Palisades arson case: Second trial begins against man accused of sparking wildfire

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Set us as preferred Federal prosecutors on Wednesday again accused a man of using a lighter to deliberately set the blaze that became the devastating Palisades fire, while his attorney argued that investigators settled on their theory months before conducting tests to support it.The competing accounts opened the retrial of Jonathan Rinderknecht, after his first jury in June deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal.Rinderknecht, 30, has pleaded not guilty and U.S.

District Judge Anne Hwang ordered that there be no reference to the first trial during the latest proceeding.Prosecutors have revised the charges against him, narrowing one count to focus solely on damage from the Lachman fire, which began on Jan.1, 2025.

A second count still seeks to hold Rinderknecht responsible for both that blaze and the Palisades fire, which erupted six days later.A third charge of setting timber afire was dropped.In their second attempt at securing a conviction, prosecutors are putting less emphasis on Rinderknecht’s alleged resentment of the wealthy, instead highlighting laboratory tests they allege prove that a lighter could ignite the hillside vegetation.

The defense seized on those tests, conducted after the first trial, to argue that investigators reached their conclusion before testing it.California Jonathan Rinderknecht, who stands accused of igniting a small New Year’s Day blaze that prosecutors say later became the devastating Palisades fire, is facing a second federal trial after jurors deadlocked earlier this year on prosecutors’ first effort to convict him of arson.Rinderknecht’s defense attorney, Steve Haney, said investigators concluded in August 2025 that an open flame started the fire.

Rinderknecht was charged that October, but his lawyer noted that authorities did not request the lighter tests until July 2026.“De...