LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors will not seek the death penalty against Nick Reiner, charged with murder in the killings of his parents, Rob and Michele Singer Reiner, after they consulted with the victims’ loved ones, officials said Tuesday.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said he and senior prosecutors in his office considered aggravating and mitigating factors and family wishes in the case before he came to his conclusion.
“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 told reporters outside a downtown courthouse.
“That means that the maximum sentence that Mr. Reiner will be looking at is life without the possibility of parole.”
Hochman didn’t disclose what punishment the family had sought. The victims were both well-known death penalty abolitionists.
“We did speak with Nick Reiner’s siblings, [and] they made their views very clear,” Hochman said. “We took their views into consideration in ultimately deciding not to seek the death penalty.”
Reiner, 33, is accused of murdering his father, celebrated director and actor Rob Reiner, and mother, photographer and producer Michele Singer Reiner, nine months ago.
Reiner is charged with two counts of first-degree murder stemming from the fatal stabbings of his parents inside their Los Angeles home in December.
His siblings are opposed to unsealing grand jury transcripts, Hochman said.
“They have expressed a strong desire for these transcripts to remain sealed,” he said. “They basically have said that the disclosure to the public and the media of the details and evidence of the killing of their parents will cause them additional trauma and harm.”
The DA’s office does not have a stance on that issue — but it concedes that disclosing grand jury records would not harm either side of the case, Hochman said.
“We do not believe that unsealing the transcripts will cause such prejudice” to either side, he said. “However, we have deferred to the court the decision on this ruling of whether or not the transcript should be unsealed.”
Shortly after the news conference, Reiner appeared for a brief pretrial hearing before Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta.
Prosecutors formally told the court that they will not seek capital punishment. Deputy DA Habib Balian said defense lawyers will soon receive that determination in writing.
“A letter is forthcoming, Your Honor,” Balian told the court.
Reiner had a considerably different look Tuesday compared with previous appearances — cleanshaven and with a full head of hair.
Reiner, wearing a brown jail jumpsuit with a long white T shirt underneath, appeared to be focused and listened carefully to the judge and lawyers, in contrast with previous hearings, when he would fidget and squirm.
Ohta asked news media companies represented in court Tuesday to file their likely opposition to the family’s desire to seal grand jury transcripts by Sept. 22.
Both sides were ordered to return to court Oct. 7 to set a schedule for arguments on the grand jury transcripts and other pretrial issues.
Ohta asked Reiner whether he agreed to waive his right to a speedy trial, and he said “yes.”
It has been nine months and a day since the slayings were uncovered shortly after a massage therapist went to the Reiner family home for a scheduled appointment.
No one answered the door on Dec. 14, so the therapist contacted the couple’s daughter and Brentwood neighbor, Romy Reiner, officials said.
The daughter then went to her parents’ house to find her father’s bloodied body. First responders rushed to the house and found both slain parents inside.
Nick Reiner was arrested later that evening after police spotted him strolling near the University of Southern California, about 13 miles from the crime scene.
Madeline Morrison reported from Los Angeles and David K. Li from New York City.
