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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The man accused of sparking last year’s deadly Palisades Fire will be tried again this fall after his first federal arson case ended in a mistrial Friday.
Ten of the 12 jurors insisted Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is innocent. Judge Anne Hwang quickly set an Oct. 19 retrial date and ordered him jailed until then.
Rinderknecht has pleaded not guilty to starting one of the most destructive wildfires in California history, and feels encouraged that so many of the jurors “resoundingly found that the government’s case was not strong, and they did not have enough evidence to convict him,” defense attorney Steve Haney said.
But First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said they have strong evidence and will seek a guilty verdict in a new trial.
Prosecutors said Rinderknecht used a barbecue lighter on Jan. 1, 2025 to spark a blaze that burned undetected deep in root systems before flaring back up Jan. 7 and killing 12 people as it incinerated entire neighborhoods in Los Angeles and Malibu. Only 17 rebuilt homes in Pacific Palisades have been certified for occupancy since then.
Prosecutors never provided direct evidence that Rinderknecht started the earlier blaze. They showed jurors he was in the area when it began and presented a digital trail to indicate he was motivated by a desire to take revenge on society.
His defense said fireworks were the likely cause and that investigators had zeroed in too quickly on Rinderknecht without clear proof.
“This is a big victory, and it feels so unfair that, given the circumstances, the government maintains my son in jail,” said his father, Joel Rinderknecht.
Digital records revealed Rinderknecht’s state of mind
The trial featured a trove of digital records and eight days of testimony from investigators, experts and witnesses.
Security camera recordings helped determine where the Jan. 1 fire is believed to have started: a mountainside spot off a trail in a neighborhood familiar to Rinderknecht. He dropped off his last Uber passenger in the same neighborhood, shortly before midnight, and later called 911 more than a dozen times. His phone’s geolocation data showed him at the clearing and walking down the trail as he reported the fire.
Jurors saw records from his phone, email, Uber, social media accounts and OpenAI. Thousands of comments showed he regularly consulted ChatGPT.
“Why am I so angry all the time?” he said in one exchange.
He vented over wealth inequality and global warming
Rinderknecht inquired about Luigi Mangione, who was charged with the murder of United Healthcare’s CEO, and on Reddit he searched “lets kill all the billionaires.”
He also vented about being rejected by a woman he contacted to see if she had New Year’s Eve plans, and sent her angry and vile messages from another phone.
Rinderknecht also recorded videos of firefighters battling the blaze, pausing to ask ChatGPT if someone would be responsible for a fire accidentally started by a cigarette. And he screen-recorded both the 911 calls and his ChatGPT prompt, which prosecutors said showed he was trying to mislead investigators.
On Jan. 6, a day before powerful Santa Ana winds rekindled smoldering roots into a conflagration, he recorded a selfie video saying he was having a mental breakdown.
Investigators interviewed him weeks after fire
Rinderknecht also spoke for roughly eight hours with a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent in late January, before he was a suspect.
ATF agent Matthew Beals drove with him to the site, so that Rinderknecht could identify his movements as the fire started — an account that conflicted with the place and time of his 911 calls, the agent testified.
Rinderknecht became “agitated” when asked for details and speculated that someone frustrated by inequality might hypothetically target the wealthy neighborhood, the agent said.
All such behavior is consistent with that of a “societal revenge motivated” arsonist, testified Kevin Kelm, an expert in arsonist behavior.
His defense suggested a rush to judgment
Haney said investigators never found any searches about arson, the best way to start a fire, or purchases of fire-starting materials. And while his DNA was found 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.
Fireworks were the most likely cause that New Year’s Eve, the defense argued. One firefighter recalled hearing fireworks in the area shortly before and after midnight. And two residents and a security guard testified they either saw flashes of light or heard fireworks. Two saw a group of teenagers running down the trail afterward.
Former LA fire investigator Ed Nordskog accused the investigators of confirmation bias, noting that he often responded to dozens of fires on New Year’s Eve, most of them started by fireworks.
“They’re choosing to look at information in a very sinister way when they should be a little more open about it,” Nordskog said.
Defense witnesses also noted that the fire scene could have been compromised because access was not closed off until Jan. 14, nearly two weeks after the first blaze started.
“Can you convict a man based on a crime scene that was destroyed? Stripped of all evidence? Evidence that could’ve proved his innocence?” Haney asked jurors during closing arguments.
Juror explains why she voted against conviction
Juror No. 4, who identified herself as Syrena and wouldn’t share her last name, said she voted not-guilty.
“There’s just not enough proof,” she said. And even if he did start the Jan. 1 fire, she said he shouldn’t be considered responsible for the entire disaster given the negligence of other parties.
“Shouldn’t the firemen, shouldn’t they have known?” she said.
Rinderknecht’s attorney wanted to argue that the Los Angeles Fire Department had been negligent, but the judge ruled he couldn’t make that case in court.
Juror No. 4 said there wasn’t enough evidence to make her believe the prosecution’s assertion that Rinderknecht was alone in the area before it started.
As for his use of ChatGPT, she said he was “just being human” that she talks to ChatGPT frequently as well.
“It made me angry that they were putting his character down,” she said.
Fire victims still want their lives back
The fire’s aftermath continues to reshape the metropolitan area, with thousands of uprooted fire victims seeking insurance payouts and court judgments.
“The state and the city have tried for the past year and a half to distract from their own shortcomings in their own liability,” civil attorney Alexander Robertson said.
The new trial, meanwhile, will begin as Los Angeles voters decide whether to re-elect Mayor Karen Bass.
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