Mistrial Declared In Trial Of Man Accused Of Setting Deadly Palisades Fire

LOS ANGELES (AP) —A federal judge declared a mistrial Friday in the arson case against the man accused of sparking the deady 2025 Palisades Fire in Los Angeles after the jury said it could not agree on a verdict. Prosecutors said they will try again.

Jurors said a day prior they had come to a standstill in deliberations in the trial of 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht on three federal charges: arson, malicious destruction by means of a fire and timber set aflame.

“The court finds there is a manifest necessity to declare a mistrial because the jury is deadlocked,” Judge Anne Hwang said, with 10 jurors set on a not-guilty verdict and two others determined to convict.

The jury’s note Thursday said “We have people on both sides that are dead set, unwavering and unwilling to change their opinion.”

The jury also said there was nothing the court could do to help and that they were split on all three charges. Prosecution had requested Hwang to tell the jury to deliberate longer, but she said there was a “risk of coercion” given how definitive the jury seemed.

Defense attorney Steve Haney said the vote count was a “pretty resounding indication” that his client is innocent.

But U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said they “fully intend to retry this case before a new jury and obtain guilty verdicts on all charged counts.”

“The evidence is strong that Jonathan Rinderknecht is responsible for igniting the fire on January 1, 2025, which eventually became the Palisades fire,” Essayli posted.

Rinderknecht pleaded not guilty to starting what became one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. He was charged with arson, malicious destruction by means of a fire and timber set aflame.

Prosecutors say Rinderknecht started a fire on Jan. 1, 2025, that burned undetected deep in root systems before flaring back up Jan. 7. The Palisades Fire ultimately killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes as it incinerated hillside neighborhoods in Pacific Palisades and the city of Malibu. Rebuilding has moved slowly in the Pacific Palisades — only 17 homes have been certified for occupancy.

His trial began June 8 and featured eight days of lengthy testimony from investigators, experts and witnesses from surrounding areas. Jurors deliberated for 13 hours over the course of two days before concluding that they could not produce a unanimous verdict.

Using security camera footage, prosecutors established that the fire is believed to have started at the Hidden Buddha clearing, a spot in the mountainside that can be reached by a neighborhood trail.

Rinderknecht, who was driving for Uber that evening, dropped off his last passenger in the same neighborhood, shortly before midnight.

Rinderknecht called 911 more than a dozen times that night, and the phone’s geolocation data showed he was at the clearing and walked down the trail as he reported the fire. Prosecutors said Rinderknecht admitted that he did not see or hear anyone else there.

Prosecutors introduced several witnesses to establish his motive and state of mind on New Years Eve 2024. They brought into evidence a multitude of digital records obtained from his phone, email, Uber, OpenAI and various social media accounts. Investigators reviewed thousands of conversations between Rinderknecht and ChatGPT, which he used multiple times a week as a personal diary.

“Why am I so angry all the time?” he said in one exchange.

Rinderknecht lamented wealth disparity and climate change and his inability to do anything about it.

Rinderknecht also made searches about Luigi Mangione, who is charged with the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and on Reddit searched “lets kill all the billionaires.” He looked up the address of DoorDash CEO Tony Xu, including if he had children or surveillance cameras at his home.

He also shared his relationship struggles, including his rejection by a woman. He contacted that same woman earlier that night to ask if she had any New Year’s Eve plans. When she turned him down, he sent her angry and vile messages from another phone.

When firefighters responded to the blaze, Rinderknecht followed them and took videos of the fire as they battled it. While at the fire, he also asked ChatGPT if someone would be responsible for a fire accidentally started by a cigarette.

Rinderknecht screen-recorded both the 911 calls and his ChatGPT prompt, which prosecutors presented as evidence that he was trying to mislead investigators.

On January 6, a day before powerful Santa Ana winds rekindled smoldering roots into a conflagration, he recorded a selfie video where he stated he was having a mental breakdown.

Prosecutors also referenced a recorded interview Rinderknecht gave the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in late January, before he was a suspect. ATF agent Matthew Beals spoke with him for roughly 8 hours, at one point driving together to the site of the fire so that Rinderknecht could physically identify his movements on the hill during the window of time when the fire started.

Rinderknecht’s account was in conflict with his phone’s geolocation data and the timing of his 911 calls, Beals testified.

Beals also said Rinderknecht became “agitated” when he asked about the fire’s details, at one point accusing him of interrogating him as a suspect, and repeatedly voiced dismay about the state of political affairs in response to the questions.

Specifically, Rinderknecht was recorded speculating that someone might hypothetically start a fire in the Palisades out of frustration about inequality, the agent said.

“If people are specifically targeting this area, I’m thinking it’s probably because they’re like, “Oh, do people think they can have their own little road up here in paradise and just, you know, be here with their money while we’re basically being slaves for them?” Rinderknecht said.

Arson behavioral expert Kevin Kelm testified that all of Rinderknecht’s behavior was consistent with that of a “revenge, or societal revenge motivated” arsonist.

Rinderknecht’s defense focused on showing jurors that fireworks could not be ruled out, and in fact were the most likely cause of the fire.

One firefighter testified they heard fireworks in the area shortly before and after midnight New Year’s Eve.

Haney called to the stand two Pacific Palisades residents and a security guard for the neighborhood. All three said they either saw flashes of light or heard fireworks, and two of them saw a group of teenagers running down the trail afterward.

Two expert witnesses cast doubt on the federal investigation. Among other things, the scene of the Jan. 1 fire was unsecured for 13 days and could have been compromised in that time, the defense said. The experts also testified that fireworks were the most likely cause.

Former LA fire investigator Ed Nordskog said he responded to dozens of fires each Fourth of July and New Year’s Eve, most started by fireworks. He accused government investigators of being influenced by confirmation bias as they pursued Rinderknecht.

“They’re choosing to look at information in a very sinister way when they should be a little more open about it,” he said.

When looking through Rinderknecht’s digital footprint, investigators never found any searches about arson, the best way to start a fire, or purchases of any fire-starting materials, Haney pointed out. While they found his DNA on a barbecue lighter in his car, they couldn’t prove a lighter sparked the blaze — only that it began with an “open flame,” he said.

Calling 911 more than a dozen times and staying at the scene while firefighters fought the blaze also demonstrated his innocence, Haney said.

“No arsonist sets a fire and calls 911 for them to put it out … and then waits around to be arrested,” Haney said.