THE son of iconic filmmaker Rob Reiner and Michele Singer has formally been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and faces a possible death sentence.
Nathan Hochman, the district attorney of Los Angeles, unveiled the charges against Nick Reiner, who is accused of brutally murdering his parents with a knife in their sprawling $13.5 million Brentwood home on Sunday.
Hochman said Nick would be charged with special circumstances, which can add time to any sentence.
“Charges are not evidence,” the district attorney said.
“Evidence is something we will be presenting in a court of law to meet the standard of proof we meet at every criminal case, which is beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Nick faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, if convicted.
Hochman said his office will consider the death penalty in Nick’s case.
“Prosecuting these cases involving family members are some of the most challenging and heart-wrenching cases that this office faces because of the intimate and often brutal nature of the crimes involved,” the district attorney added.
Romy, the 27-year-old daughter of Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Singer, 68, reportedly stumbled upon the gruesome scene after her parents were attacked inside their home.
Reiner and his wife were found in their bed with their throats slashed and could have been asleep when they were allegedly murdered by their son, 32, according to the Daily Mail.
The Los Angeles Police Department has not disclosed details about Reiner and Singer’s deaths.
Jim McDonnell, the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, called the horrific killings “heartbreaking and deeply personal.”
COURT HEARING POSTPONED
Nick’s scheduled court hearing on Tuesday morning was canceled on what his attorney, Alan Jackson, said was a procedural issue.
“Every inmate has to be medically cleared before they can be transported to court. He has not been medically cleared. It’s just a procedural issue,” Jackson told reporters outside the courthouse in Los Angeles.
The famed attorney most recently represented Karen Read in her retrial over the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend, for which she was acquitted.
PUBLIC ROW
It’s believed Nick brutally killed his parents after the trio got into a heated argument at a holiday party on Saturday evening that several guests overheard.
A source disclosed to The U.S. Sun that attendees at the Hanukkah party were “shocked” when they learned about the murders, but “once they heard Nick was implicated, no one was surprised.”
“He could have done it not long after they went home, meaning he went there and slit their throats in the middle of the night,” the Daily Mail reported.
“They were in bed when it happened.”
Reiner reportedly told people at the holiday party that he was “scared” for his son’s mental well-being.
“They had had an argument at Conan’s [O’Brien] holiday party, and Rob had been telling people that they’re scared for Nick and scared that his mental state was deteriorating,” a longtime friend of the family told the New York Post.
‘GORY SCENE’
When she discovered her parents’ bodies at around 3:30 pm on Sunday, Romy reportedly told police that her brother “should be a suspect” because he is “dangerous.”
Romy told investigators that Nick had been living at their parents’ Brentwood home at the time, but was nowhere to be found when Reiner and Singer were discovered dead, according to TMZ.
Nick reportedly checked into a motel close to the Santa Monica pier and was eventually arrested at 9:15 pm on Sunday.
Alan Hamilton, the deputy police chief at the LAPD, said Nick was arrested near Exposition Park, about 14 miles from where his parents were found dead.
Investigators raided Nick’s motel room that he had been staying in and found a shower “full of blood,” blood smeared all over the bed, and the windows blacked out with the bedsheets, the Daily Mail reported.
Nick is reportedly being held on suicide watch at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles.
He was initially being held on $4 million bail, but that has since been revoked, according to Los Angeles police.
NICK’S STRUGGLE
Nick, who is rarely seen in public, had previously been outspoken about his struggles with drug addiction and opened up in a 2016 interview with People.
The 32-year-old disclosed that he first went to rehab when he was aged 15, and after that, 17 additional stints followed.
He admitted that his battles with drug addiction led to him being homeless at one point, saying, “When I was out there, I could’ve died.”
“It’s all luck. You roll the dice and you hope you make it,” he told People at the time.
Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/15648970/rob-reiner-michele-singer-son-nick-court/
