Nick Reiner has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his parents, film director Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner.
The 78-year-old filmmaker – known for Hollywood classics including This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally – and his wife, 70, were found murdered in their home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles on December 14.
Later that day, their son Nick, 32, was arrested in connection with their deaths and he was later charged with two counts of first-degree murder with “special circumstances”.
Today (February 23), Nick Reiner appeared at Los Angeles Superior Court and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges. He spoke only once, agreeing to a future court appearance on April 29.
His charges could carry the death penalty or life without parole is he is convicted. He is currently being held without bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles.
Outside the court, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said his team had not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.
The death certificates recorded that Rob Reiner’s body was found at 15:45 and Michele Singer Reiner’s one minute later. The cause of death for both is given as “multiple sharp force injuries” with the circumstances described as “homicide” and “with knife, by another”. The interval between the onset of the attack and death is given as “minutes”, while the time and date of death is recorded as “unknown”.
It is believed that the Reiners had been attending a party hosted by Conan O’Brien the night before the murders, where Nick is said to have got into a verbal argument with Bill Hader. The family allegedly left the party shortly afterwards.
O’Brien has spoken this week about the “shock” of their deaths. “My wife and I were seeing them a lot, and they were so — they were just such lovely people. And to have that experience of saying good night to somebody and having them leave and then find out the next day that they’re gone… I think I was in shock for quite a while afterward,” he said. “I mean, there’s no other word for it. It’s just very – it’s so awful. It’s just so awful.”
Tributes poured in for Reiner after the news broke in December, with the likes of Jack Black, Jane Fonda, Stephen King, Barack and Michelle Obama, Paul McCartney and Meg Ryan all penning moving odes to the late filmmaker.
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