Nick Reiner, the youngest son of director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele, has been charged with first-degree murder after the Hollywood couple was found dead in their home.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced the charges on Tuesday afternoon, two days after Reiner was arrested on suspicion of murder. The Reiners were found dead in their Los Angeles home on Sunday afternoon.
Reiner, who was arrested near Exposition Park in Los Angeles, is accused of using a knife to carry out the alleged murders.
“These charges will be two counts of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of multiple murders. He also faces a special allegation that he personally used a dangerous and deadly weapon, that being a knife,” Hochman said.
Now that prosecutors have decided to file charges, Reiner is expected to appear in court and enter a plea.
“He is going through medical clearance, something that everybody who gets arrested and gets held in a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department jail goes through,” Hochman said. “Once he is medically cleared, he will be brought to court to be arraigned on these charges. At that point, he will enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.”
Reiner, who is being held without bail, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty.
“No decision at this point has been made with respect to the death penalty,” Hochman said.
Reiner was initially scheduled to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom at 8:30 a.m. local time on Tuesday. However, he did not receive medical clearance to move from the jail to the courthouse, his attorney Alan Jackson told The New York Times.
Reiner has a well-known history of drug addiction, a struggle that began when he was a teenager and saw him enter rehab on several occasions, beginning when he was 15. Reiner has also said that he experienced homelessness a number of times in several states.
Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell called the case “hearbreaking.”
“This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones, but for our entire city. We extend our deepest condolences to all of those who are affected by this tragedy,” he told reporters on Tuesday afternoon.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Source: independent.co.uk