Gaunt Nick Reiner seen in custody for first time as he pleads not guilty to murders of Hollywood director dad Rob and mom Michele: Heard saying a single word in hoarse whisper

Nick Reiner pleaded not guilty in court Monday to killing his parents, Rob and Michele.

The 32-year-old looked gaunt as he sat hunched over in court wearing brown prison garb in Los Angeles, California, on Monday.

His mother and father were found stabbed to death in their $2 million Brentwood home on December 14.

Hours later, Nick was arrested and held without bail.

During his first appearance in court, Nick was heard whispering a soft ‘Yes’ when asked if he understood the hearing.

His head was shaved as he looked around the crowded courtroom as if searching for someone he knew.

This was Reiner’s third appearance in court following his arrest following the gruesome murders of his parents.

He will appear in court again on April 29.

Picture: The house where the Hollywood couple was found murdered

Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were found stabbed to death just hours before Nick was arrested and held without bail.

The prosecutor is still considering the death penalty for Nick.

Shortly after the three-minute hearing, LA District Attorney Nathan Hochman addressed reporters outside the Downtown LA courtroom.

‘The case continues. We presented most of the discoveries to the defense council and now we are waiting for the coroner’s report. This will be provided to the District Attorney’s Office and we will make sure it is provided to the defense council as well.

‘This case is suitable for the death penalty. In this regard, we take the process by which we decide whether to seek the death penalty extremely seriously. This is a very difficult process.

‘We will examine all mitigating and aggravating circumstances and have invited the defense council to submit to us, both in writing and in defence, any arguments they wish to make as to whether or not to pursue the death penalty. So it’s an ongoing process.’

Nick has long struggled with mental health issues, having previously been placed in a mental health conservatorship five years ago for allegedly murdering his family.

He had also changed his schizophrenia medication about a month before his parents were found dead by his sister Romy.

Nick’s latest hearing comes just days after comedian Conan O’Brien broke his silence about his parents’ deaths.

Shortly after the three-minute hearing, LA District Attorney Nathan Hochman addressed reporters outside the Downtown LA courtroom.

Nick’s attorney, Kimberly Green, is seen arriving at Los Angeles criminal court ahead of his hearing on Monday.

Rob and Michele Reiner with their eldest son Jake and daughter Romy at the Primetime Emmy Awards in January 2024. Sources told the Daily Mail that Romy found her father’s body at the Brentwood compound.

Just hours before Rob and Michele were found, the filmmaker was seen arguing with Nick at O’Brien’s holiday party.

“This is terrible,” O’Brien, 62, said. New Yorker on Friday.

‘I knew Rob and Michele and grew closer and closer to them,’ he said, adding that he and his wife, Liza Powell O’Brien, ‘see them a lot.’

‘They were such lovely people. And having that experience of saying goodnight to someone and having them leave, only to find out the next day that they’re gone. I think I was in shock for a long time afterwards. I mean, there’s no other word for it.

“And I think about how Rob felt about what was going on in the country, how involved he was, how much of himself he put out, and it’s still hard for me to understand how suddenly that voice was silenced,” O’Brien added.

All three Reiners reportedly attended O’Brien’s holiday party on December 13, where the filmmaker and his son were involved in a “very loud argument.”

It was also recently revealed that Nick had been behaving ‘almost childish’ in prison and was ‘not competent to appear in court at this time’.

TMZ executive producer Harvey Levin told Fox & Friends last week: ‘We’re told he was almost childlike in prison.

‘He can’t bear the consequences of what he did. He knows what he’s doing.

Courtroom sketch shows a stoic Nick Reiner wearing brown prison garb as he appears in court on Jan. 7

“He can’t figure out where he is right now, and I know this sounds crazy, but he’s out of his mind right now,” Levin added.

Levin said the killings were ‘incredibly brutal’. ‘We know people in medical offices who have been traumatized just by the pictures,’ he said.

The TMZ producer added that the murders bore ‘all the hallmarks of a meth murder’ and that Nick was using the hard drug at the time.

This is breaking news.