Jonathan Rinderknecht

Introduction

Jonathan Rinderknecht, a 29-year-old former Pacific Palisades resident, is the man federal prosecutors charge with maliciously setting the New Year’s Day 2025 Lachman Fire — an underground holdover blaze that resurfaced a week later as the Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles history. He was arrested in October 2025, went to trial on federal arson counts, and walked out of that trial without a conviction: the jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of acquittal, forcing a mistrial, and a retrial was set to begin with jury selection on November 2, 2026. His defense says government testing of the key piece of evidence — a green Bic lighter found in his car months after the fire — undermines the case, while the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles has vowed to retry and “obtain guilty verdicts on all charged counts.”

Background Information

Rinderknecht, who also went by “Jonathan Rinder” and “Jon Rinder,” once lived in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood and had moved to Melbourne, Florida by the time of his arrest. On the evening of December 31, 2024, he was working as an Uber driver; two passengers he drove that night later told investigators he appeared agitated and angry. After dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades, he drove toward the Skull Rock Trailhead, parked, tried unsuccessfully to contact a former friend, and walked up the trail, where he took iPhone videos at a hilltop and repeatedly played a rap song whose music video showed things being set on fire, according to the affidavit. Environmental sensing platforms indicated the Lachman Fire had begun at 12:12 a.m. on January 1, 2025, on land owned by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged, not convicted — first trial ended in a mistrial. Rinderknecht faces three federal arson-related counts, but a jury deadlocked 11-1 for acquittal at his first trial. He is presumed innocent, and no conviction has been entered.

Prosecutors allege Rinderknecht set the Lachman Fire just after midnight, then called 911 several times without success because his phone was out of range; when he finally connected, he was at the bottom of the trail — after a nearby resident had already reported the fire. He then fled in his car past responding fire engines, turned around, followed them to the scene at high speed, and hiked back up the same trail to watch, taking more videos around 1:02 a.m., per the affidavit. Though firefighters quickly suppressed the Lachman Fire, it kept smoldering underground in root structures and resurfaced on January 7, 2025, when heavy winds turned it into the Palisades Fire, which burned thousands of structures, displaced thousands of residents, caused deaths, and destroyed federal, state, county, and local property. During a January 24, 2025 interview, investigators say, he lied about where he was when he first saw the fire — claiming he was near the bottom of the trail when carrier geolocation showed him standing in a clearing 30 feet from the flames. The lighter at the center of the case was found in his car’s glove compartment on January 24, 2025, and appears in the background of a selfie he took in his apartment hours before the fire started, prosecutors say. A federal grand jury indicted him on October 15, 2025, on destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and timber set afire.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The first trial ended with a hung jury deadlocked 11-1 for acquittal; a juror identified only as Bryana, from Lompoc, told the Post she felt the government had not presented a convincing case: “It’s disappointing because of how much money and time they put into the same thing. I don’t know … but like, yeah, bullsh–t.” Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli immediately posted that he would retry the case: “The evidence is strong that Jonathan Rinderknecht is responsible for igniting the fire on January 1, 2025… We fully intend to retry this case before a new jury and obtain guilty verdicts on all charged counts.” At an October 22, 2026 hearing, defense lawyer Steve Haney revealed the prosecution had performed a video-recorded experiment on the lighter — igniting brush with it — only nine months after the arrest and eleven months after the fire: “I don’t know why they didn’t test the lighter before they charged my client, but they did later,” he said, arguing the testing “will be front and center on video at the trial” and that the government “didn’t prove it in the first trial.”

Current Status

Rinderknecht’s retrial is scheduled to begin with jury selection on November 2, 2026, before U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang in Los Angeles, following a final pretrial conference set for October 29, 2026; he appeared in court the week before as the date approached. He has been in federal custody since his October 7, 2025 arrest. The charges carry a mandatory minimum of five years and a statutory maximum of 45 years in federal prison if he is convicted. Haney said his client is hoping for full acquittal: “There’s some very strong evidence in the second trial that will erode their theory of how that fire even started.”

Impact on Their Career/Life

Rinderknecht has spent more than a year in federal custody facing charges connected to the most consequential wildfire in modern Los Angeles history — a fire tied in court filings to deaths, thousands of destroyed structures, and mass displacement. The mistrial, with its lopsided 11-1 lean toward acquittal, stands in the record as the one public assessment of the government’s evidence to date, and the retrial will decide whether he is convicted or walks free. His case page notes the court will update it “as new developments arise in the case,” a standing public archive for one of the most closely watched criminal dockets in California.

Sources

• New York Post, “Jonathan Rinderknecht’s lighter will be key evidence in second Palisades Fire trial, lawyer says,” Oct 22, 2026 — source
• U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, “Florida Man Arrested on Federal Criminal Complaint Alleging He Maliciously Started What Became the Palisades Fire,” Oct 8, 2025 — source
• U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, “Federal Grand Jury Indicts Former L.A. Resident Charged with Starting Palisades Fire, Adding Two Additional Felonies to His Case,” Oct 15, 2025 — source
• U.S. Attorney’s Office, Central District of California, “United States v. Jonathan Rinderknecht (case page),” updated Oct 22, 2026 — source