A judge declared a mistrial on Friday in jonathan rinderknecht’s arson trial after all 12 jurors said they could not reach a unanimous verdict. The case, tied to the Palisades Fire, ended without a decision on the three charges against the 30-year-old defendant.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the evidence was "strong" and added, "We fully intend to retry this case before a new jury and obtain guilty verdicts on all charged counts." Rinderknecht had faced up to 45 years in federal prison on one count of destruction of property by means of fire, one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and one count of timber set afire.
Friday in Jonathan Rinderknecht
The jury’s deadlock means the government did not secure a verdict this week, and the prosecution will have to try again if it moves forward with a second trial. Friday’s ruling left the charges unresolved while Essayli said the government wanted guilty verdicts on all counts.
On Thursday, the court first announced that the jury had reached a verdict. Anne Hwang later said the jurors could not make a unanimous decision on each of the three charges, and on Friday all 12 jurors said they were split 10 not guilty and two guilty.
Pacific Palisades Fire case
Prosecutors said Rinderknecht maliciously started the Lachman Fire near a hiking trail in the Santa Monica Mountains just after midnight on New Year’s Day 2025. They said that fire later became the Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of structures.
The criminal complaint said he had been working as an Uber driver on New Year’s Eve, dropped a passenger off in the Pacific Palisades and then walked up the trail about a block from his former home. Prosecutors said he took two phone videos from a hilltop clearing about half an hour before the first signs of the fire were spotted, then later tried to call 911 several times and eventually reported it when he got through to authorities.
Firefighters initially kept the Lachman Fire contained to about 8 acres. Prosecutors said a strong, widespread windstorm spread the remnants into nearby communities on Jan. 7, turning it into the Palisades Fire.
U.S. District Court retrial
The mistrial keeps the allegations open and leaves prosecutors deciding whether to present the case again to a new jury. For Rinderknecht, the first trial ended without a verdict, and the next proceeding will have to start from the beginning if the government follows through on its stated plan.
