By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES, Sept 15 (Reuters) – The Los Angeles County District Attorney said on Tuesday his office has chosen not to seek the death penalty against Nick Reiner, the son of Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering his parents in their home in December.
District Attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters outside a downtown Los Angeles courthouse that prosecutors took into account the wishes of the surviving Reiner family members in reaching their decision.
The announcement came shortly before Nick Reiner, 33, appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing during which prosecutors informed the judge they would not seek the death penalty.
Rob Reiner, 78, and his wife, photographer Michele Reiner, 70, were found stabbed to death in their home in Los Angeles’ Brentwood neighborhood in one of the most shocking celebrity homicide cases in Los Angeles history.
Nick Reiner, the younger of their two sons, was arrested later that day and charged with first-degree murder.
The maximum penalty prosecutors said they would now seek against him is life in prison without parole.
A grand jury indicted Nick Reiner in August, allowing prosecutors to go to trial without a preliminary hearing.
He has acknowledged a years-long struggle with substance abuse and mental health issues.
Rob Reiner gained fame as a co-star in the 1970s hit television comedy “All in the Family” and later directed popular films including “When Harry Met Sally,” “This Is Spinal Tap” and “The Princess Bride.”
Hollywood paid tribute to the couple at Monday night’s Emmy Awards. Actor Jamie Lee Curtis called Rob Reiner “generous and kind and funny as hell” and noted that he won a posthumous Emmy a week earlier for guest actor in a comedy for his role as a restaurant consultant on “The Bear.”
The win made Rob Reiner the record holder for the longest gap between Emmys at 48 years. His earlier awards came in 1974 and 1978 for his work on “All in the Family.” The previous record holder was Reiner’s father, the comedy pioneer Carl Reiner, who won Emmys 37 years apart.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles and Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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