Doctors reportedly opted to change Nick Reiner’s psychiatric medications for unclear reasons in the month before authorities believe he murdered his parents Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner.
The 32-year-old, who is facing life behind bars or the death penalty, had been “stable” on medications for schizoaffective disorder at the time of his medication change, sources told TMZ for the outlet’s upcoming documentary on the case. Reiner was diagnosed with the disorder around 2020.
Both the bipolar and depressive types of schizoaffective disorders, as identified by the Mayo Clinic, include some schizophrenia symptoms. The bipolar form presents with “bouts of hypomania or mania and sometimes major depression,” while the depressive type presents with “only major depressive bouts.”
Doctors did not try to put Reiner on a psychiatric hold amid the shift in medication, despite the fact he was “agitated, erratic, and increasingly dangerous” and had experienced a “complete break from reality” by the time his parents were killed on Dec. 14, per TMZ’s sources.
Insiders predict the doctors’ decisions could lay the groundwork for Reiner’s defense.
Reiner’s sister, Romy, 28, found the “When Harry Met Sally” director, 78, deceased at the family’s Brentwood home on Dec. 14. She was later notified that her mother, 70-year-old photographer Singer Reiner, had also been fatally stabbed. Nick Reiner was arrested later that day and was charged two days later with two counts of first-degree murder.
TMZ reported later that week that Nick Reiner’s recent “alarming” behavior had been made more “erratic and dangerous” with a change in medication. A police source subsequently confirmed to People that Nick was in solitary confinement and on suicide watch, though he’s no longer subject to the latter.
Reiner has long spoken about struggling with substance abuse since adolescence and even experienced bouts of homelessness as a result. In 2015, he admitted on a podcast that he once faked being “crazy” in order to get access to the antidepressant, Wellbutrin.
Defense attorney Alan Jackson on Wednesday withdrew himself from the case just minutes before Nick’s scheduled arraignment. At a press conference, however, Jackson claimed “Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder. Print that!”
The lawyer, whose infamous clients have included Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, attributed his withdrawal from the case to “circumstances beyond our control, but more importantly, circumstances beyond Nick’s control.”
With News Wire Services