A plea of \u201cnot guilty\u201d is common at this stage, regardless of what the defence later does.<\/p>\n
Reiner, who remains in jail and has not been granted bail, was ordered to return to court on April 29.<\/p>\n
An arraignment would usually take place much sooner, but Reiner was unable to appear at the first scheduled attempt.<\/p>\n
Another hearing last month was halted after the court heard that lawyer Alan Jackson was no longer representing Reiner.<\/p>\n
The judge appointed an attorney from the public defender\u2019s office in his stead.<\/p>\n
Jackson, a high-profile attorney who has previously represented Hollywood clients including Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, told reporters he was \u201clegally and ethically\u201d barred from explaining why he had stepped back.<\/p>\n
\u201cCircumstances beyond our control, but more importantly, circumstances beyond Nick\u2019s control have dictated that, sadly, it\u2019s made it impossible for us to continue our representation of Nick,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Jackson said he and his team remained committed to Reiner\u2019s best interests and had faith that the legal process would \u201creveal the true facts of the circumstances surrounding this case\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve investigated this matter top to bottom, back to front. What we\u2019ve learned \u2013 and you can take this to the bank \u2013 is that pursuant to the laws of this state, pursuant to the law in California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder.\u201d<\/p>\n
If convicted as charged, Reiner could face life in prison without parole, or the death penalty, although California does not routinely carry out capital punishment.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters outside court his office would be examining the circumstances around the killings before making a decision on whether to ask for the death penalty if Reiner is convicted.<\/p>\n
Erratic behaviour<\/p>\n
Reiner, who lived in a guest house on his parents\u2019 property, had attended a party at the home of comedian Conan O\u2019Brien on December 13 with his parents, where some guests reportedly spoke of his behaving erratically.<\/p>\n
The New York Times, citing a source close to the family, said the couple had been due to dine with former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle on Sunday evening, and had seemingly booked an in-home massage for that day.<\/p>\n
The paper said that when no one answered the door for the appointment, the therapist contacted the couple\u2019s daughter, Romy Reiner.<\/p>\n
When she arrived with a friend, she discovered her father\u2019s body, and emergency services were called. Paramedics told her that her mother\u2019s body was also at the property.<\/p>\n
Police arrested Nick Reiner several kilometres away from the scene of the crime later that night.<\/p>\n
Rob Reiner, the son of legendary comedian Carl Reiner, started his showbiz career in acting.<\/p>\n
He won fame as the oafish son-in-law Michael \u201cMeathead\u201d Stivic on groundbreaking 1970s sitcom All in the Family, before transitioning to directing.<\/p>\n
As a director, he struck Hollywood gold.<\/p>\n
His output included 1984\u2019s rock music mockumentary This is Spinal Tap, fantasy gem The Princess Bride from 1987, and seminal coming-of-age movie Stand By Me.<\/p>\n
A Few Good Men, starring Hollywood heavyweights Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.<\/p>\n
– Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A plea of \u201cnot guilty\u201d is common at this stage, regardless of what the defence later does. Reiner,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1349,3936,8609,156,11784,3368,78,55623,435,4275,111,139,5006,69,3766,3373,3367,116559,117643,77461,22639,15163,61],"class_list":["post-301130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-court","tag-director","tag-double","tag-entertainment","tag-fatal","tag-guilty","tag-in","tag-la","tag-movie","tag-murder","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-not","tag-nz","tag-parents","tag-pleaded","tag-pleads","tag-reiner","tag-reiners","tag-rob","tag-son","tag-stabbing","tag-to"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301130"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301130\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}