Trial begins for man accused of sparking LA’s deadly Palisades fire | Los Angeles
The trial of a 29-year-old man accused of sparking a wildfire that became the deadly Palisades inferno, the most destructive blaze in Los Angeles history, is set to begin Monday in a case that has shaken the city as Angelenos seek answers more than a year after the deadly blaze.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, an occasional Uber driver, is accused of starting a small fire on New Year’s Day 2025, later named the Lachman fire. Although the Los Angeles Fire Department extinguished the blaze on January 2, the fire, which burned undetected deep in the dry hillsides, reignited five days later due to high winds and tinder conditions.
Such fires are known as “standby” or “zombie” fires, and the trial is expected to hinge on whether the jury finds Rinderknecht responsible for knowing that the small wildfire he lit could eventually escalate into a deadly blaze that would kill 12 people.
Aya Gruber, a criminal law expert and Harold Medill Heimbaugh professor of law at the University of Southern California, told the Guardian in January: “This is not terribly unusual, it’s not outside the bounds of what is foreseeable. We get Santa Ana winds every year.” “You could also argue that this kind of zombie fire is very unusual, so it would open up that way.”
grand jury in October charged Rinderknecht was tried three times, all on felonies, for lighting a fire that destroyed national, state, and private lands and buildings and killed 12 people. If convicted, Rinderknecht could face between five and 45 years in prison. Rinderknecht has been in federal custody since his arrest on October 7.
Federal prosecutors are expected to argue that Rinderknecht was upset about a failed relationship and lack of plans for New Year’s Eve when she allegedly lit the Lachman fire, according to a pretrial brief filed by U.S. attorneys on April 29.
Witnesses reported Rinderknecht was agitated and driving erratically while working for Uber on New Year’s Eve, according to prosecutors. He also allegedly spoke about Luigi Mangione, the accused murderer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and later told investigators that someone might commit arson in the Palisades “out of anger that the rich were enjoying their money because ‘we’re basically being enslaved by them.'”
The trial will be heard before U.S. district judge Anne Hwang, who was appointed to the bench by Joe Biden in 2024.
Hwang before the hearing concerns expressed Jurors may find the government’s theory of the case confusing; for example, if they find Rinderknecht guilty of lighting the Lachman fire but not him responsible for the Palisades fire.
Hwang also excluded some evidence from the hearing, including the fire department’s claim that it failed to completely extinguish the smaller Lachman fire.
Rinderknecht’s attorney, Steven Haney, said he believes his client was “scapegoated” by the Los Angeles Fire Department. Rinderknecht’s defense planned to introduce evidence, including statements from a firefighter, fire captain and a state park ranger collected as part of a lawsuit filed against the city by fire victims who claimed the Lachman fire was visibly smoldering when the fire department abandoned the blaze. However, this evidence will no longer be allowed in court.
Hwang also barred prosecutors from presenting evidence, including artificial intelligence-generated images that Rinderknecht allegedly created during a fire several months before the incident.
In October, just a few weeks after Rinderknecht was indicted, the Los Angeles Times published: a series of bomb claimsFirefighters expressed concern that the Lachman fire was not completely under control before they were ordered by their superiors to leave the burn area. Two months later in the Times published a second study It found that the fire department’s “after action” report had been watered down over the course of seven drafts.
Hwang said the defense could argue other actions by the fire department, and Rinderknecht’s attorney said he plans to argue that the government lacks solid evidence linking his client to the Lachman fire, citing fireworks heard in the area.
Law enforcement determined that Rinderknecht started the Lachman fire “using witness statements, video surveillance, cell phone data, and analysis of fire dynamics and patterns at the scene,” the U.S. attorney’s office said in a June 1 press release.
