Nick Reiner was placed under a mental health conservatorship for a year beginning in 2020, according to a report published Thursday.
Reiner, now 32, was released from the conservatorship in 2021, and it’s unclear why it wasn’t extended, the New York Times reported. He had been placed under what’s known as an LPS conservatorship — based on 1967’s Lanterman-Petris-Short Act — which is different from the system that Britney Spears went through with her family.
An LPS conservatorship is typically enacted after a person is involuntarily hospitalized for psychiatric reasons. The man listed as Reiner’s conservator, Steven Baer, told the Times that mental illness “is an epidemic that is widely misunderstood and this is a horrible tragedy.” He did not comment further.
Reiner has been diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, similar mental health conditions that can involve delusions, paranoia, hallucinations and mood swings. The date of his diagnosis has not been confirmed, but is believed to have been sometime around 2020.
Shortly before Reiner allegedly killed his parents, Rob and Michele, on Dec. 14, his doctors changed his medications, according to multiple reports. Sources claim the new meds made him agitated, erratic and increasingly dangerous, saying he suffered a “complete break from reality” by the time of the murders.
Reiner’s former defense lawyer, Alan Jackson, hinted at a mental health-related defense after withdrawing from the case last week, declaring Reiner was “not guilty of murder” under California law. Reiner has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Rob and Michele.
Following Jackson’s departure, Reiner is being represented by public defender Kimberly Greene, according to TMZ. His arraignment has been delayed twice, and he has not yet entered a plea in the case.
Though his mental health struggles were not public knowledge prior to the murders, Reiner spoke openly about his battles with drug addiction when he was a teenager and young adult. He and his father collaborated on the 2016 film “Being Charlie,” that was inspired by their own lives and focused on a father-son relationship as the son battled addiction.
In an interview about the movie, Reiner alluded to having broader behavioral health issues, saying “it was more than drugs — it’s really always about more than that.”
