LOS ANGELES — In their opening statement, prosecutors told a federal jury on Wednesday that Jonathan Rinderknecht, driven by a desire for revenge against society, used a lighter to intentionally set what would eventually become the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history.

Rinderknecht's defense attorney countered that his client, a 29-year-old former Uber driver, had only gone up on a hill on New Year's Eve 2024 to watch fireworks and had immediately called 911 when he spotted the fire. The evidence, he said, would show the fire was caused by fireworks.

"Jonathan did not start the fire," defense attorney Steve Haney told jurors.

At Rinderknecht's trial, which began this week in a downtown L.A. courthouse, disparate portraits emerged of the man charged with starting the Lachman fire, which smoldered underground for a week before exploding into the deadly Palisades fire on January 7, 2025.

Investigators say he was in the area working as an Uber driver and dropping off passengers on New Years Eve near an area where he formerly lived.

Authorities allege he maliciously started the Lachman fire near Skull Rock in Temescal Canyon just after midnight. Prosecutors cited witness statements, video surveillance, Rinderknecht's cellphone data and an analysis of where the fire ignited.

Investigators also found an AI-generated image of a burning city on Rinderknecht's iPhone, according to First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli.

The Palisades fire killed 12 people, destroyed 6,500 structures across the Palisades and Malibu and cost billions in damage and insurance claims.

Rinderknecht, who has been in federal custody since October, is charged with destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and timber set afire.

If convicted, he faces up to 45 years in prison.

More than 70 people packed into the courtroom on Wednesday morning, including Rinderknecht's father, who sat in the front row, and Councilwoman Traci Park, who represents the Palisades. Ahead of the opening arguments, Rinderknecht smoothed back his hair and his lawyer helped adjust his tie, before giving him a pat on the back.

During his opening, Asst. U.S. Atty. Matthew W. O'Brien pointed at Rinderknecht and said investigators determined that he was the only person near the fire that began on January 1.

Environmental sensors first detected the Lachman fire at 12:12 a.m. Phone records show Rinderknecht repeatedly called and failed to connect to 911 within five minutes of the first signs of the fire, prosecutors said. Around that time, a resident called in the fire to authorities.

Prosecutors say that Rinderknecht then approached firefighters to try to help them put out the blaze. He later told investigators that he saw the fire from the bottom of a trail, but data from his iPhone showed that he was standing about 30 feet away from the fire as it spread, according to court records.

Prosecutors allege the evidence shows the Lachman fire — which officials thought had been extinguished hours by Jan. 2 — smoldered for days and reignited amid hurricane-force winds on Jan. 7. Within three weeks of the fire, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents focused on Rinderknecht, who called 911 repeatedly to report the Lachman fire.

Investigators seized a Bic barbecue lighter from Rinderknecht's car with his DNA on it that he admitted to having with him in Pacific Palisades, according to the government's trial brief.

Asked by an investigator on Jan. 24 why someone would set the blaze, Rinderknecht said it "would be out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money" and "compared such an act of 'desperation'" to Luigi Mangione's killing of a United Healthcare executive on a New York street in December 2024, according to federal prosecutors.

In court Wednesday, O'Brien said Rinderknecht knew the area well because he had lived there a few years earlier with his boyfriend, who had been renting a large house with a pool. That relationship later ended and Rinderknecht moved to a small apartment in North Hollywood, where O'Brien said "his life started to deteriorate."

"You'll hear that in 2024, defendant was lonely with no real friends," O'Brien said. "He lived by himself and was withdrawn."

He said evidence would show that Rinderknecht "wanted revenge."

"Revenge against society because he blamed society for all his troubles," he said.

Rinderknecht's defense attorney played a 911 call for jurors, where he told authorities "there's a fire, there's a fire."

"The evidence is going to show it's not the voice and actions of a man who started a fire, it's the voice and actions of a man trying to stop a fire," Haney said. "The evidence will show Jonathan did not start the January 1, 2025 Lachman fire."

Haney noted that investigators "found no accelerants, they found no incendiary devices that could be linked to my client." He told jurors "there's no physical evidence that they found that connects Jonathan to the act of starting the Lachman fire."

The wide ranging impact of the fire was clear during jury selection, which began Monday. A man who gives investment advice said three of his clients "don't have enough to rebuild" their homes after the fire. Another woman's voice wobbled as she described working in a healthcare facility in Santa Monica, where they could see the blaze last year. She said around seven patients were impacted and had nowhere to go after their discharge, because their houses had burned down.

"I'm sorry, I'm getting emotional," she said.

Both potential jurors were dismissed. But others impacted were still seated on the jury, including one woman who said a good friend's daughter lost her home in the Palisades fire and another who said her cousin had been displaced, causing "emotional turmoil in her life."

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