A retrial for the man accused of setting a blaze
that grew into the deadly Palisades Fire, the most destructive fire in Los
Angeles history, was moved today from October to the beginning of November.
Earlier this year, a federal court jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of
acquitting Jonathan Rinderknecht on three arson-related charges stemming from
the 2025 firestorm, which prosecutors say began on New Year’s Day as the
Lachman Fire, then smoldered for a week before Santa Ana winds re-ignited it
into the Palisades Fire. In light of the deadlock, a judge declared a mistrial,
but prosecutors vowed to retry the case.
The Palisades Fire killed 12 people, burned 23,448 acres, cost
billions in damage and insurance claims, and ruined much of the exclusive
Pacific Palisades community, destroying about 6,800 structures.
Rinderknecht was originally charged with three federal arson counts:
destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in
interstate commerce, and timber set afire. However, prosecutors filed a
superseding indictment last week with only two charges — destruction of
property by means of fire and arson affecting property used in interstate
commerce.
In the new indictment, the first charge refers only to Rinderknecht’s
alleged setting of the Lachman Fire, rather than the Lachman and Palisades
fires.
In court Wednesday in downtown Los Angeles, the now-bearded
Rinderknecht — dressed in beige jail clothing and shackled at the waist —
pleaded not guilty to the revised charges and his new trial date was continued
from Oct. 19 to Nov. 2.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Rinderknecht remains in
federal custody pending retrial because three separate federal judges found
that he is a danger to the community. The findings were based on evidence
showing, among other things, that he hid a firearm in a child’s teddy bear and
threatened to burn his sister’s house down in Florida.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli insisted after the mistrial
was declared in June that prosecutors would eventually win a conviction.
“The evidence is strong that Jonathan Rinderknecht is responsible for
igniting the fire on January 1, 2025, which eventually became the Palisades
Fire,” Essayli wrote on X. “We fully intend to retry this case before a new
jury and obtain guilty verdicts on all charged counts.”
Defense attorney Steven Haney told reporters outside court, however,
that his client is innocent, and a retrial won’t give prosecutors a better
result. He said prosecutors “failed miserably” in their efforts to prove
their case.
“If they want to re-try it again, we can re-try it again,” Haney
said. “If Bill Essayli wants to cheerlead from the sidelines, maybe he should
come in and try the case himself next time.”
He said a retrial would likely end up with Rinderknecht being acquitted.
“Ten-to-two is an overwhelming message from the jury that the
government failed and did not have enough evidence to prove their case,” Haney
said.
During the 10-day trial, the jury heard evidence that the deadly
Palisades Fire was a “holdover” fire — a continuation of the Lachman Fire
that began early in the morning on New Year’s Day 2025. Although firefighters
quickly suppressed the Lachman Fire — named for a street near the Skull Rock
Trailhead — the fire continued to smolder and burn underground within the root
structure of dense vegetation.
On Jan. 7, 2025, heavy winds caused the underground fire to resurface
and spread above ground in what became known as the Palisades Fire, which
caused widespread damage in Pacific Palisades and Malibu.
Prosecutors used witness statements, video surveillance, cell phone
data and analysis of fire dynamics and patterns at the scene to try to show
Rinderknecht intentionally set the Lachman Fire and then lied about it to
investigators. The evidence was largely circumstantial.
Haney argued that no hard evidence tied his client to arson, and the
Lachman and Palisades fires were two separate events. The first fire was likely
caused by errant New Year’s Eve fireworks, he told jurors, and the second blaze
could’ve been arson.
According to Haney, Rinderknecht was on the trail near the Hidden
Buddha clearing where the Lachman Fire was thought to have started, but the
part-time Uber driver did nothing more than call 911 to report it.
Haney insisted the Lachman Fire “could’ve started before Jonathan
even arrived (on the scene). Nobody knows for sure when it started. Everyone is
guessing. A man’s on trial and nobody knows when the fire started.”
Prosecutors told jurors Rinderknecht, driven by anger, loneliness and
a thirst for revenge against the wealthy, used a grill lighter to ignite
hilltop vegetation around midnight on Dec. 31, 2024, at a remote, deserted area
adjacent to the Pacific Palisades’ Summit neighborhood. That fire ultimately
exploded into the deadly conflagration that wiped out much of the upscale
community six days later.
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