Why Everyone Ignored Nick Reiner's Warning Signs

True crime audiences always ask the same question after a case like this: how did nobody see it coming? Nick Reiner's case might be the clearest answer yet, because reportedly, people did see it. They just went home anyway. 
Nick is accused of stabbing his parents, director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, to death in their own Brentwood home nine months ago. Hours earlier, according to reporting, he and his father argued at a holiday party. Other guests noticed his appearance and behavior. Nobody intervened. Tony Brueski and the Hidden Killers team use this case to talk about how a pattern of behavior, reportedly present since Nick's childhood, becomes so familiar to the people around it that it stops registering as a threat at all. 
The show also breaks down the legal reality behind an insanity defense, something already being discussed online, and why the standard for proving it in California is close to impossible to meet, even with a documented history of addiction and reported mental health struggles. The team explains what "functional" actually means in a legal sense, and why living an outwardly normal life can work against a defendant trying to argue they didn't understand what they were doing. 
There's also a broader conversation about compassion, boundaries, and why the parents who love someone the most are so often the ones least able to hold a firm line, plus what role friends, extended family, and even strangers at a party could play if they trusted their own instincts a little more. 
Nick Reiner has pleaded not guilty. His preliminary hearing is now set for September. 
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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. 
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