Nick Reiner, 33 years old (or 32, depending on which outlet you trust, and isn’t that a funny little detail for a story about a guy whose identity is the whole point), stood in a courtroom Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to murdering his parents. Rob Reiner, 78, the Hollywood director who gave you When Harry Met Sally and spent decades lecturing half the country about politics from his pedestal. Michele Reiner, 70, his wife. Stabbed to death in their $20 million Brentwood home on December 14.
A grand jury handed down the indictment on July 20. It sat sealed for three weeks. Why? Don’t ask. The important thing is that it’s unsealed now, and it comes loaded with special circumstances: multiple murders, lying in wait, personal use of a knife. The indictment calls the crimes “cruel” and “vicious” and labels the victims “particularly vulnerable.” DA Nathan Hochman called it “a profound betrayal.”
Here’s what they’re not dwelling on. Hours before Rob and Michele Reiner were killed, Nick got into a “very loud argument” with his parents at a holiday party. Hosted by Conan O’Brien. Nick also had some kind of confrontation with Bill Hader at the same party and stormed out. A holiday party full of Hollywood’s biggest names, and a man allegedly goes home and stabs his parents to death that same night. Nobody at that party saw anything worth mentioning for eight months? Nobody followed up on the screaming match? Funny how that works when the guest list reads like a SAG Awards afterparty.
Then there’s the money. Nick filed a petition in June trying to get $1.5 million from a trust he says he was owed when he turned 30. He’s 32 or 33 now, which means that money has been sitting there for years. The trustee gave him, in his own lawyers’ words, “a shifting series of excuses” including “unsubstantiated concerns” about his “competence.” His high-profile defense attorney, Alan Jackson, quit the case because he wasn’t getting paid. Nick is now represented by a public defender.
SAMHSA from Rockville (Public domain) via Wikimedia CommonsSo let me get this straight. A kid from a $20 million Brentwood estate, whose father was one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, can’t access his own trust fund, can’t pay his lawyer, and ends up with a public defender while the DA rushes a grand jury indictment to skip the preliminary hearing and go straight to trial. Ask yourself who benefits from speed here. Ask yourself who benefits from a defendant who can’t afford proper counsel.
I’m not telling you Nick Reiner is innocent. I’m telling you the official story has gaps you could drive a Brinks truck through, and nobody in the press seems interested in looking at any of them. A holiday party at Conan O’Brien’s house. A confrontation with Bill Hader. A trust fund being withheld. A high-priced lawyer walking away. A grand jury indictment that skips the public preliminary hearing.
If this were a family in a trailer park, every detail would be picked apart. But because the names are famous and the house costs $20 million, we’re supposed to accept the press release and move on.
The pretrial hearing is September 15. Let’s see what actually comes out when somebody asks a real question under oath.