Arson Trial Starts for Man Blamed for Los Angeles’ Deadly Palisades Fire

A federal prosecutor told jurors on Wednesday that a former Uber driver despondent over a failing relationship and resentful of the rich deliberately set a blaze that grew into one of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires on record in Los Angeles.

Jonathan Rinderknecht’s attorney countered that the defendant had nothing to do with the January 2025 blazes.

Rinderknecht, 30, was indicted last October on one felony count each of destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and illegal burning of timber on public lands.

He is accused of starting a fire in early January 2025 that was quickly suppressed but continued to smolder under dense vegetation before reigniting a week later.

Fierce winds then whipped it into a conflagration that killed 12 people and laid waste to the seaside enclave of Pacific Palisades, leading to billions of dollars in property damage.

Rinderknecht pleaded not guilty but has remained in custody since his arrest in Florida.

If convicted on all three counts, he would face at least five years in prison, the U.S. Justice Department says, while the maximum sentence is 45 years.

“The evidence will show that the defendant lit this fire on January 1 and that he did so on purpose and the evidence will show that the fire that the defendant started on Jan. 1 was the same fire that caused all of that destruction on January 7,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Williams told jurors in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.

Defense attorney Steve Haney said the two fires were unrelated, and that his client started neither, though he saw the first.

Rinderknecht was no arsonist, but a man who “tried to stop a fire by calling 911 when he saw it break out,” Haney said.

Los Angeles firefighters believed they had swiftly extinguished the New Year’s Day blaze near a hiking trail in the mountains close to Santa Monica. But it erupted again on January 7 and grew swiftly into the devastating Palisades Fire, federal investigators say.

Driven by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds, the flames scorched more than 23,000 acres (9,300 hectares) and destroyed some 6,000 structures.

It coincided with another catastrophic wildfire northeast of Los Angeles known as the Eaton Fire, which killed 19 people and ravaged the community of Altadena.

Mangione Admirer?

A pretrial memorandum alleged that Rinderknecht was closely tracking news of Luigi Mangione, charged with killing the CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare and admired in some extreme left-wing circles as a working-class folk hero.

The memo also said Rinderknecht was “deeply agitated” over a fraying romantic relationship.

A onetime Pacific Palisades resident, Rinderknecht professed his innocence in a court declaration in March.

He said he saw flames erupt from the vantage point of a hilltop he had climbed to watch New Year’s Eve fireworks after dropping off an Uber passenger. He said he called the 911 emergency number to report the blaze, and stayed on the scene until after firefighters arrived and offered to help them.

But according to a criminal complaint filed in the case, cellphone data showed that no one besides Rinderknecht was in the area where the fire started.

Firefighter Scapegoat?

According to court documents, Rinderknecht listened to a rap song whose music video depicted things being set on fire. He then lit a blaze and fled the scene, only to return a short time later to watch the flames and the firefighters.

During his 911 call, according to the complaint, Rinderknecht typed a question into the AI app ChatGPT asking, “Are you at fault if a fire is lift (sic) because of your cigarettes.” ChatGPT’s response was, “Yes,” the complaint said.

In seeking bail for his client at a hearing last October, defense lawyer Haney said Rinderknecht was essentially being charged with arson allegedly committed seven days before the much larger fire for which he is being prosecuted.

“So why are they blaming him for whatever the fire department didn’t do?” Haney asked rhetorically, adding that the defense was not conceding prosecutors’ assertion that one fire was a continuation of another.

At the time, Haney said his client had no prior criminal record and no documented history of mental illness.

Prosecutors said in court filings that Rinderknecht was motivated by anger against the rich, saying he followed Mangione news on Google using such search terms as “Let’s take down all the billionaires,” and ranted to various Uber passengers about the December 2024 shooting death.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Donna Bryson and Rosalba O’Brien)

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