LOS ANGELES — In his opening statement, a prosecutor 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 gone up on a hill on New Year's Eve 2024 only to watch fireworks and had immediately called 911 when he spotted a 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 Jan. 7, 2025.

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

Investigators say Rinderknecht's was in the area working as an Uber driver and dropping off passengers on New Year's Eve near an area where he formerly lived with his ex-boyfriend.

Authorities allege in court documents that 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.

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 City Councilwoman Traci Park, who represents the Palisades. Ahead of opening arguments, Rinderknecht smoothed back his hair and Haney helped adjust his tie, before giving him a pat on the back.

During his opening, Assistant 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 Jan. 1.

Rinderknecht had been working as an Uber driver on New Year's Eve, dropping off his last passenger around 11:35 p.m. in a neighborhood close to where the fire began, according to both the defense and prosecutors.

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.

That night, O'Brien told jurors, Rinderknecht canceled his next Uber ride and instead drove to a small parking lot at the edge of the neighborhood, a block from where he had lived. Rinderknecht tried calling his ex, O'Brien said, but the ex didn't answer.

Rinderknecht then used his phone flashlight to walk up a trail to a small clearing at the top of the hill called Hidden Buddha. Once there, O'Brien said, Rinderknecht listened to a French rap song whose music video "features the singer lighting things on fire and singing about his despair."

Around 12:12 a.m., within seconds of the fire being detected on a surveillance camera, Rinderknecht attempted to call 911, but the call failed. O'Brien said location data from Rinderknecht's phone showed that during one of his attempts to call 911, he was less than 30 feet away from the fire.

O'Brien said investigators ruled out other potential causes of the fire, including power lines, lightning and fireworks.

"They determined that in the first minute or two of the fire, it grew very quickly," O'Brien said. "So quickly that it must have been started by a lighter."

According to O'Brien, Rinderknecht admitted to investigators that he had brought a lighter with him up to Hidden Buddha. He also told jurors that Rinderknecht had asked ChatGPT to create images for him of a fire and expressed his anger "about wealthy people and his anger about society."

During the interview, investigators asked Rinderknecht why someone might commit arson in Pacific Palisades. O'Brien said Rinderknecht answered that it would be out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money as "we're basically being enslaved by them."

"The evidence will show beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant lit this fire on Jan. 1 and that he did so on purpose," O'Brien said. "The evidence will show the fire that defendant started on Jan. 1 was the same fire that caused all that destruction on Jan. 7."

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

He said his client immediately called 911 after he saw the fire, the first of 17 911 calls he would make. When he walked down the hill and finally reached an operator around 12:17 a.m., Haney said, his client "pleaded for help."

"There's a fire, there's a fire," Rinderknecht said in a 911 call played for the jury.

"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.

Haney also stressed to jurors that the government had initially investigated the Lachman and Palisades fires "as two separate events with two separate sets of suspects." He said it was up to prosecutors to prove the two fires were actually "just one big continuous fire."

"In the days following these two fires, you're going to find from the evidence … that the federal government was operating on the belief the Lachman fire was started by fireworks and the Palisades fire was started by arsonists," Haney said. Then, months later, he said, the government abandoned the two-fire theory "and replaced it with a single combined, one-fire theory that they're telling you about here today."

Haney said evidence would show a "frightened young man, repeatedly and desperately calling 911."

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