Jurors in Palisades arson retrial may be barred from weighing evidence of LAFD missteps

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Set us as preferred A federal judge indicated Thursday that jurors in the upcoming retrial of a man accused of an arson that sparked the Palisades fire will not be allowed to consider whether Los Angeles firefighters adequately extinguished the blaze that prosecutors say later reignited and spread, devastating the community.U.S.District Judge Anne Hwang tentatively granted prosecutors’ request for her to instruct the jury to disregard inadmissible evidence about the adequacy of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s fire suppression efforts, but deferred a final decision until after the new trial begins Nov.

2.The issue drew attention after Jonathan Rinderknecht’s first trial, when a juror questioned why Rinderknecht was being held solely responsible for the Palisades fire, given that it erupted days after firefighters left the scene of the initial blaze he stands accused of starting.Hwang had barred Rinderknecht’s attorney, Steve Haney, from raising allegations of negligence by the fire department.Jurors deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal in June, resulting in a stunning mistrial.

Prosecutors vowed to retry Rinderknecht and later obtained a revised indictment that narrows the scope of one charge to focus solely on damage from the initial Lachman fire, which began on on Jan.1, 2025, while a second count still seeks to hold him responsible for both the Lachman and Palisades fires.

A third charge of setting timber afire, which was part of the original case, has since been dropped.Rinderknecht, 30, who has remained in federal custody since the June mistrial, has pleaded not guilty to the revised charges against him.Earlier this month, Hwang ordered that there be no reference to the first trial during the retrial scheduled for Nov.

2.During Rinderknecht’s first trial, prosecutors called more than 30 witnesses, who pa...