 He was the Los Angeles County District Attorney from 1984 to 1992.As District Attorney he supervised the prosecution of several notorious cases, including the murder trial of Richard Ramírez, the widely publicized police arrest of Rodney King, and the McMartin preschool trial, the best known case of day care sex abuse hysteria.In 1990 Reiner was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for California Attorney General, losing to Arlo Smith, who in turn was defeated by Republican Dan Lungren.