It’s been one month since Rob and Michele Reiner were found stabbed to death inside their home.
And we continue to receive new information about the late couple’s son and suspected murderer, Nick Reiner.
Nick was arrested shortly after the murders and is currently being held without bail as he awaits trial.
As we previously reported, Nick was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the years before the murders.
Now we have a new report about the severity of Reiner’s mental illness, courtesy of The New York Times.
The outlet has learned that Reiner was placed in a yearlong conservatorship in 2020 due to his mental health issues.
Conservatorships are usually considered a last-resort approach in cases of severe mental health issues.
Typically, a judge will only sign off on a conservatorship — which essentially strips an adult psychiatric patient of their legal autonomy — in cases where the patient is believed to be an immediate threat to themself or others.
Reiner’s conservatorship was not renewed in 2021 for reasons that remain unclear.
News of the conservatorship could have a massive impact on Reiner’s trial, as it may bolster the argument that he’s not guilty by reason of insanity.
“In order to win and not be determined guilty of murder, he has to show that he suffers from a severe mental illness, and at the time of the act, he didn’t know what he was doing. He didn’t know wrong from right,” David Glass, a family law attorney and former psychologist, tells Los Angeles ABC affiliate ABC7.
Reiner has not yet entered a plea.
He was scheduled to be arraigned last week, but the hearing was postponed when Reiner’s attorney, Alan Jackson, abruptly withdrew from the case.
He is now being represented by a public defender, but that’s expected to change before the trial.
Whatever the case, it’s unclear what sort of strategy Reiner’s team will pursue, but many legal experts expect the 32-year-old to enter a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.
It’s an infamously risky strategy, as it requires the defense to begin their argument by admitting that the
But stipulations in California make it easier to prove insanity there than in most states, and Reiner has a long and well-documented history of severe mental illness.
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.