Overview
- Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, that his office will not seek the death penalty against Nick Reiner and that the maximum penalty if convicted is life without the possibility of parole.
- A grand jury returned an August indictment charging Reiner with two counts of first-degree murder and special circumstances including multiple murders, lying in wait, and an allegation that he personally used a knife.
- The victims’ surviving children asked the court to keep grand jury transcripts sealed, the judge ordered media oppositions to be filed by Sept. 22, and scheduled a hearing on the sealing request for Oct. 7.
- A separate hearing in October will consider Reiner’s petition to access a $1.5 million trust set up by his parents to hire private counsel, a dispute that raises estate rules that can bar killers from benefiting from victims’ assets.
- The decision came against a backdrop in which California has not carried out an execution since 2006 and the governor imposed a moratorium in 2019, a reality that prosecutors said they considered when weighing capital punishment.