Nick Reiner Fight Over Murder Secrets Heats Up

Accused murderer Nick Reiner back in. court. Lot of talk about whether those. secret grand jury [music] transcripts. are going to be released. And that is. only one of two big hearings this week. [music] for the man accused of brutally. killing his parents. We're bringing back. on our reporter, our eyes and ears. [music] inside that courtroom, law crime. correspondent Julia Deng to tell us what. happened. Welcome to Sidebar, presented. by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Okay, so 33-year-old Nick Reiner, the.

son of 78-year-old Rob Reiner, 70-year-old Michelle, he has been. charged with their alleged murders. He. was back in court today, and this is as. we're getting closer and closer to a. trial. Now, we know that his parents. were found dead in their Brentwood home. back on December 14th, 2025. LA County. medical examiner determined the couple. died from quote, "ultiple sharp force. injuries." This was a shocking, shocking. development. Reiner, we know, was. arrested at an Exposition Park area gas.

station on the same day that his. parents' bodies were found. Surveillance. footage apparently capturing that. moment. This was near the UCLA campus. We don't know all the evidence that. investigators and prosecutors have. against him, which by the way plays into. this whole grand jury aspect about it, but it was reported that Nick Reiner. apparently had an argument with his. father at Conan O'Brien's Christmas. party the night before the alleged. killings. And Reiner was indicted by a. grand jury and it was unsealed in.

August. The grand jury indictment was. the transcripts weren't, which again I. think is a big issue that we're going to. get into. And it should be noted that. the murder charges carry special. circumstances allegations of lying in. weight, multiple murders. The allegation. that he used a knife. Now, he's pleaded. not guilty, faces life in prison without. the possibility of parole. That's. because the death penalty was taken off. the table. This was announced by Los. Angeles County District Attorney Nathan. Hawkman in his office. But what happened. in court today? That's what I want to.

talk about. All right, let me bring in. my long crime correspondent, Julia Deng, who's been our eyes and our ears for. every one of Nick Reiner's hearings, and. that includes today. Julia, great to see. you. Thanks for taking the time. Um, let's just start off where we always. start off. How did he look? How did he. appear? Because again, as we've said. before, his appearance matters. If. they're potentially going to be talking. about issues of mental health or um. substance abuse, whatever this trial may. be, his mental state, I think it's. important to get a concept of how he.

appears. So, how did he look? >> Absolutely. Very important to start. there. It's the first thing I look out. for every morning during these hearings. um even though this hearing was not. actually central um to his participation. in the case, but Jesse, he looked okay. this morning. I would say Nick Reiner. looked relatively healthy. uh he didn't. appear to be wearing the uh blue suicide. prevention smok.

during earlier hearings wearing in this. case um when he was actually standing. behind a shield a pane of glass in the. courtroom. He walked in this morning. again on his own um he was wearing the. standard LA County jail uniform the. brown uniform with a shirt underneath. it. Um, he did have a slightly different. haircut this morning compared to two. weeks ago when I noted that his dark. hair, his thick dark hair had grown out.

a little bit. It was shorter today. His. facial hair is growing back in. He. usually sports that goatee. And he. looked okay. Um, I did not hear him. saying anything to the judge or to his. LA County public defender. He sat there. quietly, but I did note that he was. following the action in the courtroom. You know, making eye contact with his. attorney, looking at the media coalition. attorney and seeming to follow along. with everything that was being.

discussed. >> By the way, if you're into content. creation, if you're putting things out. on social media and you're watching. Sidebar, have you ever wondered how. we're able to share all of these clips. and these rapidly developing stories so. quickly? Well, this is something you. might be interested in. It's called Opus. Clip. So, Opus Clip is an all-in-one AI. editor that makes it just so easy to. cut, create, and upload videos across. any platform. Opus Clip finds the best. moments from your content, and it. generates B-roll, refframes footage. It. even cleans up audio. So, you visit. opus.pro/sidebar,

you sign up, you upload it, in minutes, you'll have perfectly edited clips to. help reach the people who will love your. content. Use Opus Clip as your source. for Tik Tok, shorts, reals. This is the. most powerful tool to edit like a. professional. Go to opus.prosidebar. to get a free week and then 50% off for. the next three months. That's. opus.pro/sidebar. >> And let's get into the substance of what. was discussed. Was it about these secret. grand jury transcripts?

>> That is correct. We are back again. talking about the same issue that was. hashed out two weeks ago and that. seemingly frustrated the judge, Judge. Sam. So, we started off this morning. with the judge actually calling for a. discussion in chambers between all the. parties involved here. So, the fight. today is actually not between. prosecutors and the defense. Prosecutors. largely sat this one out. It's actually.

between defense council and the media. coalition. So what all of this boils. down to is a battle over whether or not. these grand jury transcripts and. exhibits are going to be made available. to the public. Typically they are. because in this country the public's. right to access is very important. But. the defense is arguing in this case, making those transcripts from the secret.

grand jury proceedings public could. actually curtail Nick Reiner's rights, um, his due process rights, his right to. a fair trial at an impartial jury. It. sounds like Kimberly Green, the LA. County public defender now representing. Nick Reiner, is trying to argue that. because of intense media coverage, including our reporting here on Law and. Crime, releasing these transcripts and.

these exhibits from the grand jury could. make it difficult or impossible for them. to convene an objective jury. Now, the. judge throughout this argument um has. sounded pretty skeptical about this. After the defense filed their initial. motion to seal the grand jury. transcripts, uh the judge did agree to. conditionally seal those documents. So, we haven't actually seen them yet. Even. though we did see the indictment that.

was handed down in this first-degree. murder case, uh that indictment, the. four-page indictment was unsealed in. August. The fight now is over the. transcripts. So what's going to happen. now? The judge presented three options. today after getting out of that inch. chambers discussion between the media. coalition um that's not actually a party. to this criminal case and defense. He. gave them three options. He says one you. could submit on what was already filed.

that motion to seal from defense. two, defense could submit additional. information, or three, they could. actually call an evidentiary hearing and. have witnesses testify and then be. cross-examined uh before the judge makes. a ruling about whether or not this grand. jury material should be unsealed. Now, they made a decision on those three. options. Defense Council said she's. going to go with the second option and. file additional information, additional.

evidence supporting her claim that. unsealing grand jury material could. essentially poison a jury pool and. curtail her client, the defendant's due. process rights. So, they now have until. December 18th to file that additional. evidence. and the media coalition, they're on the opposite side of this. They have until January 6th to file. their opposition, their response to that.

new evidence, and then we're all going. to be back here again for another. hearing on this matter on January 13th. So, Jesse, where were prosecutors during. this? The two deputy district. [clears throat] attorneys prosecuting. this case. Jonathan Chung and Habib. Balian, they were sitting off to the. side. Uh they were sitting in front of. the jury box just kind of following. along and checking dates to make sure. they were available for the next. hearing. They didn't have much to say on.

this because District Attorney Nathan. Hawkman has already made it clear he. does not believe unsealing those. transcripts could compromise the. integrity of this case. Um, and I. actually just caught up with Jonathan. and Habib outside the courtroom. Um, they they seem pretty relaxed about all. of this. You know, whenever this case is. ready to move forward and however the. judge rules, it sounds like they're. ready, they're eager to move forward.

>> Did the judge also address this first. amendment argument from the coalition? Because I imagine that's what they. argued, right? that they have a first. amendment right to report on this, a. first amendment right of access to these. um you know these proceedings. Um is. that the argument that they made? Freedom of the freedom of the press. >> No, that's where I thought this was. going when I heard that a media. coalition had been convened and they. were having their attorney speak on this.

issue and opposed that motion from. defense council. But no, Jesse, that's. actually not what is being argued here. Um, and the judge addressed that two. weeks ago during the October 7th hearing. because he wanted to know, are you going. to argue this on First Amendment rights? And if so, he wanted to make the point. that a higher court would actually have. to hear that. So, this is being argued. on different grounds here. Um, the. defense council, like I said, their.

argument is that unsealing this grand. jury material is going to make it harder. for their client um to get a fair trial. But the opposition here is not actually. First Amendment rights. Um, and that. lowers the standard for them. They just. have to show a reasonable likelihood. because they're not trying to take this. up to a higher court. The burden of. proof here at the end of the day, the. burden of proof is going to fall on. defense council to show that there is.

going to be an issue in the case. The. integrity of this trial could be. compromised if those transcripts are. released to the public. I also believe. based on what we've heard from. prosecutors. um the family of the defendant, the two. siblings of Nick Reiner, Jake and Rooney. Reiner, they had some say and sway in. this. They've made it known they do not. want these transcripts released. They. think it would further traumatize people.

close to the victims. Remember, we're. talking about the the double killings, the alleged murders of their parents, 78-year-old Robin and his wife, 70-year-old Michelle Reiner. >> Look, you know this case better than. anybody. There is an aspect about it. where we don't know all the evidence. We. don't know every witness. We don't know. every piece of forensic material, every. piece of digital evidence. What do you. think is in those grand jury transcripts.

that is such a concern for the defense? Because legally speaking, if it wasn't a. grand jury, it would have been a. preliminary hearing, which is public. We. get a sense of what the information is, what the evidence is that the. prosecution's going to have. It's made. public. It's not like every time there's. a preliminary hearing, a defendant says, "Oh, I'm not going to be entitled to a. I'm not going to have a fair and. impartial jury." I mean, there I wonder. what happened during those grand jury. proceedings that the defense is so. concerned about.

If I had to guess, Jesse, and and this. is pure speculation, but I would venture a guess that it. might have something to do with Nick. Riner's mental health condition. Now, it. has been reported um and this was. confirmed by the LA County clerk that he. was placed under a confidential. conservatorship. um it was some type of. mental health conservatorship uh in 2020. and that lasted until 2021.

So we have reported that um there is a. serious mental health condition at play. here. Um it's been identified by other. outlets as schizophrenia and. schizopeeffective disorder. Nick Reiner. was reportedly medicated. He had his. medication likely changed before the. killings last December. Um, we don't. know what kind of treatment he's. undergoing right now. We don't know what. kind of medication he's taking, but the.

family could feel strongly about keeping. those details under wraps. you know, the. more that gets out, the more that is. said and the more speculation and. chatter there is, the harder it is for. Nick's defense team. And keep in mind, he still has a public defender right. now, um, who's juggling a massive case. load and workload every day outside of. Nick Reiner's case. It's just going to.

create more work for her. But based on. the judge's tone, it sounds to me like. he's not inclined at the moment to fully. seal these grand jury transcripts. He. could have the option um to seal a. portion of those transcripts or specific. passages that truly could compromise the. integrity of the case. But because we. have not seen them, we simply don't know. for sure um what kind of material.

[snorts] could be released. >> And it could also be if Jake and Romy. testified during that grand jury, maybe. they don't want that testimony getting. out. I mean, particularly if you if the. reports are accurate that it was Romy. who found her parents' bodies. I mean, you can understand, anyone can. understand why she wouldn't want that. information being released and. publicized and out there. talk about. retraumatizing. Um, by the way, I. understand the judge had a little uh.

commentary about vacation today. What. happened there? >> He did. He was He was in a mood, Jesse. This judge is a character. So, he wasn't. wearing his bow tie today, but he had. his hair down and he started the morning. with a couple jokes. um he tried. directing our courtroom sketch artist to. sit on the other side. He said, you. know, get on my good side. Um and then. he made a comment when he came out of.

that inch chambers discussion saying. that he wanted this matter um around the. grand jury material resolved by the end. of next month, by the end of November. Um, but after Kimberly Green, the LA. County public defender, pushed for a. later follow-up hearing, the judge joked. about his upcoming vacation and he said, "No, no, we can't set a hearing in. January for the day that I've returned. because I have to get caught up on the. case and I don't want to study on. vacation." So, he kept on talking about.

his vacation. I did ask um Jonathan and. Habib, the deputy district attorneys, do. you guys know where he's going? are you. guys going on vacation? Um, all that to. say, this matter likely could have been. resolved and ruled on faster. Um, but. because of the upcoming holidays, you. know, that's going to stretch out the. timeline. But the judge noted this as. well. Because this went to a grand jury. and there was a grand jury indictment,

that actually shortens the timeline for. the court because this did not have to. go to a preliminary hearing uh like the. one that we covered in the David Burke. case. With that indictment handed down. at the end of July and then unsealed in. August, we're right on track with time. So, Judge OT has plenty of time to go. and enjoy his vacation. and he says he's. probably not going to cancel it to come. to work. >> Well, in a way, I respect that. You.

know, even the judge wants the uh to. uphold the sanctity of the vacation. Wonder where he's going. Why do I feel a. Cruz could be wrong? Could be wrong. All. right. Um, listen, this is not the only. big hearing this week. There is another. major hearing that's happening two days. for Nick Reiner that's not in the. criminal court, right? It has to do with. the money that he believes he's entitled. to that may go to paying for his. defense. And which is so signific. significant is because you talked about. mental health. I had the opportunity to. interview his former attorney at one.

point in time, Alan Jackson. And when I. interviewed him, he seemed to suggest. that if he were continuing on the case. or where he was before he withdrew, a. mental health defense would have been in. play. I mean, it seems based on his. answers to me that that is what he may. have been going with. Maybe that's what, you know, Nick Riner's new legal team is. going with. Or maybe if Nick Reiner gets. access to this money, maybe Alan Jackson. would come back on. But I'm throwing a. lot out at you. What is happening in two. days?

>> Friday is going to be critical in this. case, Jesse. Now, to be clear, the. probate hearing on Friday is not in. criminal court. It is a separate legal. matter. But the reason that we're. covering it and the reason I think it is. the most interesting thing happening in. this case this week is because this. could determine who defends Nick Reiner. and how uh for the duration of this.

case. So his original defense team, his. original defense attorney, Allen. Jackson, he withdrew from this case at. the beginning of this year. Um and he he. never indicated why. He never actually. said it was because of money because he. actually was paid. All he said was that. it was because of issues out of his. control. Now, this has been well. documented. Nick had a trust um that. should have given him a fractional. payout of more than half a million.

dollar as soon as he turned 30 years. old. He never got that money. Um and the. trustee who should have authorized that. payout um that trustee changed very. recently. So that trust is valued at. over $1.5 million. And access to that. money is what's being argued on Friday. during this probate hearing. during the. last hearing. Alan Jackson, who again.

withdrew from the criminal case and is. no longer officially part of Nick's. defense team, but he actually appeared. during that hearing and stood beside the. probate attorney, Anito. We do expect. him to be there again on Friday. So. perhaps we could ask him some questions. about his potential future involvement. He has indicated that if Nick has the. funds to pay for private defense again, meaning if he gets his hands on this.

trust fund money, Alan Jackson could. come back and represent him again. We. don't know exactly how he's going to. argue this case, but Jesse, I think. you're right. Um, pointing to mental. health conditions, that could be a piece. of a very strong defense here. But in. the state of California, if you are. found not guilty by reason of insanity. versus just straight up not guilty, it's. it's not an all clear. You're not.

acquitted. Uh you're essentially. sentenced to a mental health institution. for how long you would have been behind. bars if you were found guilty of the. crime. Maybe that kind of treatment um. is is what Nick needs here. or or at the. very least when you think about it, this. is why it would be such an expensive. defense to get those kind of experts in. to support that potential defense or. diminished capacity defense. By the way, I got to say this real quick. So, this. is a big case that we've been following. here on Sidebar and we can't show you.

like every piece of evidence all in one. episode. But that is why we got. something. So, we have the Court TV case. files on the Long Crime Plus app. We are. opening up the evidence vault so you can. inspect the raw body cam footage, the. 911 calls, the crime scene photos, the. full trial tapes, all firsthand. Plus, you get adree streaming of all your. favorite long crime and court TV shows. And right now, got a special offer. Use. my promo code Sidefall. You get 25% off. an annual Long Crime Plus subscription. and enjoy a full year of True Crime.

Commercial Free. That's just $44.99 for. the entire year. So, go to longrus.com. and subscribe today. Okay, let's get. back into this. And just real quick. about this petition. So Nick's team, Nick Riner's team filed this nearly. 140page petition that it has unambiguous. instructions about the money that should. be left to him. Um the petition states. they were a commitment by Nick's parents. in the most binding way the law of. trusts allows that these resources would. belong to Nick for his use and benefit.

But it's complicated by California's. slayer statute. Right. Well, the probate attorney who's. representing Nick here is arguing the. California Slayer statute actually has. nothing to do with this because this. trust um which was established for Nick. in December of 1993 before he even. turned 3 months old. It did not have any. conditions aside from age. It was simply. an age triggered payout. So, it should.

have been about $558,000. paid out to Nick as soon as he turned 30. years old. And then the remaining money. in that trust paid out when he turned. 35. Nick is 33 right now. He just turned. 33 on September 14th. Um, and he wasn't. given the money. He wasn't paid out when. he turned 30 years old. Um and and there. was nothing in the conditions for that. trust established by his parents that. said anything about competency. Um so.

they're arguing that he should have had. that money 2 years before these killings. and if he had that money he would be. using it now to pay for his legal. defense. Um, and they brought up in that. petition that he's so short on funds. right now, he's having trouble paying. for basic necessities like shampoo from. the commissary. So, the Slayer statute. would have applied had it been money. from, for instance, a will, something.

that would have been paid out to him. after his parents' death. That was not. the case with this trust fund. um. estimated again at more than $1.5. million. >> Again, for anybody doesn't know, the. Slayer statue basically is like you. can't inherit money from somebody like. if you're the responsible for their. deaths. It makes sense, right? Um but. yeah, no, I hear you that that's I'm. sure it's going to come up in some. capacity, but um I think you make a good. point that at least they're making the.

point that it doesn't apply here given. the timing of this and what was promised. at that point. So, look um it's going to. be interesting to see what happens. there. There's different components of. this case. There's a lot of moving. parts. Julia Deng, thank you so much for. coming on and just explaining to it all. to us in a way that we can all. understand what's happening. Uh, always. appreciate you. Thank you so much. >> You bet. Great being with you. And. >> that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. I'm Jesse [music]. Weber.