LOS ANGELES — A mistrial was declared Friday in the federal arson case against Jonathan Rinderknecht, charged with starting a blaze in 2025 that prosecutors say developed into the deadly Palisades fire, one of the most devastating infernos in the city’s history.
Rinderknecht, 30, faces three charges over the blazes: one count of destruction of property by means of fire, one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and one count of timber set afire. After two days of deliberation, the jury was deadlocked over two holdouts who found Rinderknecht guilty of the charges. Ten jurors believed he was innocent.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli wrote on X Friday that “the evidence is strong” against Rinderknecht and that prosecutors “fully intend to retry this case before a new jury.”
Federal prosecutors arrested Rinderknecht in October 2025, nine months after he allegedly used a lighter to start the Lachman fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day. The government argued that a holdover fire burned in underground root systems and reemerged on Jan. 7 as the Palisades fire, which claimed the lives of 12 people and decimated some 6,800 structures.