Jury Selection Begins For Man Accused In Deadly Palisades Fire

LOS ANGELES, CA — Jury selection began Monday in downtown Los Angeles in the trial of a 30-year-old former Uber driver accused of setting a New Year's Day 2025 fire that prosecutors say smoldered for a week and grew into the deadly Palisades Fire.

Jonathan Rinderknecht pleaded not guilty in October to federal charges of destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and timber set afire.

If convicted as charged, he could potentially face up to 45 years behind bars.

Jury selection is expected to last two days, with opening statements slated for Wednesday afternoon.

At a detention hearing last year, the government argued that the defendant presents "an enormous danger" to the community. Rinderknecht is alleged to have "maliciously" started the fire, and evidence gathered throughout the course of the investigation highlights his "feelings of despair and violent tendencies," according to court documents.

Rinderknecht's attorney, however, argued in court papers that his client has been "falsely charged in an epically weak indictment vacant of any direct evidence whatsoever of his guilt. The publicity and infamy associated with this case has the opposite effect of motivating him to flee but instead driving him to fight these false charges and clear his name."

Defense attorney Steven Haney wrote that there is not "one single shred of evidence" that the fire was intentionally started by Rinderknecht.

The trial in Los Angeles federal court is estimated to last about 11 days.

According to court documents, law enforcement officials determined that the Palisades Fire was a "holdover" fire — a continuation of the Lachman Fire that began early in the morning on New Year's Day 2025. Although firefighters quickly suppressed the Lachman Fire, it continued to smolder and burn underground within the root structure of dense vegetation.

On Jan. 7, 2025, hurricane-force Santa Ana winds caused the underground fire to surface and spread above ground in what became known as the Palisades Fire. One of the most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles history, it burned 23,448 acres and destroyed much of the exclusive Pacific Palisades community, destroying about 6,800 structures and killing 12 people.

Using witness statements, video surveillance, cell phone data and analysis of fire dynamics and patterns at the scene, among other things, law enforcement determined that Rinderknecht set the Lachman Fire just after midnight on Jan. 1, 2025, on federal land, prosecutors said.

On the evening of Dec. 31, 2024, Rinderknecht was working as an Uber driver, prosecutors said. Two passengers he drove on separate trips between 10:15 and 11:15 p.m. that night later told law enforcement that they remembered Rinderknecht appeared agitated and angry, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

After dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades, Rinderknecht — who once lived in the neighborhood — drove toward Skull Rock Trailhead, parked his car, attempted to contact a former friend and walked up the trail, court papers allege.

Prosecutors contend he then used his iPhone to take videos at a nearby hilltop area and listened to a rap song — to which he had listened repeatedly in previous days — whose music video included imagery of things being lit on fire.

During a Jan. 24, 2025, interview with law enforcement in Florida, where he relocated after the fire, Rinderknecht allegedly lied about where he was when he first saw the Lachman Fire. He claimed he was near the bottom of a hiking trail when he first saw the fire and called 911, but geolocation data from his iPhone carrier showed that he was standing in a clearing 30 feet from the fire as it rapidly grew, according to federal prosecutors.

The U.S. Attorney's Office maintains that Rinderknecht was closely following the case of Luigi Mangione, who is charged with fatally shooting Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, in New York City on Dec. 4, 2024. Since the shooting, Mangione has been painted in some leftist circles as a folk hero striking back at the health insurance industry.

A trial memo in Rinderknecht's case alleges the fire suspect searched for Mangione-related news, using the search terms "free Luigi Mangione," "lets take down all the billionaires" and "lets kill all the billionaires."

During questioning by investigators, according to the memo, Rinderknecht was asked why somebody might commit arson in the Palisades. He allegedly answered that one reason might be bitterness toward the wealthy, and he referenced the murder of Thompson. "We're basically being enslaved by them," Rinderknecht allegedly told investigators.

City News Service