Nick Reiner's Last Card: The Insanity Defense That Freed a Child Killer — Will It Work for Him?
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 911 Ratings
🗓️ 14 January 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Two men killed family members. One walked free after two years in a psychiatric facility. The other is sitting in a Los Angeles jail right now, facing the death penalty. The legal standard that saved the first could theoretically save the second. Tony Brueski breaks down the case that could define Nick Reiner's defense strategy.
David Carmichael killed his 11-year-old son Ian in a London, Ontario hotel room in 2004. He'd researched murder charges. He expected prison. He planned the whole thing. But both prosecution and defense psychiatrists agreed—Carmichael was in a psychotic state triggered by the antidepressant Paxil. He believed his healthy son was brain-damaged and suffering. In his mind, he wasn't committing murder. He was ending suffering. Under the M'Naghten rule, he didn't understand the "nature and quality" of his actions. Verdict: not criminally responsible.
California uses the same legal standard. Nick Reiner's medication was reportedly changed one month before he allegedly stabbed his parents to death. Sources say he admits to the killings but believes his incarceration is a conspiracy. The same defense could apply.
But Carmichael had no history of manipulation. Nick has 30 years of it—18-plus rehab facilities, a lifetime of gaming systems. Carmichael didn't flee. Nick reportedly checked into a hotel and spent 24 hours moving through Los Angeles. The precedent exists. The legal pathway exists. But making it work requires something Nick Reiner has never had: credibility.
#NickReiner #RobReiner #DavidCarmichael #InsanityDefense #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #Podcast #ReinerCase #CriminalLaw #MentalHealth
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske. |
| 0:02.8 | Here now, Tony Bruske. |
| 0:06.4 | The Nick Reiner Insanity Defense. |
| 0:11.4 | I know a lot of us are like, we don't want to hear it. |
| 0:14.4 | He deserves to go. |
| 0:15.2 | And he does. |
| 0:15.8 | He deserves to face consequences for his actions. |
| 0:18.1 | But let's take a little bit deeper dive into this, into the |
| 0:23.0 | insanity defense, what it actually means in California, because there's another case that took |
| 0:29.6 | place in Canada, which has a very similar insanity type defense that can be argued in court as |
| 0:36.3 | California does. And how all that worked out. |
| 0:40.9 | I'm going to explain the case to you and let you decide in your own opinions what's right, |
| 0:46.3 | what's wrong, what's appropriate, what's not. |
| 0:48.9 | I was going to lay it out there. |
| 0:52.0 | So you can fully, fully grasp us because this is a confusing case when it comes down to it |
| 0:56.8 | it's not as as cut and dry as one would like to make it and it all comes down to the definition |
| 1:03.3 | of insanity and being in a psychotic state in a psychotic break what does that mean and why are |
| 1:08.5 | you in it and how are you processing things let's let's get into |
| 1:12.2 | all this and while we do in the comment section on youtube i'd love to get your thoughts if you're not |
| 1:17.3 | already there hidden killers with tony brusky is where you will find us uh our substack you can |
| 1:23.1 | also comment and interact directly with me here in the studio if you really want me to see your comment comment for sure, be sure to leave it on our substack. That link is on the description. It's on the bottom of the screen on YouTube right now, hiddenkillers.substack.com. So two ways to interact and get your opinion heard. YouTube and our substack. All right. Two cases here. Two men who killed family members. |
| 1:45.8 | They were supposed to love two very different outcomes. |
... |
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