Lawyer Alan Jackson Addresses Speculation Over Why He Withdrew From Nick Reiner’s Case
on Jan 14, 2026
Hollywood Lawyer Alan Jackson Withdrew From Nick Reiner’s Murder Case
On January 7th, Nick Reiner appeared in front of a judge where he was supposed to be represented by lawyer Alan Jackson (no relation to the country legend). Instead, Jackson and his team withdrew from the case.
“We have no choice but to withdraw as counsel and ask to be removed,” Jackson told the judge on January 7th.
When asked if he was alright with the change, Nick Reiner responded, “Yeah, I agree to that.”
He is now being represented by public defender Kimberly Greene and will appear in court again for his arraignment on February 23rd.
Jackson addressed the press on the court steps after withdrawing from the case. He said:
“As you know, this morning, I had to withdraw as Nick Reiner’s counsel. Circumstances beyond our control, but more importantly, circumstances beyond Nick’s control, have dictated that, sadly, it’s made it impossible for us to continue our representation of Nick.”
He continued, “I’m legally and I’m ethically prohibited from explaining all the reasons why, I know that’s a question on everyone’s mind. We expect the public defender to step in, they’ve already been appointed and very carefully protect Nick Reiner’s interests as he moves forward through the system.”
Jackson also said that “pursuant to the law in California, Nick Reiner is not guilty of murder.”
Nick Reiner Is Charged With Murdering His Parents, Rob & Michele Reiner
Famed actor and director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were found dead in their Brentwood, Los Angeles home on December 14th. Their official cause of death revealed that they were killed by “multiple sharp force objects” and it was ruled a homicide.
Hours later, their son, Nick, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
Rob and Michele were also parents to son, Jake, daughter, Romy, and Rob’s daughter from his marriage to Penny Marshall, Tracy Reiner.
Alan Jackson Addresses Speculation On Why He Is No Longer Representing Nick Reiner
On January 14, Jackson appeared on the podcast Hot Mics with Billy Bush, where the host asked, “So, the big question everybody’s wanting to know the answer to is: why did you step away?”
He responded, “That is a confidential communication between a lot of folks I’m not willing to disclose.”
Bush pushed back, “You just used the word ‘commissioned.’ You were hired to do the job… so something happened with the retainer or something. Was it a money thing?”
Jackson replied, “You can’t say that. You can’t say that, Billy. You can’t say that something happened with the retainer because I’ve never said that.”
The clip ends with Jackson saying, “So obviously something happened with my ability and my team’s ability to continue the representation, but I don’t want you, your audience, anybody else to start speculating as to what that might be. I have not said a word about it.”
Jackson also appeared on Kelly Ripa’s Sirius XM podcast Let’s Talk Off Camera with his former client Karen Read. They spoke a lot about Read’s case, which took the country by storm, but Ripa did bring up the Reiner case, and Jackson doubled down on not addressing the actual reason why he stepped down from representing Nick.
“Everybody’s got that same looming question, and I am compelled because of legal standards and ethical obligations; there’s certain things I simply can’t divulge, Kelly, in terms of why there was a change in counsel, why we stepped away and the public defenders office stepped in, and I will reiterate what I said in the press conference, which is, my team, me personally and my team, remain completely and utterly committed to Nick’s best interest. We always will be committed to his best interests,” he said. “I want nothing but the best for him and I want him to get the most robust defense that he possibly can get. And I know he will in the hands of the public defender’s office.”
On Hot Mics, Jackson also spoke about the legal defense of Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity, which is what many think his team was trying to prove on Nick’s behalf.
