A state appeals court panel Thursday upheld a Redondo Beach man’s conviction for the stabbing death of his live-in girlfriend, a onetime Los Angeles police officer who became an attorney and reality television personality.
The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there were errors in the trial of Robert Brian Reagan, who was found guilty in 2017 of second-degree murder for the July 22, 2015, killing of Loredana Nesci.
Reagan’s trial attorney, Shepard Kopp, argued to jurors that Nesci’s death was accidental and occurred after Nesci — a former police officer trained in the use of deadly weapons — attacked Reagan with a knife during a domestic dispute. Kopp said Nesci was fatally wounded as the couple struggled over the knife.
Officers were sent to the residence the couple shared on an emergency call from a “distraught” man, later identified as Reagan, and discovered the 47-year-old victim dead inside.
Nesci was the star of “Loredana, Esq.,” a 2014 reality show on Sundance TV that documented her home life and career as an attorney.
Reagan appeared on the six-episode series, which documented the couple’s struggle with mounting bills and arguments over the care of their young son while he was traveling to develop a beverage business. The 5-year-old boy was in the couple’s home when Nesci was killed.
Nesci became an LAPD officer in 1996, according to her website, and left two years later to attend law school. She opened her own law practice in 2004.
Reagan was sentenced in September 2017 to 16 years to life in state prison.