Rob Reiner’s son Nick Reiner, 32, entered a Los Angeles court to plead not guilty to killing his parents on Monday, where he was also photographed for the first time since he was charged with their deaths.
The middle child of the Hollywood legend and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, was arrested just hours after their bodies were found on Dec. 14. The couple was discovered stabbed to death at their Brentwood home by their youngest daughter, Romy Reiner, 28.
Reiner entered the plea on Monday with a public defender by his side, according to USA Today, after his first lawyer, Alan Jackson, resigned from the case without explanation last month.
The L.A. district attorney, Nathan Hochman, has not ruled out the death penalty, he told the outlet. “Along those lines, we take the process in which we determine whether or not the death penalty should be sought extremely seriously, and it goes through a very rigorous process.”
He added, “When we get all this information, it will be subject to not only a rigorous analysis, but many of the most experienced individuals in the DA office with death penalty experience will be helping me evaluate that information.”
Hochman also told reporters Monday that his office was still awaiting the coroner’s report. Reiner’s next court appearance is scheduled for April 29. The site reports that Reiner spoke only once during the brief preceding, saying “Yes” when asked by the judge whether he understood.
Reiner wore a brown jumpsuit to the arraignment after wearing a suicide prevention smock during his court appearance last month.
The appearance comes after a report from TMZ claimed the late director’s son had been taking schizophrenia medication that made him “erratic and dangerous” in the weeks before the murders. Sources told the site that Reiner was being treated for the disorder as well as his substance abuse issues at the same time at a specialized facility.
The Reiners attended a Christmas party thrown by Conan O’Brien the night before their murders, where a source told Rolling Stone the couple brought Nick along to “keep an eye on him,” amidst his ongoing addiction struggles. Sources present told the site that the 32-year-old exhibited “anti-social behavior” at the party.
O’Brien broke his silence about seeing the Reiners just before their deaths on Friday. “My wife and I were seeing them a lot,” he told The New Yorker’s Radio Hour. “To have that experience of saying goodnight to somebody and having them leave and then find out the next day that they’re gone… I think I was in shock for quite a while afterwards.”
The Reiners left behind two biological children—daughter, Romy, and oldest son, Jake, 32, as well as Rob’s adopted daughter, Tracy Reiner, 61.
