Consequences for Actions: Accused Murderer Nick Reiner Gets Public Defender

You know, in my cynical, horrified-by-the-event heart, I was wondering how this was going to play out with the other Reiner siblings.

Who was going to pay the high-priced, flashy, obviously essential world-class defense lawyer who'd just been hired to defend your brother from capital murder charges he'd garnered while allegedly slaughtering your parents to death?

Turns out, nobody in the family was going to, so that answers that.

And the lawyer?

🚨 Nick Reiner's murder trial just took a shocking turn—his high-profile attorney Alan Jackson has abruptly exited the case. pic.twitter.com/VlsosPcYqj

— TMZ (@TMZ) January 7, 2026

Adios muchacho

🚨BREAKING LEGAL NEWS

Celebrity lawyer Alan Jackson is OUT as Nick Reiner’s lawyer!

Now he’s represented by public defender Kimberly Greene

Jackson says he had “no choice” but to withdraw

I speculate this is about money

As in - Nick can’t pay

But it could something else pic.twitter.com/oVp02e7caj

— Phil Holloway ✈️ (@PhilHollowayEsq) January 7, 2026

'Could' be something else?

Schmaybe, but probably not. And the indulged, drug-addicted son who stands accused of one of the most gruesome crimes in recent Hollywood history will now go to trial with a public defender like every common man he probably never thought he was.

...With his previous attorney withdrawing from the case, arraignment was postponed Wednesday for Rob Reiner’s youngest son, who is charged with murdering the famed filmmaker and his photographer wife Michele in their Brentwood home.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Teresa R. McGonigle ordered Nick Reiner, 32, to remain jailed without bail pending his next court appearance at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse for arraignment, which was delayed until Feb. 23 at the request of his new attorney, Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Greene.

...Outside court, Jackson told reporters, “Circumstances beyond our control but more importantly circumstances beyond Nick’s control have dictated that sadly it’s made it impossible for us to continue our representation of Nick. I’m legally and I’m ethically prohibited from explaining all of the reasons why.”

He said the public defender’s office will “very capably protect Nick Reiner’s interests as he moves forward through the system” and said he and his team have “investigated this matter top to bottom, back to front.”

Greene said Nick Reiner was “understanding that there was going to be a change in counsel,” but said she spoke with him for about 30 seconds and hasn’t had any in-depth conversations with him or had any contact with his family.

Reiner — who appeared in court in brown jail clothes — went along with the delay in his arraignment when asked by the judge if he understood his right to a speedy arraignment.

“Uh, yeah, I agree …,” he said.

The other Reiner children haven't had anything to say regarding their brother that I've been able to find. Not a word, and that's probably for the best as far as Nick's trial goes.

...In a statement released the day of their brother’s initial court appearance in December, Nick Reiner’s older brother, Jake, and younger sister, Romy, said, “Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day. 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.

“We are grateful for the outpouring of condolences, kindness, and support we have received not only from family and friends but people from all walks of life,” the two said. “We now ask for respect and privacy, for speculation to be tempered with compassion and humanity, and for our parents to be remembered for the incredible lives they lived and the love they gave.”

California also has something called 'The Slayer Rule' which, in most cases, prevents a person found guilty of murder from inheriting the victim's estate. Mr Jackson was most probably aware of Nick Reiner's lack of resources other than his parents' estate, so I wouldn't think this was the reason, although it does have an exception for a murderer found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Seems kind of a stretch, but this whole thing is macabre enough already. Who knows?

The Slayer Rule is a legal principle within trust and estate law that prevents someone who feloniously and intentionally kills another person from inheriting any part of their estate. California Probate Code Section 250 uses these specific terms, “feloniously and intentionally,” to establish a clear standard.

How Does the Slayer Rule Protect Your Estate?

• Upholding Your Wishes: The Slayer Rule ensures your estate is distributed according to your will or trust. The murderer cannot inherit anything you planned for others.
• Disqualification from Fiduciary Roles: The murderer is also disqualified from being appointed as an executor, trustee, guardian, conservator, or custodian of the estate. These roles involve managing your assets and making decisions on behalf of the beneficiaries you designated.

There's also speculation that whoever the estate executor is has tied up the funds the Reiner son would need for his defense if Jackson remained as his private attorney.

The general consensus, sans any sympathy whatsoever, is that Reiner's siblings weren't going to foot the bill defending the indefensible, whatever their relation to the murderer.

Looks like #NickReiner will have to face the consequences of his actions without his family’s money. Good ol’ #AlanJackson apparently doesn’t like getting paid in IOU’s from an addict. I applaud the Reiner family for making this decision and forcing the POS brother to face… pic.twitter.com/8yRU6ncohl

— Tony Brueski (@tonybpod) January 7, 2026

...I applaud the Reiner family for making this decision and forcing the POS brother to face consequences for the first time in his life!

In their report above, TMZ believes there may be another lawyer in the works somewhere down the road - there was no plea entered at todays' hearing - and that an insanity defense is very much on the table. 

Reiner was reportedly 'off his meds' at the time of the murders and was acknowledged to be potentially dangerous.

...Sources told multiple outlets that Rob and Michele Reiner, along with Nick, attended talk-show host Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party the night before, and that Rob Reiner and his son got into a heated argument over his son’s odd behavior at the event. Rob and Michele Reiner wound up leaving the event, but it was unclear when Nick Reiner left. TMZ reported that Nick Reiner checked into a Santa Monica hotel around 4 a.m. the next day, and that blood was later found in the room.

It was reported last month that Nick Reiner had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was taking medications that made him “erratic and dangerous.”

Citing two sources with knowledge of the situation, TMZ reported that he had been under the care of a psychiatrist for mental illness, but that his behavior had grown more alarming in recent weeks.

How horrifying.

What a God-awful shame.

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