Feds revamp charges against Palisades arson suspect after mistrial

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Set us as preferred Prosecutors this week unveiled a new indictment against the man accused of igniting last year’s deadly fire in the Palisades, nixing one of the three original charges and revising the other two after a mistrial in federal court earlier this summer.Jonathan Rinderknecht, 33, remains in federal custody on charges he intentionally set a Jan.

1, 2025, blaze known as the Lachman fire, which prosecutors say reignited to become one of California’s most devastating wildfires.The indictment filed Thursday narrows the scope of the allegations against him, stripping away charges that he set fire to vegetation on federally controlled land and narrowing claims he “maliciously damaged and destroyed” wilderness maintained with federal tax dollars and organs of interstate commerce, including FDIC-insured banks and Pacific Coast Highway.

California The decision comes after the jury deadlocked, leaving unresolved questions about who is responsible for the fire that killed 12 people and caused billions of dollars in losses.The Palisades fire consumed more than 6,500 structures, leaving 12 dead and billions of dollars in damage.Wind-driven flames and dry hydrants drew engines from across the region, leaving first responders stretched thin when the Eaton fire exploded above Altadena hours later.

The blaze sparked a political reckoning that could cost Mayor Karen Bass reelection and reshape city government.But the case against Rinderknecht has sputtered.

Prosecutors say the former Uber driver spent days obsessing about arson — watching a French firebug music video on repeat and prompting ChatGPT to paint a tony hillside enclave aflame — before heading to Hidden Buddha clearing in Pacific Palisades late on New Year’s Eve, where they say he set the fire with a lighter just after midnight.Court documents show R...