New details have come to light about Nick Reiner’s mental health in the years before he was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his parents, Rob and Michele Singer Reiner.
According to a report published by the New York Times on Thursday, Reiner, 32, entered into a mental health conservatorship in 2020 that ended in 2021. The outlet cited confirmation from a clerk at the Los Angeles Superior Court.
Reiner’s appointed conservator, Steven Baer, told the outlet that mental illness “is an epidemic that is widely misunderstood, and this is a horrible tragedy.”
Reiner was allegedly put under an L.P.S. conservatorship — based on a 1967 law, the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act — that established a new process for involuntary psychiatric treatment in California, according to the report.
A conservatorship, known in some states as a guardianship, is an involuntary status usually reserved for senior or very ill people who are suffering from dementia or otherwise incapacitated and unable to make decisions for themselves. (Singer Britney Spears was famously under a conservatorship for 13 years.)
L.P.S. conservatorships typically originate from an involuntary psychiatric hospitalization and are initiated by a doctor.
The conservator makes decisions about medical matters, such as treatment and medications for the person under conservatorship, which typically lasts one year before the conservator may seek renewal.
Two people familiar with Reiner’s health spoke with the New York Times on condition of anonymity and alleged that Reiner had been diagnosed at different times with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, a serious mental illness blending symptoms of schizophrenia with mood disturbances.
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“The medication Mr. Reiner had been taking was effective, the other person said, but side effects led him to switch to a new medication about a month before his parents were killed,” the report claims.
In December, the Los Angeles Times reported that Reiner had been prescribed medication for schizophrenia. He is currently being held at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles.
Alan Jackson, the lawyer who had been representing Reiner, removed himself from the case last week ahead of Reiner’s second appearance in Los Angeles Superior Court for his scheduled arraignment.
Jackson announced that he was withdrawing from the case, and Reiner will now be represented by public defender Kimberly Greene.
“Be very, very clear about this — my team and I remain deeply, deeply committed to Nick Reiner and to his best interests,” Jackson told reporters outside the courthouse. “In fact, we know, we’re not just convinced, we know that the legal process will reveal the true facts of the circumstances surrounding this case.”
“What we’ve learned — and you can take this to the bank — is that pursuant to the law in this state, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder. Print that,” Jackson added.
Reiner’s scheduled arraignment has now been postponed to Feb. 23 following Jackson’s withdrawal from the case.
Following the news, Reiner’s family told the New York Times in a statement that they “have the utmost trust in the legal process and will not comment further on matters related to the legal proceedings.”
Reiner’s scheduled appearance in court took place more than three weeks after his 78-year-old father, a well-known movie director, and 70-year-old mother were found dead with stab wounds in their home in the upscale Brentwood section of Los Angeles on Dec. 14, 2025.
He did not enter a plea during a brief first court appearance on Dec. 17. Jackson told the court it was “too early” to enter a plea and that he had already agreed with the prosecution to delay the arraignment until January.
Reiner also faces a special allegation that he personally used a dangerous and deadly weapon — in this case a knife, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced at a news conference on Dec. 16.
These charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, or the death penalty. No decision about the death penalty has been made as of yet, Hochman added.
— With files from The Associated Press
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