“In deciding whether or not the DA’s office was going to seek the death penalty, we have gone through a rigorous review where we look at the aggravating factors as well as the mitigating factors,” Nathan Hochman said today outside downtown’s Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center. “We have spoken to the victim’s family, we have spoken to prosecutors, law enforcement, and have worked with the most senior people in the district attorney’s office.”
Nick Reiner has been custody in downtown L.A. since his arrest December 14 soon after his parents’ bludgeoned bodies were discovered in their Brentwood home. Currently being represented the Public Defender’s Office while he fights for access to a trust fund to pay for private attorneys, Reiner entered a not guilty plea to charges including murder in a brief hearing August 12.
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“After a careful and thorough review of all these factors, the District Attorney’s office will not be seeking the death penalty in this case,” Hochman said Tuesday, noting his office took the “views” of the other Reiner children Jake, Romy and step-sister Tracy “into consideration in ultimately deciding not to seek the death penalty” for their brother. “That means that the maximum sentence that Mr. Reiner will be looking at is life without the possibility of parole.”
In a second indictment handed down July 20 that replaces the previous one of December 15, 2025, Reiner, 33, faces two counts of murder with the special-circumstance allegations of multiple murders. In addition to a charge of lying in wait that was added this summer, there is another special allegation that Reiner personally used “a dangerous and deadly weapon, a knife,” according to prosecutors.
Removing the ultimate sword of Damocles from the Reiner case, the long-awaited decision by Hochman’s office comes just before a 9 am PT hearing today on whether grand jury documents in the gruesome matter should be unsealed.
Almost a year after Rob and Michelle Reiner were killed, no trial date has been set in the case. The expectation, along with the collection of more evidence and the inevitable defense motion to dismiss, is that a trial will take place sometime next year.
“When the defense is ready to proceed, the government will be ready to proceed,” Hochman said today.
Still, despite removing the rarely used death penalty from the Reiner equation, Hochman again stressed he was resolved to see this high-profile matter through to the end.
“We will be presenting the evidence that we believe will convict Nick Reiner beyond a reasonable doubt of all the charges he’s been filed that we have filed against him, or that the grand jury has filed at this point, as well as the special allegations,” he said Tuesday.
