Nick Reiner appears in court to enter a plea to the killings of his parents.
While Reiner already had an opportunity to do so in December, defense attorney Alan Jackson asked to delay the arraignment for a true chance to speak with his client, whom he had only had about half an hour before his initial appearance.
Just ahead of his arraignment, Nick Reiner is moved off of suicide watch at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility. Reiner no longer has to wear a padded smock and is now allowed a yellow shirt with his blue uniform pants.
Reiner isn’t completely off the hook, still held alone in High Observation Housing until a judge orders he can move elsewhere. Even if Reiner is released from HOH, he will still be closely monitored and have a cell to himself.
Experts say Nick Reiner trading a suicide smock for a standard uniform is a tactical victory for the District Attorney, preventing Reiner’s attorneys from arguing he’s too catatonic to participate in his own defense.
The court will soon determine if this perceived stability is a result of medication or a genuine return to legal competence.
Prosecutors will pounce on Reiner’s statements about cycles of homelessness and rehabilitation, painting him as someone who has long operated outside conventional stability, then use Being Charlie against him—the film demonstrating Reiner’s high level of self-awareness and creative agency.
The outcome of the Reiner trial may set a new standard in California law: how mental disability is weighed against special allegations.
Joining Nancy Grace: