"NOT Guilty Under California Law" — What Alan Jackson Knows About Nick Reiner That We Don't
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 907 Ratings
🗓️ 9 January 2026
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Alan Jackson spent three weeks investigating the Nick Reiner case. Every waking hour, he said. Ten subpoenas issued and sealed. And then he quit — but not before telling reporters that Nick Reiner is "NOT guilty of murder under California law."
That's not how attorneys typically leave cases. That's a roadmap. And now someone else has to follow it.
This episode breaks down what Jackson's statement actually means and why the path forward is anything but simple. We examine the three distinct legal battles ahead: competency to stand trial, the guilt phase, and the sanity trial where Jackson's words would have applied. California uses the M'Naghten Rule — a purely cognitive standard that requires the defense to prove Nick couldn't understand his actions or distinguish right from wrong at the exact moment of the crime.
We also look at who's taking over. Deputy Public Defender Kimberly Greene had thirty seconds with Nick before becoming his attorney. But the LA County Public Defender's Office has a track record that defies the stereotype — between 2006 and 2015, only one of their clients was sentenced to death out of thirty capital appeals. The office is led by Ricardo Garcia, who secured a life verdict in San Diego's longest death penalty trial.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: even if the insanity defense succeeds, Nick goes to a state psychiatric hospital — potentially forever. Facilities where the DOJ found civil rights violations and patient-on-patient murders. The insanity defense isn't freedom. It's a different kind of cage.
His parents spent seventeen years trying to save him. Now the state of California will make a permanent decision about his life.
#NickReiner #RobReiner #AlanJackson #InsanityDefense #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime #CaliforniaLaw #MurderTrial #MentalHealth #ReinerMurders
Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISDOES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/
Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod
Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske. Here now, Tony Bruske. |
| 0:07.6 | Let's talk about the Reiner's. Let's talk about where this case is at, where this case is going, |
| 0:12.7 | and how Alan Jackson walked out of a Los Angeles courtroom this week, no longer Nick Reiner's |
| 0:17.9 | attorney, and said the one thing designed to echo. And we'll break it down. |
| 0:24.5 | Pursuant to the laws of this state and in California, pursuant to the law in California, |
| 0:29.9 | Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder. Print that. That's what he said. The big mouth of Alan Jackson. |
| 0:39.1 | And he might not be wrong. |
| 0:41.2 | I know nobody wants to hear that or believe that. |
| 0:43.3 | But if we're going strictly by the letter of the law, |
| 0:47.8 | we're going to talk about this because we can't bury our heads in the sand |
| 0:51.0 | and pretend that maybe under California law, |
| 0:53.3 | there might technically be a path for him to be not guilty of murder. |
| 0:58.4 | Now, that doesn't mean that he runs the streets with his thugs. |
| 1:05.2 | He'll be waiting for you until you get home. |
| 1:07.7 | I'll be, I don't know, there's a song from death row records i just ran through my |
| 1:11.3 | head running the streets with your anyway um twopox all lies on me is what the album was for |
| 1:18.8 | that song was from anyway it just hit my head um what does it mean what exactly what exactly does all |
| 1:27.2 | of this mean? |
| 1:29.1 | We're going to get into it. Okay. As we do, your thoughts in the comment section on YouTube or on our Substack channel. |
| 1:36.5 | You can interact directly one-on-one with me on our Substack. And it's absolutely free for a limited time right now. |
| 1:43.6 | Go ahead, sign up for that. |
| 1:45.1 | Links in the description or hiddenkillers.substack.com. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from True Crime Today, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of True Crime Today and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.