The Los Angeles County District Attorney will not seek the death penalty against Nick Reiner, who stands accused of murdering his parents Rob Reiner and Michelle Singer Reiner last December.
“This decision reflects our careful judgment about the most appropriate path to take in this case and does not diminish the severity of these crimes,” DA Nathan J. Hochman said on Tuesday.
“I have spoken to the Reiner family and evaluated the mitigating and aggravating factors that are part of special circumstance murder cases,” Hochman said. ”Seeking capital punishment should be reserved for the most egregious instances, and we determined after a thorough review that the death penalty was not the appropriate resolution in this case.”
Reiner, 33, was indicted in August on two counts of murder with the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder by means of lying in wait. He also faces a special allegation that he used a dangerous and deadly weapon, a knife.
The accused has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to return to court on October 7 for a motions hearing. Prosecutors allege Reiner fatally stabbed his parents at their home in the affluent Brentwood suburb. He fled the scene and was arrested later that evening.
If convicted, Reiner faces life in state prison without the possibility of parole. He is being held on no bail.
No comments yet