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David Carmichael crushed sleeping pills into his 11-year-old son's orange juice, waited for the drugs to take effect, and strangled him to death. He'd researched murder charges online. He expected 25 years in prison. He planned the whole thing. The verdict? Not criminally responsible. He walked out of a psychiatric facility after about two years.
Could the same legal standard save Nick Reiner?
Under the M'Naghten rule used in California, insanity doesn't require proving you didn't know right from wrong. The second prong asks whether you understood the "nature and quality" of your actions. Carmichael knew killing was illegal — but in his psychotic state, triggered by the SSRI Paxil, he believed his healthy son was suffering. He thought he was performing mercy. The delusion changed what he believed he was doing.
Nick Reiner's medication for schizoaffective disorder was reportedly changed one month before the killings because he complained about weight gain. Sources say it "messed him up profoundly." Now he reportedly admits to killing his parents but believes his incarceration is a conspiracy against him.
Same legal standard. Same medication trigger argument. Different history.
Retired FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke examines the behavioral patterns. Carmichael had no history of manipulation. Nick has 30 years of it. His father said experts repeatedly warned the family Nick was "lying or manipulating them." Carmichael didn't flee. Nick reportedly checked into a hotel and navigated LA for 24 hours.
Robin explains why post-offense behavior matters, how families normalize chaos until intervention fatigue sets in, and why the story told after the act may matter most.
The defense exists. The question is whether anyone will believe it from someone who's spent a lifetime making sure no one should.
#NickReiner #DavidCarmichael #RobReiner #MicheleReiner #RobinDreeke #InsanityDefense #MNaghten #TrueCrimeToday #BehaviorAnalysis #TrueCrime
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Fifty times in a single day. That's how often JP Miller allegedly contacted his estranged wife Mica, according to the federal indictment. He tracked her with GPS devices. Posted intimate photos of her online without consent. Sabotaged her car. Then lied to FBI investigators about it.
Mica Miller died on April 27, 2024 — 48 hours after serving him divorce papers. Her death was ruled a suicide. Now JP Miller faces federal cyberstalking charges.
He pleaded not guilty in a Florence, South Carolina courtroom, then slipped out a back door while over seventy people waited and protesters chanted outside. Bond was set at $100,000 with strict conditions: ankle monitor, no firearms, no contact with victims, surrender of passport.
Former FBI Special Agent Robin Dreeke — who ran the Bureau's Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program — breaks down what the indictment reveals about predatory behavior and coercive control. Sworn affidavits describe years of isolation, financial manipulation, threats, and surveillance. Mica told police JP had "groomed" her since she was ten years old.
His first wife Alison filed an affidavit alleging he confessed to affairs, hiring prostitutes, and being "sexually inappropriate" with underage church members. She says she went to police in 2015. They told her no one would believe her. Two civil lawsuits now accuse Miller of sexually assaulting minors in the late 1990s.
And then there's Chris Skinner — a quadriplegic Army veteran who drowned in 2021, two weeks after allegedly confronting Miller about an affair with his wife. That wife is now married to JP Miller. He officiated Chris's funeral.
Robin Dreeke analyzes the behavioral patterns, the control tactics, and what it takes to stop someone like this.
#JPMiller #MicaMiller #JusticeForMica #RobinDree
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Habib Balian prosecuted the Menendez brothers. He prosecuted Robert Durst. Now he has Nick Reiner — a man who reportedly admits killing his parents but allegedly doesn't understand why he's in jail.
Defense attorney Bob Motta joins True Crime Today to map out the legal road ahead. Nick is reportedly not competent to stand trial. His medication was changed one month before the murders. Alan Jackson withdrew from the case under circumstances he's "legally prohibited" from explaining. Nick is now represented by a public defender.
But the insanity defense in California doesn't work the way most people think. You don't have to prove the defendant didn't know right from wrong — only that he didn't understand the "nature and quality" of his actions. TMZ's documentary cited the David Carmichael case, where a father who methodically planned his son's killing was found not criminally responsible because he was operating under a psychotic delusion.
According to TMZ sources, Nick believes his incarceration is part of a conspiracy against him. And in a way, he's right — just not how he thinks. For 32 years, every system Nick touched conspired to protect him from consequences. The money. The rehabs. The family. More than 18 treatment facilities that cashed checks and released him after 30 days.
A family associate told the New York Times that the Reiners had "grown used to" Nick's behavior. Now that conspiracy has flipped. Everyone is conspiring to do what nobody could do before: hold Nick Reiner accountable.
Bob Motta examines what the defense must prove, whether victim family sentiment affects prosecution, and what the timeline looks like for a case that may not see trial for years.
#NickReiner #RobReiner #MicheleReiner #HabibBalian #BobMotta #TrueCrimeToday #InsanityDefense #MenendezBrothers #TrueCrime #ReinerCase
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The prosecution's entire case against Brendan Banfield comes down to one person: Juliana Peres Magalhaes. She spent a year in jail facing murder charges. Then she changed her story, took a plea deal, and agreed to testify against the man she says she helped kill. Her reward? Time served and deportation to Brazil. But there's a catch — her sentencing is scheduled after Banfield's trial. Her freedom depends on his conviction.
On Day 1, Magalhaes delivered. She described in graphic detail how Banfield allegedly shot Joseph Ryan in the head, then stabbed his wife Christine repeatedly in the neck while their 4-year-old daughter waited in the basement.
Prosecutors allege Banfield and Magalhaes — the family's au pair who was having an affair with him — created a fake profile on a fetish website using Christine's identity to lure Ryan to the home. Ryan believed he was meeting Christine for a consensual sexual encounter. Instead, prosecutors say, he walked into a kill room.
From jail, Juliana wrote to her mother that she was "heartbroken" for what she was doing to Brendan. She said she still loved him. But she wanted to go home. So how does a jury weigh testimony from someone whose freedom depends entirely on conviction?
Retired FBI Special Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer breaks down what corroborating evidence prosecutors need to make the testimony stick — and the questions defense attorneys will use to destroy her credibility.
The defense argues digital forensics show Christine was the one communicating with Ryan. They say investigators who contradicted that theory were removed from the case. Banfield faces life without parole plus 13 years if convicted. The trial is expected to last four weeks.
#BrendanBanfield #JulianaPeresMagalhaes #ChristineBanfield #JosephRyan #TrueCrimeToday #AuPairMurder #JenniferCoffindaffer #MurderTrial #FairfaxCounty #TrueCrime
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For three years, the Kohberger family said nothing. While Bryan Kohberger's face dominated headlines, his sisters and parents retreated into silence — enduring tabloid stakeouts, online harassment, and scrutiny that destroyed careers and fractured their lives.
Now Mel Kohberger is speaking. In a New York Times interview, Bryan's sister reveals what happened inside the family home during Christmas 2022 — just days before FBI agents burst through the door. She describes warning Bryan about the "psycho killer on the loose" near his apartment, only to learn weeks later that he was the suspect. She talks about his childhood bullying, his heroin addiction, his recovery — and the brother she never imagined could commit such violence.
The "creepy drawing" tabloids claimed Kohberger held during sentencing? It was a heart Mel made for him. Bright colors. A message of love from a sister still trying to reconcile the person she knew with the monster the world now sees.
Meanwhile, a 126-page lawsuit filed by the families of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin exposes what Washington State University allegedly knew about Kohberger before the murders. At least 13 formal complaints in three months. A professor who urged colleagues to cut his funding because she recognized a predator. Mandatory discrimination training held five days before the killings — because of him.
The lawsuit claims WSU was more worried about a potential discrimination suit from Kohberger than the violence he might commit. The families are demanding accountability.
Two perspectives on the same man. Neither one makes sense of what he did.
#BryanKohberger #MelKohberger #IdahoMurders #KayleeGoncalves #MadisonMogen #XanaKernodle #EthanChapin #WSULawsuit #TrueCrimeToday #IdahoFour
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