Exclusive | Fatal flaws in case against accused Palisades fire starter revealed

After jurors overwhelmingly rejected the government’s case against accused Palisades fire starter Jonathan Rinderknecht, federal prosecutors need to ditch their character attacks and focus on the evidence for his retrial, legal experts told The California Post.Rather than painting Rinderknecht as “a loser who hates rich people,” the prosecution should build its case around fire science, timelines and his movements before the blaze, they said.Legal analyst Royal Oakes said the case was never a slam dunk for the government’s high-powered legal team because it hinges almost entirely on circumstantial evidence.“They have to get back to basics.Focus on his conduct, where he was at every moment, and how strangely coincidental it was that he was there,” Oakes said.“That’s going to be far more powerful than a generic character assassination that says he’s a moody loner, a bad guy or someone who hates rich people.“The first trial sounded like a case about the defendant’s personality.

The retrial has to be a case about fire science.Jurors don’t convict because they think somebody is angry, eccentric or resentful.“Second time around, the prosecution has to boil it down, simplify it, make the defendant’s own conduct the centerpiece and show exactly where he was at every key moment.”Oakes said prosecutors’ biggest hurdle remains the lack of direct evidence linking Rinderknecht to the fire.“The problem is this is a circumstantial case,” he said.

“They don’t have video of him setting the fire, an eyewitness, DNA or fingerprints.”He said investigators believed Rinderknecht wanted to torch multimillion-dollar homes in Pacific Palisades because he resented wealthy residents, but said motive alone was never enough.“The government also has to do a better job dismantling the fireworks defense,” Oakes said.“The defense’s central argument was that fireworks sparked the Lachman Fire, creating reasonable doubt.”He added that prosecutors ...