Why Nick Reiner Could Face the Death Penalty

The two first-degree murder counts include a special circumstance, which increases the maximum punishment if he is convicted.

Nick Reiner, the younger son of the celebrated Hollywood director Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, faces two counts of first-degree murder in the death of his parents. In California, a single conviction on that charge typically carries a maximum sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

But Mr. Reiner, 32, could face the death penalty because of how the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed the charges against him. The two murder counts include a special circumstance of committing multiple murders, which increases the possible punishment.

Special circumstances around a first-degree murder charge in California can elevate it to a more severe crime, and raise the maximum punishment to the death penalty or life in prison without parole. In addition to multiple murders, these circumstances include killing for financial gain, killing a police officer or public official or a killing that involved torture, according to the state penal code.

The Los Angeles County district attorney, Nathan Hochman, said that his office had not yet decided if it would pursue the death penalty against Mr. Reiner, and that it would take the desires of the Reiner family into consideration.

“Prosecuting these cases involving family members are some of the most challenging and heart-wrenching cases that this office faces because of the intimate and often brutal nature of the crimes involved,” Mr. Hochman said during a news conference on Tuesday.

Soon after taking office in 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California put a moratorium on executions in the state. But the death penalty is still legal, and the moratorium doesn’t mean that people can’t be sentenced to death, said Aya Gruber, a criminal law professor at the University of Southern California. There are currently 580 prisoners on death row in the state, and they could be executed if the moratorium is lifted.

“Prosecutors can pursue death cases, and people can be sentenced to death. It’s just that right now they’re not being put to death,” Ms. Gruber said.

Mr. Hochman said that his office would also bring against Mr. Reiner a special allegation of using a deadly weapon, in this case a knife. That enhancement, another form of adding time to a sentence, typically adds another year to a felony sentence, but would very likely only be relevant if Mr. Reiner is convicted of lesser charges, experts say.

Mr. Hochman, who took office in 2024, reversed his predecessor’s countywide moratorium on pursuing the death penalty. He said at the time that he would pursue it only in “exceedingly rare cases.”

Ms. Gruber, the law professor, said she was surprised that the death penalty was on the table, given Mr. Reiner’s history of substance abuse and that such a punishment might go against the family’s wishes. But she said Mr. Hochman might have introduced the idea to try to quickly secure a conviction.

“It’s a very useful tool in getting people to plead guilty,” she said.

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