What to KnowNick Reiner was indicted by a grand jury on murder charges in the killings of his parents, director Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Reiner. The charges include a special circumstances allegation of multiple murders and an additional allegation that a knife was used in the killings.A hearing was scheduled for Oct. 21 to determine whether grand jury transcripts, records of the proceedings, should be unsealed. Reiner was charged on Dec. 16 with first-degree murder.
A hearing over grand jury transcripts in the case of Nick Reiner, indicted on murder charges in the deaths of his parents Michele and Rob Reiner, was scheduled for later this month during a brief hearing Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom.
The Oct. 21 hearing will focus on records of what was presented during grand jury proceedings that led to Reiner’s indictment and whether they will be unsealed. A judge earlier ordered the transcripts to be conditionally sealed, pending the hearing on the request by the defense.
At Wednesday’s hearing, a judge made clear that the burden is on the defense to demonstrated how releasing the transcripts would prejudice the defendant’s ability to receive a fair trial. The judge also noted the high-profile case generated significant media attention, and that such coverage is neither unexpected nor avoidable.
Los Angeles County prosecutors earlier said their office would leave the motion by the defense to seal the grand jury transcripts up to the court.
Reiner appeared in court for Wednesday’s hearing.
Reiner, 33, was indicted on murder charges in the deaths of his famous 78-year-old Hollywood director father and 70-year-old photographer mother Dec. 14 at the couple’s Brentwood residence. The murder charges include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder while lying in wait, along with an allegation that he personally used a knife in the commission of the crime.
Special circumstance allegations can increase possible penalties at sentencing.
Reiner had been awaiting a hearing to determine whether there was enough evidence to allow the case against him to proceed to trial, but the grand jury indictment handed down in July and unsealed Aug. 12 places the case on a faster track. The indictment bypasses the need for a public preliminary hearing, which had been expected to take place sometime in the fall.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced last month his office will not seek the death penalty.
“In deciding whether or not the DA’s office was going to seek the death penalty, we have gone through a rigorous review, where we look at the aggravating factors as well as the mitigating factors,” Hochman said at a September news conference. “We have spoken to the victims’ family. We have spoken to prosecutors and law enforcement and have worked with the most senior people in the district attorney’s office. 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. That means the maximum sentence that Mr. Reiner will be looking at is life without the possibility of parole.”
Nick Reiner’s siblings, Romy and Jake, also oppose the unsealing of the transcripts, prosecutors Habib A. Balian and Jonathan Chung wrote in a court filing that noted that the two have expressed a strong desire for as much privacy as possible.
The 32-year-old was arrested on Dec. 15 after the tragic discovery of the bodies of his parents inside their Brentwood home. Reiner remains jailed without bail.
The medical examiner determined the Reiners’ deaths were caused by “multiple sharp force injuries.”
Nick Reiner is the second of the couple’s three children.
“Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day,” Jake and Romy Reiner said in a statement after the slayings. “The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren’t just our parents; they were our best friends,” the statement added.
The deaths of Rob Reiner, a celebrated director whose long list of successful films included “When Harry Met Sally…,” “A Few Good Men” and “This Is Spinal Tap,” and Michele Reiner, a talent photographer and producer, stunned the Hollywood community and led to an outpouring of tributes from entertainment industry colleagues, political figures and more. The family’s challenges with Nick, including battles with drug addiction, were well-documented.
Sources told NBC News that Nick Reiner was disruptive at the party. Robert Kovacik reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025.
In 2015, Rob and Nick Reiner worked on a coming-of-age film together called “Being Charlie.” Directed by Rob Reiner and co-written by Nick Reiner, the film explored the relationship between a son and father. In a 2016 interview with The Associated Press, they talked about the film.
“It forced us to understand ourselves better than we had,” Rob Reiner told the AP. “I told Nick while we were making it, I said, ‘You know it doesn’t matter, whatever happens to this thing, we won already. This has already been good.’ We’ve worked through a lot of stuff.”
Photos: Celebrated Hollywood film director Rob Reiner through the years
In September, the family appeared together at the Los Angeles premiere of “Spinal Tap 2: The End Continues.”
Nick Reiner has spoken publicly over the years about his struggles with drug addiction, which began in his teens. He told People in an interview in 2016 that he cycled in and out of treatment facilities with bouts of homelessness and relapses in between.
“I spent nights on the street. I spent weeks on the street. It was not fun,” Nick Reiner told People, adding that, “If I wanted to do it my way and not go to the programs they were suggesting, then I had to be homeless.”