Defense attorney Alan Jackson says he must stay mum on why he no longer represents Nick Reiner in the first-degree murder case of his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner. The lawyer stepped down from representing Reiner on Jan. 7, less than a month after his parents were slain in their Los Angeles home.
“I’m bound by legal and ethical restrictions, and so I’ve said as much as I can say,” Jackson told Hot Mics podcast host Billy Bush in a recent appearance. He also wouldn’t comment on whether his departure from the case had anything to do with money. “You can’t say that something happened with the retainer because I’ve never said that,” he said. “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.”
In a press conference the day he stepped down, Jackson was similarly taciturn on the reasons. “I had to withdraw as Nick Reiner’s counsel,” he said. “Circumstances beyond our control, but more importantly, circumstances beyond Nick’s control, have dictated that, sadly, it’s made it impossible for us to continue our representation of Nick,” he said. “I’m legally, and I’m ethically prohibited from explaining all the reasons why. I know that’s a question on everybody’s mind.”
He also told the press that he believed his former client was not guilty. “What we’ve learned, and you can take this to the bank, is that pursuant to the laws of this state, pursuant to the law in California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder,” he said. In California, to obtain a first-degree murder conviction, prosecutors must prove intent and premeditation.
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A spokesperson for the Reiner family said at the time that it has “the utmost trust in the legal process and will not comment further on matters related to the legal proceedings.”
Two days after the couple’s death, an L.A. coroner confirmed Rob and Michele died of “multiple sharp force injuries”; a district attorney said the weapon was a knife. The couple had attended a party at Conan O’Brien’s home with Nick, 32, the night before the incident. Authorities charged Nick with first-degree murder on Dec. 16.
