Prosecutors drop death penalty against Nick Reiner; Influencer accused of custody battle murder plot – TCN Sidebar

Joshua Ritter (0:11)

Hello, and welcome to The Sidebar, presented by True Crime News, taking you inside the courtrooms of high-profile and notorious cases from across the country. I'm your host, Joshua Ritter. I'm a criminal defense lawyer based in Los Angeles, and previously an LA County prosecutor for a decade. We are recording this on Wednesday, September 16th, 2026 In this week's episode, a social media influencer charged in a custody battle murder plot targeting her pop star ex-boyfriend. Plus, a Florida plastic surgeon facing the death penalty decides to act as his own attorney. But first, prosecutors announce they will not seek the death penalty against Nick Reiner and his parents' slaying. Today, we are joined by Jo Potuto, a law professor at the University of Nebraska and the host of the popular YouTube channel, Professor Jo Explains.

Jo, welcome back, my friend. How are you?

Jo Potuto (1:04)

I'm fine. You look good.

Joshua Ritter (1:06)

Oh, thank you. So do you.

Jo Potuto (1:08)

Thank you.

Joshua Ritter (1:08)

I'm so glad to be able to talk to you about these cases because they've got some interesting legal wrinkles. Sometimes we're talking about stuff that's just, you know, the facts and what happened. But these have a little bit of explaining to do, so I'm glad that we have you on board. I know that you've been following these cases closely.

Let's jump right in. First, out of Los Angeles, California, after a period of public posturing, LADA Nathan Hockman confirmed his office will not pursue the death penalty against Nick Reiner in the deaths of his parents, Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle Singer Reiner. Hockman explained they reached the decision after a rigorous review of the aggravating and mitigating factors in the case, including Reiner's documented history of drug use and mental illness. The absence of the death penalty will remove a hurdle for Reiner's public defender, who has been appointed after Reiner unsuccessfully attempted to access his trust fund for private representation due to California's Slayer statue. Prosecutors also cited the desires of the surviving family members, Reiner's siblings, who reportedly made their objections to the ultimate punishment known. As it stands, no trial date is yet set for Reiner, but prosecutors indicated they did not expect a trial until sometime next year, and I'd say we'd be lucky to even get it that soon. But let's first get into this decision about the death penalty. First of all, just to be very clear, California has been in a moratorium since 2019, and the last time an execution was actually carried out here was 20 years ago. So to some extent, this is symbolic.

Do you think that plays a role, or what do you think was the decision maker here really in them not pursuing the death penalty? Because we're talking about a case where two people were killed in a very horrific way. Usually, this would be well within the conversation.

Jo Potuto (3:03)

Yeah. Originally, I thought they were using it as a bargaining chip, even though it hasn't been imposed in a number of years. It's a way to get an agreement as to a lesser charge. And so I'm rethinking that since they've now removed it, they've taken it off the table.

It's only speculation, but I'm guessing that there were a couple of things. One, that the family's opposition really played an important role. They didn't have to follow what the brother and sister wanted, but I'm sure it had quite a role. And the other thing is always with the death penalty case, things are more heightened.

Judges pay more attention to rulings about admissible evidence and objections. And it seems to me, even at the outset, if you're going to have the extra problems and you have the family that really doesn't want it and you're in a state which hasn't imposed it in quite a while, it seems like the easy answer not to go after it.

Joshua Ritter (4:08)

Yeah. I mean, to me, you're right. If they're going to pursue it, it really has to be a situation where they really mean it because it is effectively not in use in California.

I think you nailed it when you said it was more about the family. I think the circumstances of the crime definitely warrant it. But you've got to think about you're going to go into a penalty phase, and in that penalty phase, they're going to call all sorts of family members to talk about Rob Reiner and Shal Reiner and the loss of their lives and how horrific it is. But they're also going to weigh in on, when asked any question by the defense, on whether or not they feel the death penalty is appropriate, or somehow that will play a role in their testimony. If they're not behind it, I can't see 12 jurors saying, well, the family is against it, but we still feel so strongly we're going to vote for it. You know what I mean?