Jury deadlocks 10-2 in Jonathan Rinderknecht Palisades Fire trial, forcing mistrial
OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
1:26 PM – Friday, June 26, 2026
A federal judge has declared a mistrial in the case of Jonathan Rinderknecht‘s alleged connection to the start of a small brush fire, dubbed the Lachman Fire, that later rekindled into the devastating Palisades Fire.
On Friday, Los Angeles Judge Anne Hwang declared the mistrial, saying, “The court finds there is a manifest necessity to declare a mistrial because the jury is deadlocked.”
Rinderknecht was charged with three felony counts, which he pleaded not guilty to. Those charges included the destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and timber set afire.
According to investigators, the 30-year-old former Uber driver started the Lachman Fire on New Year’s Eve, which smoldered underground for a week before the Santa Ana winds transformed it into the Palisades blaze.
The wildfire caused 12 deaths, consumed more than 23,000 acres and destroyed 6,500 structures, marking the most expensive fire in California history.
After 13 hours of deliberation on Thursday, 10 of the 12 jurors said they would acquit, while two believed Rinderknecht to be guilty.
“10 to 2 is a pretty resounding indication of what the jury felt about this case and we felt that way from the very beginning,” said defense attorney Steve Haney after the hearing.
Prosecutors brought in more than 30 witnesses throughout the two and a half week trial. Rinderknecht’s defense attorney called upon several witnesses to dispute the prosecution’s story of a man seeking revenge against wealthy Angelenos.
One Palisades resident recalled seeing teenagers leaving the hill behind his house, acting “boastful” around the time the fire started. A Los Angeles firefighter also testified that he heard what sounded like fireworks around midnight near the area where the fire started. Building on the firefighter’s testimony, a defense expert said that the most likely cause of the inferno was fireworks on New Year’s Eve.
“I don’t think there was enough evidence to say he started the first fire but say he did, I don’t see why everybody else’s negligence of doing things incorrectly,” a juror said Friday. “That was another reason that made me feel like ‘not guilty’ because like there’s no proof like I wanted to know has anybody ever gotten in trouble for a holdover fire anywhere else because this holdover theory just wasn’t like it wasn’t working for me.”
Federal prosecutors are planning a retrial, though it has not been confirmed.
“The evidence is strong that Jonathan Rinderknecht is responsible for igniting the fire on January 1, 2025, which eventually became the Palisades Fire. We fully intend to retry this case before a new jury and obtain guilty verdicts on all charged counts,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli wrote on X.
Rinderknecht will remain in custody. If convicted in the future, he faces a minimum sentence of five years in federal prison and a statutory maximum of 45 years behind bars.
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