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Within the years earlier than Rob and Michele Reiner had been killed, Los Angeles police made not less than two visits to their dwelling in Brentwood.
On Feb. 25, 2019, officers carried out a welfare test after somebody known as 911 at 9:51 p.m. Based on LAPD information reviewed by The Instances, officers arrived on the deal with at 10:12 p.m., accomplished the decision and reported the incident to an unidentified supervisor.
Then on Sept. 27, 2019, police responded at 4:24 p.m. to a psychological well being–associated name for service involving an unidentified man. Officers later knowledgeable a supervisor that they discovered “no indication of psychological sickness,” in line with division information.
The calls had been pretty innocuous and usually wouldn’t increase eyebrows.
However authorities now allege the couple’s son, who lived within the guesthouse on their property, fatally stabbed them of their master suite final month.
The psychological state of Nick Reiner, who struggled for years with substance abuse and had been prescribed a schizophrenia drug, has now taken heart stage in his authorized battle.
Prosecutors haven’t detailed their case, and Reiner’s authorized staff has not offered his personal story. It’s nonetheless attainable his protection may current compelling proof that Nick Reiner didn’t commit the killings. But when the case is powerful, the trial may revolve round Reiner’s psychological state and the size of sentence.
Prosecutors charged Nick Reiner, 32, with two counts of first-degree homicide with particular circumstances for the killings within the early hours of Dec. 14. Authorities haven’t supplied a attainable motive within the case.
Reiner is again in court docket Wednesday and is now not thought-about to be a suicide danger. He has not but entered a plea.
Authorized consultants say Reiner’s lawyer, Alan Jackson, is probably going now working to judge his shopper’s historical past of psychological well being and way of thinking on the time of the crime. These findings may very well be the premise for discussions of a plea deal or the start of an madness protection, attorneys say.
There are additionally different defenses that Jackson may pursue primarily based on his psychological historical past and attainable adjustments in his treatment and different elements which may not have been made public but, together with what might need triggered the killings, mentioned Laurie Levenson, professor of legislation at Loyola Legislation Faculty and a former federal prosecutor.
“There’s rather a lot nonetheless to be accomplished to work this case up,” Levenson mentioned. “He can both attempt to go for a not responsible by purpose of madness, or he might need testimony that he wasn’t in a position to type the psychological state for the crime due to his treatment and his prior psychological background.”
If his protection can show that Reiner couldn’t type the “intent to kill due to what’s occurring together with his treatment or together with his illness” then it may very well be a method to get a lesser cost resembling second-degree homicide, Levenson mentioned. With first-degree homicide costs, prosecutors should present that the accused acted with premeditation or malice.
“It’s simply manner too early to say that that is an all or nothing case — that he’s going to be discovered responsible of homicide one or discovered not responsible. There are more likely to be different choices,” Levenson mentioned.
If convicted of first-degree homicide, Reiner is going through attainable life in jail with out the potential of parole or the loss of life penalty. Prosecutors haven’t decided about whether or not they are going to search capital punishment within the case.
If Reiner is discovered not responsible by purpose of madness then he would seemingly be dedicated to a psychological well being facility. And he may sooner or later have the ability to present that his situation has improved and have outpatient standing or be launched, Levenson mentioned.
Saul Faerstein, a scientific and forensic psychiatrist and professor of psychiatry at UCLA, mentioned docs will seemingly attempt to piece collectively the times main as much as the killings to find out what sort of psychological state Reiner was in on the time.
“We’d need to know what was occurring on Friday or Saturday. Was he starting to decompensate? Was he performing out of character? Was he doing and saying issues that shocked individuals or frightened individuals? Was he saying issues that made no sense?” Faerstein mentioned.
Reiner’s capacity to test right into a lodge and journey throughout Los Angeles the place he was seen at a fuel station and finally arrested isn’t essentially an indication that he was of sound thoughts, Faerstein mentioned.
“These issues don’t require a whole lot of cognitive operate, and they are often accomplished even in a delusional state,” he mentioned.
There have been a number of examples of circumstances in California through which costs have been lowered due to psychological well being elements.
In 2023, Bryn Spejcher was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for killing Chad O’Melia, a person she’d been relationship, with kitchen knives inside his dwelling in Thousand Oaks. They’d been smoking marijuana out of O’Melia’s bong, which brought about Spejcher to undergo from cannabis-induced psychosis.
The Ventura County District Lawyer’s Workplace had initially filed a homicide cost towards her, however lowered the cost to involuntary manslaughter after the prosecution’s consultants agreed that she was in a psychotic state introduced on by the marijuana intoxication. Prosecutors couldn’t show malice within the case.
Spejcher was sentenced to probation and neighborhood service. She’s within the strategy of interesting her conviction, court docket information present.
Michael Goldstein, a Los Angeles protection lawyer who represented Spejcher, mentioned that if Reiner attorneys can doc a historical past of psychological well being points, it may assist his possibilities.
“Primarily based on details which were revealed publicly, [not guilty by reason of insanity] seems to be a viable protection,” Goldstein mentioned. “If profitable, that may lead to long-term hospitalization. It’s nonetheless early within the course of and Mr. Jackson made it clear there are important points being explored. Time will inform.”
In a case in 2010, Jennifer Lynn Bigham was discovered not responsible of homicide and baby abuse by purpose of madness after authorities mentioned she drowned her 3-year-old daughter in a bath at a relative’s dwelling within the Central Valley.
Medical doctors had decided Bigham was affected by extreme psychological sickness on the time of her daughter’s loss of life. After roughly three years of remedy in 2013, a decide ordered her to be launched from custody as a result of docs mentioned she was now not insane.
It’s attainable, Levenson mentioned, that the protection will have the ability to current compelling proof of psychological dysfunction to prosecutors to resolve the case earlier than trial. It’s additionally attainable the case will go to trial and he may very well be discovered not responsible by purpose of madness and dedicated versus serving jail time.
Even when he’s dedicated, sooner or later any issues he’s recognized with may very well be handled and he may very well be launched, Levenson mentioned.
Although madness defenses in lots of circumstances usually are not profitable, primarily based on the details identified on the time, this case may very well be an exception, consultants say.
“It’s a fairly basic of a state of affairs the place you have got what seems to be like a extremely horrific, possibly premeditated homicide, and then you definately begin studying extra about his background, that it doesn’t appear to be he’s making this up, that there appears to be some medical historical past of this, the change in treatment, and unexpectedly you say, ‘Wow, this could be that uncommon case the place psychological protection, or an madness protection, will succeed,” Levenson mentioned.
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