The mental breakdown of Nick Reiner in the weeks leading up to the slayings of his parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is directly tied to a questionable decision by doctors to change the medications he was taking for his mental illness.
Drugs and Nick Reiner
TMZ has a new documentary — “TMZ Investigates: The Reiner Murders: What Really Happened” — airing Friday at 8 PM ET on FOX and dropping on HULU Saturday. It will be explained in the doc that Nick was diagnosed around 2020 with schizoaffective disorder … a condition that manifests itself with schizophrenia symptoms — including delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking — and mood disorder symptoms, including mania and severe depression.
They said that by the time of the murders, Nick had a complete break from reality. It is reported that the doctors did not attempt to place Nick under a psychiatric hold while they tried to adjust the meds and stabilize him.
This might be the heart of Nick’s defense that doctors sent Nick on a path that made him legally insane. Under California law, a defendant does not have to show he didn’t know the difference between right and wrong to use the insanity defense, only that he didn’t understand the nature and quality of his act.
