Feds revamp charges against Palisades arson suspect after mistrial

Sonja Sharp, Los Angeles Times on Aug 14, 2026

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LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors this week unveiled a new indictment against the man accused of igniting last year’s deadly fire in the Palisades, nixing one of the three original charges and revising the other two after a mistrial in federal court earlier this summer.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 33, remains in federal custody on charges he intentionally set a Jan. 1, 2025, blaze known as the Lachman fire, which prosecutors say reignited to become one of California’s most devastating wildfires.

The indictment filed Thursday narrows the scope of the allegations against him, stripping away charges that he set fire to vegetation on federally controlled land and narrowing claims he “maliciously damaged and destroyed” wilderness maintained with federal tax dollars and organs of interstate commerce, including FDIC-insured banks and Pacific Coast Highway.

The Palisades fire consumed more than 6,500 structures, leaving 12 dead and billions of dollars in damage. Wind-driven flames and dry hydrants drew engines from across the region, leaving first responders stretched thin when the Eaton fire exploded above Altadena hours later.

The blaze sparked a political reckoning that could cost Mayor Karen Bass reelection and reshape city government. But the case against Rinderknecht has sputtered.

Prosecutors say the former Uber driver spent days obsessing about arson — watching a French firebug music video on repeat and prompting ChatGPT to paint a tony hillside enclave aflame — before heading to Hidden Buddha clearing in Pacific Palisades late on New Year’s Eve, where they say he set the fire with a lighter just after midnight.

Court documents show Rinderknecht tried to call 911 seconds after cameras firsts spotted the flames. He then asked ChatGPT “Are you at fault if a fire is lift [sic]because of your cigarettes.”

Firefighters quickly put out the Lachman fire, but investigators testified at trial in June that embers continued to smolder underground, reigniting on Jan. 7.

That theory failed to win over the jury, which deadlocked 10-2 for acquittal. One juror told the media that she and her peers didn’t buy the “holdover” explanation, and weren’t convinced by mostly circumstantial evidence connecting Rinderknect to the original fire.

“Without the proof and all the doubts, I can’t say he’s guilty,” she told the press immediately after the trial. “There was so many people up there that said they did see smoldering, so why wasn’t it taken care of?”

An alternate agreed.

“Having not secured a scene for almost two weeks says a lot, and to pin that one one person ... this is a man’s life and we can’t ignore that fact either,” the juror said.

A retrial is scheduled for October.

“I guess they have to to conclude this case. But I think it’s such a waste of our American dollars,” the juror said.

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