Rinderknecht to be retried in the US over the Palisades fire case — The Guardian
In Los Angeles, United States, 30-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht, accused of arson that, according to federal prosecutors, caused the deadly Palisades wildfire in January 2025, will be retried this week. The first trial ended without a jury verdict four months ago, The Guardian reports.
Prosecutors say the fire claimed the lives of 12 people and destroyed thousands of buildings in the Pacific Palisades area. Rinderknecht, who previously worked as an Uber driver, denies charges of destruction of property by fire, arson of property connected to interstate commerce, and arson of forest land.
The prosecution's version
According to law enforcement, on December 31, Rinderknecht dropped off a passenger in an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood and then walked up a hillside. There, investigators believe, he set brush on fire, causing the Lachman fire, which covered about eight acres.
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Firefighters extinguished the Lachman fire on January 2, but, according to the prosecution, embers continued to smolder underground for several days and later caused the large-scale Palisades fire. During the first trial, prosecutors also said that several months before the fire, Rinderknecht had asked ChatGPT to create a dystopian image of a city on fire watched by indifferent wealthy people.
The parties' positions ahead of the retrial
During the first proceedings, two jurors voted for a guilty verdict and 10 for acquittal. Jurors were not allowed to consider evidence concerning the actions of the Los Angeles Fire Department while extinguishing the Lachman fire, but, as the publication notes, this issue could have affected their attitude toward the charges.
Federal prosecutors asked the court to explicitly prohibit the new jury from assessing the adequacy of efforts to extinguish the Lachman fire. The judge preliminarily granted this request. Rinderknecht's defense unsuccessfully sought to exclude descriptions of the AI-generated apocalyptic images from consideration. Jury selection is scheduled for Monday at a courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.
