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LOS ANGELES — A federal judge declared a mistrial after jurors deadlocked in the case against Jonathan Rinderknecht, who is accused of starting the devastating Palisades Fire in January 2025.
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On Thursday afternoon, jurors were told to return to deliberate Friday after they sent a note to U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang stating that nothing could be done to reach a unanimous verdict on all of the counts against Jonathan Rinderknecht.
The 30-year-old former Uber driver faced three federal charges of destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and timber set afire for the January 2025 Palisades Fire.
The note said that jurors on both sides “are unwilling to change their opinion” and that they are “at a standstill,” unsure of how to proceed.
Defense attorney Steve Haney requested an Allen charge, in which a judge gives specific instructions to encourage a deadlocked jury in a criminal trial to reach a unanimous verdict and avoid a mistrial. It is also commonly known as the “dynamite charge” or “hammer charge,” because it serves as a final, high-pressure effort to force an agreement.
Haney moved for a mistrial on Friday, while federal prosecutor Mark Williams initially pushed back. The judge asked each juror whether it was impossible to come to a unanimous decision for the charges, and each member of the jury replied “yes.” That’s when Williams agreed to a mistrial.
Moments after the mistrial was declared, Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. Attorney General said the federal government would retry the case in the future.
Hwang ordered Rinderknecht to remain retained until the retrial, which is set to begin Oct. 19.
Rinderknecht pleaded not guilty in October and faces up to 45 years in prison. Prosecutors argued that he intentionally and maliciously started a previous fire on a popular hiking trail known as Skull Rock on Jan. 1, called the Lachman Fire, which smoldered for days before it metastasized into the giant Palisades Fire six days later.
“On Jan. 1, 2025, Jonathan Rinderknecht started a fire on a hill in the Pacific Palisades,” prosecutor Danbee C. Kim said in closing statements. “He was angry all the time. He believed he was enslaved by the wealthy. He didn’t understand why the ‘rich losers’ and the ‘motherf—– at the top’ had it all.”
Haney argued that Rinderknecht was being scapegoated for the city’s failure to protect Pacific Palisades, a neighborhood of Los Angeles where 6,800 homes, businesses and structures were destroyed in what has become one of the largest and most expensive disasters in California’s history.
On Monday, Haney moved to dismiss the case, saying the government had not shown sufficient evidence to convict. Multiple witnesses testified, Haney noted, that the Lachman and Palisades fires were two separate fires.
Hwang rejected Haney’s motion after Williams, the federal prosecutor, countered that expert testimony contradicted Rinderknecht’s defense on multiple occasions.
In his closing statements, Haney told the jury that evidence produced by the prosecution raised significant doubt about his client’s actions on the night of the fire.
“This case is not about whether fire happened. It’s about cause and integrity,” he said.
“You might not like Jonathan at the end of this trial, but that doesn’t mean he’s guilty,” Haney said. “You’re not to convict a man if you don’t like him.”
Using security video, cellphone data and his own digital trail, including questions to ChatGPT about whether cigarettes can start wildfires, prosecutors placed Rinderknecht at the ignition point shortly before the Lachman Fire was reported. He had been driving for Uber that night and remained in the neighborhood after having dropped off his last passenger. Rinderknecht knew it well, prosecutors said, as he and an ex-boyfriend once shared a home nearby.
The court heard recordings of Rinderknecht’s interview with investigators in which he sometimes sounded defensive, rambling and even manic. During one session, he asked why there were no cameras on the trail “where people can light” stuff up.
Macy Miller, a passenger who rode with him on New Year’s Eve, testified that he seemed erratic and upset. She said she worried Rinderknecht would “drive us to the ocean” during her trip from the restaurant Nobu in Malibu to a friend’s home in Santa Monica. She told the court that it was the scariest Uber ride she has ever taken.
Haney repeatedly emphasized that no physical evidence tied Rinderknecht to the fire. Arson investigators did not find accelerants at the scene, and no witnesses saw the Lachman Fire start, he argued. The scene was not secured for days after it had already been charred, raising the possibility that critical evidence was compromised or destroyed.
Haney argued that fireworks, not Rinderknecht, started the Lachman Fire on Jan. 1. Prosecutor Matthew O’Brien countered that the Palisades Fire, which started on Jan. 7, was a holdover from the New Year’s Day fire, which continued to smolder underground even after firefighters thought it had been extinguished.
Haney pointed to multiple frantic 911 calls by Rinderknecht shortly after the Lachman Fire started as evidence that his client did not want to destroy the neighborhood.
“Have you ever heard of an arsonist calling 911 multiple times and then staying at the scene?” Haney asked arson expert Edward Michael Nordskog on Monday.
“No, that’s a myth,” Nordskog replied.
Defense witness Joseph Araki, a retired electrical engineer who lives near the ignition site, told the court that he and his wife were in their living room on Jan. 1 when they suddenly felt an explosion coming from somewhere behind their home.
Araki said he waited a few minutes before he got up to check what had happened. He testified seeing smoke and four men coming from the area near the bang.
“They looked boastful, like they did something courageous,” he told the court last week.
Alicia Victoria Lozano is a California-based reporter for NBC News focusing on climate change, wildfires and the changing politics of drug laws.
Madeline Morrison is an associate producer for NBC News.
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