EXPOSED: California's Conservatorship System Is DESIGNED to Fail | The Nick Reiner Case Proves It
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 21 January 2026
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
California's mental health conservatorship system has a 57% failure rate. More than half of the people released from conservatorships deteriorate afterward. The state's response? Follow-up care is voluntary.
Nick Reiner was under a court-ordered LPS conservatorship in 2020. A judge found him gravely disabled. A licensed fiduciary named Steven Baer was appointed to oversee his treatment. He could be forced to take psychiatric medication. He could be placed in a locked facility against his will. The system intervened.
Then the conservatorship expired in 2021. It wasn't renewed. And for four years, no one with legal authority was watching.
On True Crime Today, we expose the seven structural failures built into California's conservatorship law. The "grave disability" threshold that disqualifies people whose families provide support. The appellate court ruling that "probabilistic pessimism"—concern about future danger—isn't grounds for intervention. The automatic one-year termination with no transition plan. The 2020 state audit showing only 9% of discharged patients get connected to ongoing care. The fact that families cannot petition for conservatorships or force renewals.
Sources say Nick's medication was changed approximately one month before December 14th. Sources say he became agitated, erratic, suffered a "complete break from reality." Without a conservatorship in place, there was nothing anyone could legally do.
The Reiners had money, connections, and access to the best treatment available. They got the conservatorship. They got the professional oversight. And if prosecutors are right about what happened, the system still failed to protect them.
Nick Reiner is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
#TrueCrimeToday #NickReiner #RobReiner #MicheleReiner #ConservatorshipExposed #MentalHealthLaw #CaliforniaFailed #TrueCrimeNews #LPSAct #BrokenSystem
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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.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske. Here now, Tony Bruske. |
| 0:08.0 | Nick Reiner was under a court-ordered mental health conservatorship. |
| 0:13.4 | On paper, this sounds like the system working. The state intervened. A judge found him gravely disabled. |
| 0:20.1 | A professional fiduciary was appointed to make decisions for him. |
| 0:24.8 | He could be forced to take medication. |
| 0:26.8 | He could be placed into a locked psychiatric facility against his will. |
| 0:31.1 | Rob and Michelle Reiner had done what thousands of California families cannot do. |
| 0:36.5 | They got their son |
| 0:37.5 | into the most restrictive mental health intervention |
| 0:40.0 | in the state. |
| 0:45.5 | So why did it fail? |
| 0:48.6 | Why are we here today? |
| 0:53.1 | There's been a lot of talk of only he had that conservatorship. |
| 0:56.8 | We've even talked about it. |
| 0:59.3 | Well, it turns out he did. |
| 1:01.1 | He did for a year. |
| 1:04.8 | And then it went away. |
| 1:07.1 | It was not in effect. |
| 1:08.5 | It was not in place when the crimes occurred. |
| 1:10.6 | In fact, it didn't have been in place for years. |
| 1:15.4 | But if you think the conservatorship was the end all, be all the fixed to these problems, you're wrong. |
| 1:25.2 | I thought it would be more powerful than it was, too, |
... |
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