Video of lighter test revealed in court at federal arson trial of accused Palisades fire starter
A test done on the lighter that prosecutors believe sparked the Palisades Fire showed the torch failing to light brush three times, as a jury watched video of the experiment at the trial of the suspect accused of starting the deadly blaze.Opening statements in the second federal trial of Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, on Wednesday kicked off with the footage shown to jurors by the suspect’s attorney, Steve Haney.In the nearly 1-minute video, a green barbecue lighter similar to the one found in Rinderknecht’s car was shown trying to light a foil oven pan filled with dead vegetation taken from Pacific Palisades.The lighter’s flame touches the brush in three different parts of the medium-sized pan, ignites briefly but then fails to continue burning, according to the video.
The test was performed by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).Rinderknecht is accused of using the lighter on New Year’s Eve 2024 to spark the Lachman Fire, which smoldered for days before reigniting to become the Palisades Fire on January 7, 2025.The video evidence was part of a test ordered by government prosecutors on the lighter 11 months after Rinderknecht was charged. “Based on that video, that lighter does not have the ability to start the fire on January 1st,” Haney told the California Post after opening statements.The green lighter was discovered in the glove compartment of Rinderknecht’s car on Jan 24, 2025, more than three weeks after the devastating fire swept through the Palisades.During his opening statement, Haney explained that the Lachman Fire could be seen from 5 miles just moments after it started.“That fire couldn’t get across a baking pan,” he said of the test, before announced an upcoming witness will testify that he heard an explosion just before the fire sparked. “He ran out to his backyard to see what it was,” Haney said of the witness, who lived at the foot of the hill where the New Year’s blaze is believed to have ...