LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Deliberations were underway for a second day this morning in downtown Los Angeles in the trial of Palisades Fire arson suspect Jonathan Rinderknecht, who faces federal charges for allegedly setting what eventually became the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history.
Rinderknecht faces up to 45 years behind bars if found guilty of three arson counts: destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and timber set afire.
The first day of deliberations ended Wednesday without a verdict. Attorneys for both sides gave their closing arguments a day earlier.
Law enforcement determined 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 surface and spread above ground in what became known as the Palisades Fire, which killed a dozen people and caused widespread damage in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu.
During the 10-day trial in downtown Los Angeles, prosecutors used witness statements, video surveillance, cell phone data, and analysis of fire dynamics and patterns at the scene to allegedly prove that Rinderknecht “maliciously” set the Lachman Fire.
Defense attorney Steven Haney, however, argued that no hard evidence links his client to the fire and whatever data was presented to the jury “doesn’t make much sense.” According to the defense, the Lachman and Palisades fires were separate events and 30-year-old Rinderknecht had nothing to do with either one.
Prosecutors contend Rinderknecht, driven by anger, loneliness and a thirst for revenge against the wealthy, used a grill lighter to ignite a small brush fire 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.
Firefighters initially thought they had extinguished the Lachman Fire but instead it smoldered underground in the root system of brushes and trees before bursting into view as the Palisades Fire on Jan. 7, 2025, bolstered by strong Santa Ana winds, Assistant U.S. Attorney Danbee Kim said during her summation Tuesday.
Rinderknecht “had a deeply entrenched belief that the wealthy were destroying the world,” she said, telling the panel in Los Angeles federal court that to the defendant’s way of thinking, “the Pacific Palisades neighborhood represented” the disparity between the rich and working people like himself.
Rinderknecht declined to testify in his own defense.
With testimony from more than two dozen witnesses, the prosecution built a picture of Rinderknecht in the months leading up to the fire as a troubled man, increasingly bitter about failed relationships, low finances, the current administration, and a dystopian society he believed was ruled by cruel corporate overseers.
“After months of stewing in resentment at the rich and powerful” and “pouring his frustrations into ChatGPT,” Rinderknecht — then working as a part-time Uber driver — lit the Lachman Fire, Kim said.
“He was the only one up there — he was the only one who could’ve lit that fire,” the prosecutor said.
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.
Haney maintained that errant fireworks were the likely cause of the fire, and his client did nothing more than call 911 to report it.
“Twelve minutes into the New Year … fireworks are being used across the area,” the attorney said. “Multiple witnesses heard fireworks around midnight (that night). If this fire had happened on Jan. 4, maybe it would be a different case.”
According to Haney, 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.”
But prosecutors presented testimony explaining how law enforcement zeroed in on Rinderknecht in the weeks after the Palisades Fire.
Among other things, the jury heard tape of Rinderknecht ranting during a pre-arrest interview with federal agents about the wealthy and the supposed wall between the rich and low-wage workers.
“That’s what I disrupted,” he says at one point.
Haney asserted that although there were cameras taking time-delayed pictures of the scene and geolocational data appearing to trace Rinderknecht’s cell phone use as it corresponded to his exact location on the trail and at the Hidden Buddha clearing where the brush fire is thought to have begun, the surveillance “doesn’t show you anything.”
Discussing his client’s supposed “societal revenge” motivation, the defense attorney told the jury that “hating the rich is not a crime. Half of America hates the rich.”
The prosecution chose to end its case-in-chief last week not with a wealthy property owner, but with a small businessman who lost his restaurant in the fire.
The final prosecution witness was the owner of the Reel Inn, a popular Malibu seafood restaurant on the Pacific Coast Highway that was leveled in the fire on Jan. 7, 2025. Andy Leonard narrated before-and-after photos of what he called his “seafood shack,” which he said he had operated for 38 years. The popular eatery was pictured full of noshing customers in the first shot, followed by a scene of blackened rubble after the blaze. Leonard said he hoped to rebuild and reopen someday.
During an eight-hour interview with investigators months before he was arrested but weeks after the fire, Rinderknecht said he was alone in the area around midnight on Dec. 31, 2024. Toward the end of the interview, while walking with agents at the scene of the Lachman Fire, the defendant said he may have smoked a cigarette or two while on the darkened trail. When questioned about the statement, Rinderknecht claimed he could not remember what brand he smoked or how he lit the cigarettes.
Prosecutors contend the green Bic grill lighter found in Rinderknecht’s rented car was used to set the blaze.
In pretrial hearings, U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang, who is overseeing the trial, ruled that the defense may not attempt to shift the blame for the Palisades Fire to the Los Angeles Fire Department, which has been blamed for allegedly failing to completely extinguish the Lachman Fire.
She also ruled that jurors would not be permitted to view images Rinderknecht created with ChapGPT showing burning fires while rich people enjoyed themselves behind a huge wall. “Too prejudicial,” according to the judge.
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