By Jane Ross and Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES, Dec 16 (Reuters) – Prosecutors in Los Angeles were weighing possible criminal charges on Tuesday for the son of Hollywood actor-director and political activist Rob Reiner and his wife Michele, who were found slain in their home over the weekend.
Nick Reiner, 32, was arrested and jailed on Sunday night as a suspect in his parents’ murders. Prominent Los Angeles defense attorney Alan Jackson, representing Reiner, said his client would not make a court appearance on Tuesday as he had not yet been medically cleared to do so.
“He will be here hopefully tomorrow,” Jackson said outside of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles, where suspects typically are arraigned.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney planned to hold a news briefing at 1 p.m. PT (2100 GMT) to provide details about the case. The Los Angeles Police Department’s homicide investigators presented their findings to prosecutors on Tuesday, and they were under review, the DA’s office said.
Police and prosecutors have revealed few details about the circumstances of the killings, and autopsy results have yet to be released. But various news outlets, citing unnamed sources, have said that Rob Reiner, 78, and his wife, Michele, 70, appeared to have been stabbed or slashed.
Local media reported that Nick Reiner had been seen quarreling with his parents on Saturday night at a holiday party hosted by comedian Conan O’Brien.
Nick Reiner has publicly acknowledged battles with drug addiction and periods of homelessness that occurred when he refused to seek treatment for substance abuse, saying he entered rehab for the first of many instances at age 15. Those experiences inspired the movie “Being Charlie,” co-written by Reiner and his father.
“It was the most personal thing I’ve ever been involved in,” Rob Reiner told podcaster Marc Maron in 2016.
FROM MEATHEAD TO ACCLAIMED FILMMAKER
As an actor, Rob Reiner was best remembered for his role on the TV comedy “All in the Family” as Mike “Meathead” Stivic, the son-in-law and liberal foil of the lead character, working-class bigot Archie Bunker, played by Carroll O’Connor.
Reiner went on to a prolific Hollywood career as a filmmaker, directing such popular movies as “This Is Spinal Tap,” “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally…,” “Stand by Me,” “A Few Good Men,” “Misery” and “The American President.”
A sequel to the mockumentary “This is Spinal Tap” was released this year, 41 years after the original.
His wife, Michele, was at one time a photographer who captured the image of Donald Trump that appears on the cover of his book “Trump: The Art of the Deal.”
Rob Reiner, a native of New York City and son of the late comedy writer and actor Carl Reiner, also was well known for his political activism and as a supporter of the Democratic Party.
(Reporting by Jane Ross and Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Andrew Hay and Brad Brooks; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
