Nick Reiner‘s ex-lawyer is opening up about the circumstances surrounding his former client. Alan Jackson talked about dropping the case and why he still believes in his client.
After his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner were found dead in their Los Angeles home on December 14, 2025, Nick Reiner was arrested and charged with two counts of murder and faces the special circumstance of multiple murders. He is being held without bail. If convicted, he faces life in prison without parole or the death penalty.
Related: Rob Reiner’s Net Worth Reveals Who Will Inherit His Estate After His Son Was Arrested in Connection to His Death
Alan Jackson had represented celebrity clients like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey. On the day Nick Reiner was arraigned, Jackson told the judge overseeing the case that he had “no choice but to withdraw and ask to be relieved.”
Why Did Nick Reiner’s Lawyer Quit?
While Alan Jackson won’t disclose a specific reason why he quit due to confidential information, he told Billy Bush on his Hot Mics podcast: “Obviously, something happened with my ability, and my team’s ability, to continue the representation, but I don’t want you, your audience or anybody else to start speculating as to what that might be. I have not said a word about it.”
Bush questioned if it had to do with money, and the lawyer responded, “You can’t say that something happened with the retainer because I’ve never said that.” He also emphasized that he’s not going back on the case, “Once I’m done, I’m done. I’ve withdrawn.”
The lawyer also revealed that he hopped on the case as soon as the news dropped. “I have to show fealty and loyalty to the confidentiality that attends that kind of phone call … I can tell you that immediately thereafter, I dropped everything. I sent out a notice to my team here back in Los Angeles … I got on a flight nearly immediately,” Jackson told Bush.
In a conversation with Kelly Ripa on Let’s Talk Off Camera, Jackson revealed that there are “certain things” he “can’t divulge” during the turnover. However, he said that he’s “always be committed to [Nick’s] best interests.” Jackson explained, “I want him to get the most robust defense that he possibly can get. I know he will, in the hands of the public defender’s office.”
He also explained that he never approaches a case “like I’m just defending an individual” but rather defending the “Constitution.” “We don’t punish in this country. We’re very civilized. We try to be civilized,” he said, before adding that the justice system will punish criminal conduct “where there’s an intent element.”
“The system is built to accommodate that, to address that,” Jackson explained, referencing the idea of the not guilty by reason of insanity defense. He said it’s for a defendant who has a mental illness, “cannot form an intent,” and doesn’t “understand the character and quality of [their] conduct.”
When asked if he has ever taken a case where he thought his client is guilty, he said, “I don’t like to think of it as razzle-dazzle,” before confirming, “the answer is no.”
“I normally don’t make pronouncements one way or the other, about the guilt or innocence of my client, because it doesn’t matter to me,” he said. “I don’t really care.”
