Prosecutors Drop BOMBSHELL in Nick Reiner Murder Case

After a careful and thorough review, the. district attorney's office will not be. seeking the death penalty in this case. >> You heard it right there. The death. penalty is off the table now for Nick. Reiner. Major announcement today on top. of what [music] else happened in court. We are bringing on a reporter who sat. right behind Nick Reiner today [music]. to tell us what the next steps are in. this criminal case. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber.

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you'll have perfectly edited clips to. help reach the people that you love with. your content. Use OpusClip as your. source for Tik Tok shorts, reels. This. is the most powerful tool there is to. edit like a professional. You just go to. opus.pro/sidebar. to get a free week and then 50% off for. the next three months. That's. opus.pro/sidebar. Let's talk about Nick Reiner. So, not. only was he back in court, and we're. going to bring on a reporter who was in. there today to give us a breakdown of. what happened, but big big announcement.

today regarding his case. Now, 33-year-old Nick Reiner, actually it was. his birthday yesterday. He was indicted. last month in connection with the deaths. of his parents, Rob and Michelle Reiner. Two counts of first-degree murder with. additional special circumstance. allegations of multiple murders, lying. in weight, the special allegation that. he personally used a deadly weapon. These are the allegations. This level of. premeditation according to prosecutors. and also as we go into this I just have. to say once again he is innocent unless.

proven guilty. Just want to be clear. about that. Okay. But this is what set. up the idea these special circumstance. allegations of harsher penalties. Harsher penalties including the. possibility of the death penalty even. though currently there's a moratorum on. executions in California. We'll have. more on that in a minute. But Riner was. arrested back on December 14th of last. year. This was after the bodies of his. parents were found inside of their. Brentwood, Los Angeles home. The medical. examiner determined that this was a. homicide, that they died from quote,

"multiple sharp force injuries." Now, apparently, Reiner got into some sort of. fight with his parents at a Conan. O'Brien Christmas party before the. killings. You know, the exact. circumstances, the timeline, all the. evidence that prosecutors have right now. against him, not clear. not clear. Remember, this has been the subject of a. grand jury proceeding, which is secret, right? It's one-sided. So, we really. don't know all the details of this. What. we do know is that he's currently been. locked up. He's been locked up with bail.

ever since. There's a separate question. if he's going to gain access to a trust. fund that would ostensibly be used to. pay for his legal costs. Reportedly, more than $500,000 is what he's looking. for. The tricky area, of course, is. given the allegations against him, a. slayer statute, those kind of things. Now, while he was initially represented. by Allan Jackson, a claimed criminal. defense attorney from the Karen Reed. case, he's now currently represented by. the public defenders office out in Los. Angeles. We know Nick Reiner has a. documented history of drug addiction,

mental health issues. It's not clear. right now how or if that will play a. role in this case, whether it will be. part of a actual legal defense, whether. it will be part of mitigation in a. sentencing phase. But I want to talk. about what happened today. Huge. announcement. Now, before we do, let me. just say this real quick. Look on. sidebar. This is a big case and we're. kind of limited on everything we can. show you, right? But that's why we have. the case file section on the law and. crime plus app. So, we open up the. evidence fault on all these major cases. So, you can inspect the raw body cam.

footage, the 91 calls, the crime scene. photos, the full trial tapes on all. these big cases 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 your first three. months of Lawn Crime Plus for just $2.99. a month. That is 50% off the regular. monthly price. I hope you can check it. out. Back to this. So earlier this. morning, TMZ reported that LA County DA. Nathan Hawkman had decided to take the. death penalty off the table. Okay, they.

reported that and then later that. morning, Hawkman himself made the. announcement. 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 where we have spoken. to the victim's family. We have spoken. to prosecutors, law enforcement, and. I've worked with the most senior people. in the district attorney's office. 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. That means that. the maximum sentence that Mr. Winer will. be looking at is life without the. possibility of parole. >> And he also indicated the trial wouldn't. happen before 2027. So the question is. why would they do this? Why would they. take the death penalty off the table? Well, Hawkman was kind of vague. Said a. few things that are of note. He talked. about how you have to look at all the. factors that they did indicate. they. spoke to Riner's siblings, Jake and Romy. Reiner, that they made their views. clear. And that's interesting because.

not to say that they support Nick Reiner. or paying for his legal bills. That's. not the case at all. Page Six reporting. they haven't even spoken to him since. his arrest. But look, the idea of. potentially seeing their sibling. executed after the death of their. parents, you have to imagine how. grueling and very difficult that would. be. Hawkman was also asked about Rob and. Michelle. They were opposed to the death. penalty. Hawkman basically said, "Look, we took in all this information that we. were able to ascertain from whatever. parties had information for us in making. this death penalty decision considering.

the aggravating the mitigating factors.". Actually, I'll read you the statement. that was released by his office after. this announcement. I'll read you the. statement. It says, quote, "This. decision reflects our careful judgment. about the most appropriate path to take. in this case and does not diminish the. severity of these crimes. I have spoken. to the Riner family and evaluated the. mitigating and aggravating factors that. are part of special circumstance murder. cases seeking capital punishment should. be reserved for the most egregious. instances. And we determined after a.

thorough review that the death penalty. was not the appropriate resolution in. this case. And I'll say this also from a. legal point of view, a death penalty. case can be a lot more complicated. It. can be more time consuming. It can take. longer to find a jury, potentially more. costly as well. Well, so there's a. number of different factors you have to. take into consideration. However, I will. say essentially they gave up a. bargaining chip, right? We saw it in the. Kobberger case. You move forward with. the death penalty case. You move forward. with the death penalty on the table.

maybe as a way to get the defendant to. say, "I'll plead guilty if you take the. death penalty off the table. Spare the. expense, the heartache, the pain of a. trial." That's no longer the case. They. took it away. And one more thing to. think about as we're talking about his. siblings, Jake. Okay. His brother sat. down for an interview with KABC last. month. First sitdown interview since the. killings. And he said in part, quote, "It manifests into rage into how unfair. this was, how I didn't get a say in what.

happened. I didn't get to stop it from. happening. I had no choice in the. matter. I just have to accept the. reality of it." And to me, that is just. one of the most infuriating parts of all. of this. And that is just so sad to be. thinking about. So difficult. Now, with. that in mind, I want to talk about what. happened in court today. Okay. Okay. So, to talk about what happened, let me. bring on long crime reporter Julia Deng, who is not only in that courtroom. Julia, you were just telling me you had. quite the seat.

>> I did. I did, Jesse. And that was. because we actually got the last. available media seat in that courtroom. So, I was in a chair basically pushed up. against the back wall directly behind. the defendant. So, we saw him being. walked out. Um, I was looking at the. back of his head during the actual. hearing. But let me tell you, when I saw. his face on his way back out of that. courtroom, he didn't look great. His.

hair is kind of grown out this time. He's still wearing that brown LA County. jail uniform. Um, I couldn't tell if he. had the padded uh suicide prevention. smok on this time. He was wearing that. in December uh during his initial court. appearance where cameras actually were. not allowed to show him. He was wearing. that too in February during his. arraignment. Uh, today though, he was. pale. He looked a little bit thinner.

than I recall seeing him last and he had. these terrible dark circles around his. eyes. I don't know if he's sleeping in. jail. Um I I have heard that he is. essentially in solitary confinement. there. But when he spoke, Jesse, in. court, he spoke clearly. He spoke very. calmly. He didn't say much. Um he just. waved time. He consented to a general. time waiver. So, this case very likely.

will not be going to trial anytime soon. In fact, before the hearing this. morning, uh the district attorney, Nathan Hawkman, actually told the press. outside the courthouse he doesn't. anticipate this case actually going to. trial before 2027. So, that leaves plenty of time to hash. out all the other issues that have come. up, including whether Nick Reiner, the.

first degree murder defendant in this. case, can access his trust fund to. perhaps pay for private defense. Right. now, he's still being repped by an LA. County public defender. >> So, is that what happened in court. today? Did they talk about whether or. not he could get access to his funds? Did they talk about a timeline of this. trial? Talk to us about what happened. today. >> So, what actually happened in court. today, Jesse, actually pertains more to.

us, uh, the news media covering this. case. They did not talk about whether or. not Nick Reiner can access uh, the. contested trust fund money. that's. actually being argued um as part of a. different case in probate court. There. is going to be another hearing in that. case um in October. I believe the date. on that right now is October 23rd. But. what they talked about for the bulk of. this hearing uh which didn't go on for.

very long. I think it was just about 15. or 20 minutes. that they talked about. sealing and then potentially unsealing. portions of the grand jury transcripts. So, what has already been unsealed, what. we do have is the grand jury indictment. Uh, and just to recap, that was returned. by a grand jury after secret proceedings. on July 20th. Uh, within weeks, August.

12th, that indictment was unsealed. But. what was actually said in court, what is. contained in those transcripts, we. haven't seen. And according to Nathan. Hawkman, the district attorney, it. sounds like the prosecution moved to. seal those transcripts plus the exhibits. uh that were shown during the grand jury. proceedings. This the siblings of the. defendant uh little sister Romy and. older brother Jake, they requested those. transcripts to be sealed. So during the.

hearing today, Judge Sam OT uh he. actually put a couple dates on the. calendar. He says members of the media. who wish to oppose his conditional. motion to seal those transcripts, uh. they can file a notice of intent to do. so by September 22nd. And Jesse, I do. believe I'm going to talk to our legal. team um about whether or not we will be. part of that that motion, if you will.

After that happens, we have 8 days for. one media entity to decide to file. notice intent to be the member. essentially leading that litigation. So, this is a conversation that's going to. be continued in court on October 7th. That is the next hearing date that's. been set in this case. And the heart of. this matter is whether or not the public. is going to be able to access those.

grand jury transcripts, whether the. public will have access to what actually. happened before that grand jury that led. to this indictment. And again, he was. indicted on the initial charges. Two. counts of firstdegree murder in the. stabbing deaths of his parents, Ron. Reinry and Michelle Reinry. Now, on top. of that, there are special. circumstances. One was lying in weight. That's a new one that was added. Another.

special circumstance is the mere fact. that there were multiple murders in this. case. So, both of those circumstances. make this felony case eligible for the. death penalty. But the big breaking. update that we got this morning from. Nathan Hawkman, the district attorney, is that they do not plan to pursue the. death penalty, right? And it sounds like. that's because they spoke with the. siblings and they made it clear uh they. were not in support of that.

>> Yeah, we talked about that earlier. And. just focusing on the siblings for a. minute. Do we have an idea about what. the content of the grand jury. transcripts they object to? You know, there's there had to have been something. there had to been some aspect of the. testimony, the evidence that was. presented during the grand jury. proceeding, which you and I both know is. is more of a one-sided proceeding. It's. just the prosecution presenting uh what. they claim is sufficient evidence to. support the charges of probable cause. Is it the graphic nature of the crime. scene? Is it what happened to Rob and.

Michelle? Is there aspects of that that. they do not want to be released? They do. not want the public to know what. happened to their parents or or is it. possible they testified or someone else. testified in these proceedings? Do we. have any idea about why they are. objecting specifically to the contents. of these grand jury proceedings uh being. publicly released? >> No, Jesse, we don't know. uh for sure.

why Jake and Romy Reiner, the siblings. of defendant Nick Reiner, opposed uh. this grand jury transcript being. unsealed and and essentially made. available to the public. They didn't. indicate exactly why, but I think. everything you laid out there, everything that we're theorizing, that's. probably part of it. you know, we're. talking about two people, two victims. who were well-loved, wellresected, uh, not just in the entertainment. industry here in Los Angeles, uh, but.

throughout this Southern California. community. So, I I think some of the. details, um, that we've gleaned from. from public statements, you know, what. we know about the investigation tells us. this was incredibly brutal and graphic. and Romy, the younger sister, was. actually the one who may have discovered. her parents' bodies. So, just the the. nature of what is being alleged here, that alone may be enough to make these.

grieving family members, these grieving. children and and siblings want to keep. those details under wraps. There also. may be a motivation here to preserve the. legacy of Rob and Michelle Ryder. Um, and and for this to be attached to their. names and their body of work. I I'm not. sure that's what Jake and Romy would. want. Um, but we don't actually know why.

they have not said. Um, and if these. transcripts do in fact become public, we. may be able to glean for ourselves just. by reading what happened during the. grand jury proceedings why family. members didn't want some of this coming. out. But I do believe both siblings were. called to testify uh before that grand. jury. >> You mentioned that Nick Reiner spoke in. court. What exactly did he say? >> He waved time, so he didn't say much. It.

was basically just yes, yes, your honor. He was responsive. So, when he was. spoken to, you know, he maintained eye. contact. It looked to me like uh he did. with the judge. Um he acknowledged when. his public defender, Kimberly Green, was. speaking with him. Um they had a brief. sidebar conversation at one point. Um I. I think when she was laying out for him. the timeline of next steps and what a. general time waiver meant, he seemed.

very calm. Uh he sounded like he was. speaking coherently clearly, but again. he did not look well rested. He was. slumped over uh hunched over in his. seat. He was slouching. He was very. pale. He looks like he's lost a bit of. weight and he had dark circles around. his eyes. That was what struck me. He. looks absolutely exhausted. Jesse, >> was there anybody in court that you.

recognized? Were the family me were I. don't know if his siblings were there? Was there any family members there? Were. there any supporters of Robin Michelle, any supporters of Nick Reiner, or was it. mostly media? >> There were no siblings there. I looked. for Jake Reiner. I looked for Romy. Reiner. They were not present this. morning. I also looked for Annie Reiner, an aunt of Nick Reiner. Um I I'm not. sure we could call her a supporter, but. she's certainly a relative um who who.

has been close with Nick in the past, and I I was curious as to whether or not. we might see her today. I didn't see. her. I also did not see Allan Jackson. this morning. He wasn't at the. courthouse. he wasn't in the courtroom. And the reason I was looking for him is. because although he has formally. withdrawn from this case, he's no longer. representing this client. Um he was. actually in the last probate hearing.

And Allan Jackson, the original private. defense attorney in this case, he has. indicated he might actually come back um. if he's able to. And we have all. speculated um media members covering. this, we have all speculated that has. something to do with whether or not Nick. Reiner can pay for his services. So. again, the next hearing in that case in. probate court um is set for October 23rd.

and we do expect Alan Jackson to be. there. And look, that's not surprising. considering it appears that they would. be going with a mental health defense, which can be costly. You would have to. get experts. You would have to have. evaluations if that's the way they go. And so, I wouldn't be surprised about. that. In terms of a timetable, you've. talked about the waiver. You've spoken. about the idea that we wouldn't expect a. trial um until at least 2027. What about. this potential motion to have the.

charges dismissed? Did you hear anything. about that? cuz I think Nathan Hawkman. referenced that earlier today, too. >> He did. It sounds to me like prosecutors. are trying to anticipate everything the. defense might do, every motion media. entities might make. So, what uh DA. Nathan Hawkman said this morning during. the press conference was that they are. anticipating defense to file a motion to. dismiss the grand jury indictment. Um,

now it's it's a pretty typical strategic. move. That motion has not been filed. yet, but it sounds like if or when that. motion is filed, prosecutors are ready. They plan to proceed as planned. Uh, the. only big development, the only big. change, if you will, is that they have. now definitively stated they do not plan. to pursue the death penalty. >> Yeah. And I Were you surprised by that? Were there rumblings of that happening?

Because look, first of all, TMZ. seemingly reported that even before. Nathan Hawkman officially announced it. But that was a potential bargaining. chip, right? We've seen that in other. cases where prosecutors could say, "We'll take the death penalty off the. table if you agree to plead guilty. If. you agree to, you know, not have this. family go through a very long public. trial." Um, we saw what happened with. Coberger. That has now been taken off. the table. Um, you heard I I talked.

about this before. Nathan Oman was a bit. vague about what it was, but perhaps it. was because of the siblings. Perhaps it. was because of the stance that Michelle. and Rob Reiner took on the death. penalty. But were you surprised by this? Was there rumblings that this was going. to be happening before today? >> I didn't hear any rumblings from legal. sources, from players actually involved. in in the prosecution or investigation. of this case. But I'm not surprised, Jesse. My takeaway from that move is.

that family members, the Reiner family, they have a lot of say and sway in how. this moves forward. It sounds like they. had a conversation with the district. attorney. And after they made their. stance clear on how they want that piece. of this to proceed, it sounds like the. district attorney um adhered to their. wishes or their recommendations. >> So, we're talking about the Riners, not.

Robin Michelle, but Jake and Romy having. a lot of pull here. >> Julia Deng, thank you for coming on. Thank you for being our eyes and our. ears about what's happening inside that. courtroom. Um, this is going to be. interesting to follow. This is going to. be interesting to see what happens next. It is a tragic, sad, awful case on so. many different levels. And we will see. if those grand jury transcripts are made. public because they would provide an. indication about what the potential.

evidence in this case is against Nick. Reiner as it progresses. But thank you. so much, Julia. It was good to see you. >> All right, everybody. That's all we have. for you right now here on Sidebar. [music]. Thank you so much for joining us. Like. and subscribe and I'll see you next. time.