Nancy Grace believes the circumstances surrounding the murders of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner and son Nick Reiner’s arrest mirror a “classic” death penalty case.
“Many legal eagles are espousing that this is a death penalty case,” Grace, 66, told TMZ on Friday, December 19. “I noticed that the prosecutor has hedged on whether he will actually seek the death penalty. Is it a lot of bark and no bite? Let me just say that that is up to a jury to determine, not you, not me, just the jury. But the prosecutor has to present it to the jury for them to have that choice. If we’re going to have a death penalty, this is the classic case for seeking the death penalty.”
Nick, 32, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder after the bodies of his parents, Rob and Michele, were found in their Brentwood, California, home on Sunday, December 14. He is facing life in prison without parole or the death penalty if convicted. His arraignment has been scheduled for January 7, 2026.
“What is justice for Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner? I know this: I know that right now there are many injustices taking place, such as a torrent of abuse and claims that Rob and Michele were bad parents. That they weren’t strict enough with their son,” Grace continued. “You know what? Anyone taking a shot, a potshot at them should walk in their shoes for the last 32 years that they did everything they could to help their son Nick Reiner.”
One day before Rob and Michele’s murders, they were seen at Conan O’Brien’s Christmas party with Nick. A source told Us Weekly that Nick was acting “creepily” toward guests at the Saturday, December 13, celebration. Similarly, a source told TMZ that Nick and Rob got into a “very loud argument” at the event.
“There have been a myriad of reactions and emotions to the murders of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, from people that knew the Reiners, including myself, who was kind enough to befriend me, be very kind to me during Dancing With the Stars when I was living out in L.A. and for no reason, just a very, very kind, warm person,” Grace concluded.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner confirmed Rob and Michele’s official cause of death to be “multiple sharp force injuries” on Wednesday, December 17. Their manner of death was ruled homicide. Rob was 78 and Michele was 70. (Rob and Michele also shared kids Jake, 34, and Romy, 27, and Rob adopted daughter Tracy, 61, during his first marriage to Penny Marshall.)
While Nick may face the death penalty per his official charges, there currently is a moratorium on executions in California, which was put into place by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2019. While prosecutors can still seek the death penalty in criminal cases in California, capital punishment has not been enforced. The last execution took place in California in 2006 when Clarence Ray Allen received a lethal injection after he was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances in 1982.
“The executive order issued by Gavin Newsom halted executions, closed the execution chamber at San Quentin, and paused lethal-injection protocols, but it did not repeal the death penalty or invalidate death sentences imposed by courts,” criminal defense lawyer Jo-Anna Nieves told Fox News on Thursday, December 18, of how Newsom’s moratorium can affect Nick’s case. “California still has the death penalty on the books, and prosecutors are legally permitted to seek it in eligible cases.”
Nieves continued, “Practically speaking, even if prosecutors pursue the death penalty against Nick Reiner and obtain a conviction and death sentence, no execution would occur under the current moratorium. The sentence would legally exist, but its enforcement would remain suspended unless the moratorium is lifted by a future governor or the law is changed through legislation or voter action.”
