Why Nick Reiner's former lawyer Alan Jackson walked away from the murder case
The former legal representative of suspected murderer Nick Reiner has given his first interview since dropping the bombshell case.
Nick, 32, was arrested on 15 December and charged with two counts of first-degree murder after the bodies of his parents - filmmaker Rob Reiner, 78, and his wife Michele Singer, 70 - were found at their Los Angeles home.
The couple were discovered by their daughter Romy, 28, with investigating officers ruling that they had died from apparent stab wounds.
Following Nick's arrest, it emerged that the trio had gotten into an argument at a holiday party hosted at the nearby home of American TV host Conan O’Brien the previous night.
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Appearing initially in court last month, Nick - who previously battled both drug addiction and schizophrenia - waived his right to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty on the charges he faces.
If found guilty of a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, the suspect could face the death penalty.
If he avoids this fate, however, he'll still serve a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole
Nick's arraignment was originally set for 7 January - but that same day, lawyer Alan Jackson dropped the A-list case, telling the judge he had 'no choice but to withdraw and ask to be relieved'.
The reigns were subsequently handed over to LA County Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Greene, with a new date for the arraignment being set for 23 February instead.
It wasn't until this week that Jackson addressed the decision during an appearance on Billy Bush's Hot Mic podcast.
On the show, the defence attorney began by claiming he couldn't go into extreme detail about his decision, insisting: "That’s a confidential communication between a lot of folks that I’m not willing to disclose."
When asked by the host, however, whether finances had played a part, however, he quickly started talking.
"You can’t say that something happened with the retainer because I’ve never said that," Jackson hit back.
"Obviously, something happened with my ability, and my team’s ability, to continue the representation, but I don’t want you, your audience or anybody else to start speculating as to what that might be.
"I have not said a word about it."
The lawyer went on to reiterate: "Once I’m done, I’m done. I’ve withdrawn."
Jackson went on to claim he'd initially 'dropped everything' to defend Nick, after receiving a call from a number he refused to identify during the 'very early hours' of 15 December.
"I have to show fealty and loyalty to the confidentiality that attends that kind of phone call," he explained. "I can tell you that immediately thereafter, I dropped everything.
"I sent out a notice to my team here back in Los Angeles - I got on a flight nearly immediately."
Rhianna Benson