By Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES, Aug 12 (Reuters) – A grand jury has indicted Nick Reiner in the December stabbing deaths of his parents, Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner and producer Michele Reiner, and added a special circumstance of lying in wait, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Nick Reiner pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder with special circumstances of multiple murders, lying in wait and using a “dangerous and deadly weapon, a knife,” a statement from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said. The special circumstances make him eligible for the death penalty if prosecutors decide to seek it.
The 32-year-old, who has been jailed without bail since his arrest in December, had pleaded not guilty to murder charges in February. Rob Reiner, 78, and Michele Reiner, 70, were found stabbed to death in their home in the wealthy neighborhood of Brentwood in one of the most shocking celebrity homicide cases in Los Angeles history.
The grand jury indictment, returned on July 20, replaces those charges and allows prosecutors to go to trial without presenting their case in public at a preliminary hearing.
“We hope that by having a grand jury return an indictment in this case it will bring us one step closer to a trial and achieving justice,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement.
Nick Reiner, the middle child of the couple’s three children, had acknowledged a years-long struggle with substance abuse.
Rob Reiner gained fame as a co-star in the 1970s hit television comedy “All in the Family” and later directed films such as “When Harry Met Sally,” “This Is Spinal Tap” and “The Princess Bride.”
A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for September 15.
(Reporting by Lisa RichwineEditing by Rod Nickel)
