What Is The Reiner Defense Quietly Building During This Delay?

**Tony Brueski** (0:00)
This is Hidden Killers' half year in review. A look back at some of the most compelling cases of 2026 so far.
This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Brueski and Robin Dreeke.

**Tony Brueski** (0:16)
Let's move over to the Reiner's. Four and a half months after Rob and Michele Reiner were found stabbed to death and their Brent went home an autopsy report on how they died still ain't finished. The case against their son Nick has now been pushed to September and it's not a trial. It's not even the preliminary hearing yet. It's a date to potentially set the preliminary hearing. We're getting close to a year anniversary where we'll get to the preliminary hearing. The defense says it needs more discovery. The prosecution says it's waiting on the medical examiner. Both sides agreed to the delay because you don't have the information, and Nick Reiner, the man facing two counts of first-degree murder with death penalty eligibility, sat in court, consulted by his public defender and said one word. Yeah.
So what is actually happening behind the scenes in this case? And what does the pace of this thing tell us about what both sides are building towards? Joining me to discuss, as always, Robin Dreeke, retired FBI Special Agent, Chief of the Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program, and former prosecutor and defense attorney, Eric Faddis. Eric, if you're Jake or Romy Reiner right now, you lost both parents to violence. The person accused is your own brother. And the court just told you, come back in September, five months from now, for a hearing that isn't even a real hearing. This has got to be very devastating emotionally to the family. Because from the outside, it looks like nobody's in a hurry to get justice for Rob and Michele. And I have to imagine that people who love them are watching this timeline and somewhat losing their minds. But that's the emotional side. Emotional side and legal side are two very different things and require very different framework to operate.
But a year in for the preliminary hearing? I mean, is this crazy? Is this normal? Give me your thoughts.

**Eric Faddis** (2:16)
I'm not sure I've ever seen such a delay just to get to the preliminary hearing stage. That's like the second step in a case like this. Like among like dozens of steps. So, you know, we're not even there yet. This is a nightmare for these folks that won't end. And, you know, in terms of what's going on, it's a bit of a head scratcher.
Autopsies can take some time. I have seen them take about this amount of time or so.
But especially if this was like a very violent death, like a clear stabbing or shooting or whatever. Like usually those conclusions can be drawn rather quickly, and the medical examiner can amend their report later if need be.
But, yeah, delay, delay, delay, which might in or to the benefit of the defense.

**Tony Brueski** (3:08)
Sure. I mean, I'm not... It just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. I mean, I get you want to cross your T and dot your I. I know that this is going to be a case. It's going to be under a microscope. So you really want to be sure you got everything and you can present it. But the method of death isn't really like even up to your question here. It's like we know he did it. It's more so why he did it. And was he in a state of mind where he could be held legally responsible for understanding he was causing the death of someone at that moment?
Are those answers to be found in the physical reflection of an autopsy?

**Eric Faddis** (3:50)
Not at all. No. In fact, most medical examiners expressly opine that, hey, not only can I not conclude who did this, but I can't conclude what was going on in their heads. That's outside the purview of their expertise. They can't talk about that. And also, Tony, with the preliminary hearing coming up, even if there are potential mental health defenses, those are rarely even considered at a preliminary hearing. When they are, the judge usually says, hey, my job is to decide if there's probable cause for these charges. There might be defenses. There might be things that that side can raise at trial. But the scope of preliminary hearing is rather narrow. Is there probable cause? We don't need a full mental health evaluation and all these mental health experts. I doubt they'd even be allowed to testify at the preliminary hearing.

**Robin Dreeke** (4:38)
So what are we waiting for?
So I'm curious about this one, Eric. I'm going to flip from the legal side to the, maybe a pragmatic side on the human behavior side. Do you think, since you said if it's going to benefit anyone, it's going to benefit the defense on this to keep delaying this out. Do you think that, because we keep hearing all the issues they're having with Nick behind bars and we're seeing it, he hasn't let go of his victim mentality, he still looks like a super nutter, all these things. Do you think defense might be delaying a bit to try all they can to try to regulate those meds he's on so they can actually potentially, since they know it's going to go to trial unless they plead out, which is another question I have if you think he's going to do that. But do you think they're trying to make him a more compelling individual by delaying more to try to get those meds regulated out and the more time they have, the greater chance they have at it or is that just, am I just doing too much thought experiment?