Nick Reiner case pushed to January amid transcript fight
The murder case against Nick Reiner, charged in the stabbing deaths of his parents, filmmaker Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, has been pushed to January after a brief hearing yesterday that ended without a ruling on whether grand jury transcripts in the case will be made public.
The judge gave the defense more time before considering the release of the transcripts and exhibits, and proceedings are set to resume Jan. 13, according to Yahoo News UK.
Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta has kept the transcripts conditionally sealed while a coalition of more than a dozen media organizations fights to unseal them, arguing the public’s right of access outweighs Reiner’s objections.
Prosecutors Habib Balian and Jonathan Chung wrote in a court filing that Reiner’s siblings, Romy and Jake, also oppose releasing the transcripts, according to MyNewsLA.
Reiner, 33, was indicted July 20 on two counts of first-degree murder. His parents were found dead in their Brentwood home in December 2025, and he was arrested hours later near USC. In September, District Attorney Nathan Hochman said his office would not seek the death penalty, after weighing the views of Reiner’s siblings.
Reiner remains held without bail and is represented by a public defender, after his private attorney, Alan Jackson, withdrew in January over a lack of funds.
In a separate probate fight, a court is weighing whether California’s “slayer statute” bars Reiner from tapping a trust fund he says is worth more than $1.5 million to pay for his defense, according to ABC News.
Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Chung of the Major Crimes Division is prosecuting the case, with prosecutor Habib Balian.
City of Industry solar corruption case inches toward hearing
The long-running corruption case over a failed City of Industry solar farm was back in court Monday, when a preliminary hearing date was to be set for defendant Anthony Bouza.
Four men, William Barkett, Bouza, former Industry City Manager Paul Jule Philips and former state Sen. and Assemblymember Frank Hill, are charged with diverting roughly $20 million in public funds meant for a proposed solar farm between 2016 and 2018, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The city leased land to San Gabriel Valley Water and Power LLC, owned by Barkett, who is accused of spending about $8.3 million of the money on himself and falsifying invoices to cover it up. Bouza and Hill, private contractors working for the city, are accused of undisclosed financial conflicts in contracts they helped draft, according to KTLA.
Bouza never disclosed that Barkett owed him $1.5 million, according to the Pasadena Star-News.
Hill, once a rising figure in California Republican politics, served nearly four years in federal prison after his conviction in a 1994 FBI corruption sting at the state Capitol. Philips was serving as Bell’s city manager when the charges were filed in 2021.
All four have pleaded not guilty, and the case has moved slowly through the courts for five years.
Deputy District Attorney Ana Maria Lopez of the Public Integrity Division is prosecuting the case.
Ex-deputy due for sentencing in assault of 13-year-old girl
Former LA County sheriff’s deputy Bryan Cardoso was due to be sentenced Wednesday in the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl at his Cudahy home in 2022.
Cardoso was charged in September 2024 with one count of committing a lewd act on a child under 14, for an assault prosecutors say took place June 13, 2022. The case was investigated by the Sheriff’s Department’s own Internal Criminal Investigation Bureau. He faced up to eight years in state prison if convicted as charged.
“This child has endured an unimaginable violation of trust,” said then-District Attorney George Gascón when the charges were filed.
The DA’s calendar listed Wednesday’s hearing as a sentencing, indicating a conviction or plea, but the outcome and terms had not been made public as of publication.
Deputy District Attorney Negin Mostadim of the Sex Crimes Division is prosecuting the case.
Accused FEMA fraudster’s Palisades fire case returns to court
A Los Angeles man accused of posing as a Pacific Palisades fire victim to collect nearly $15,000 in federal disaster aid was due back in court Tuesday.
Jerry Lee Clay Jr. allegedly submitted a FEMA application using a Palisades address where he did not live, with an apartment number that didn’t exist, and received $14,919.30 in disaster assistance in January and February 2025, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors say he also impersonated people he claimed were his landlords to back up the application. He’s charged with procuring a false or forged instrument, grand theft and two counts of unauthorized use of personal identifying information. Clay has pleaded not guilty, is out on $50,000 bond and faces up to four years and four months in prison if convicted. He was one of three people the DA charged with wildfire-related FEMA fraud in September 2025.
“When you choose to steal FEMA wildfire relief funds, you are stealing from the thousands of fire victims who desperately need financial assistance rebuilding their homes and their lives. As a lifelong Angeleno and your District Attorney, I will not stand for criminals selfishly profiting from someone else’s loss,” said Hochman when the charges were announced.
The case comes as the county works to protect FEMA-funded case management for fire survivors. Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath asked the Board on Tuesday for a backup plan if that federal program is interrupted.
Deputy District Attorney Benyomin Forer of the Cyber Crime Division is prosecuting the case.
