By Steve Gorman
June 26 (Reuters) – A federal judge declared a mistrial on Friday in the arson case brought against a man accused of deliberately setting a blaze that grew into one of the deadliest, most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles history.
All three felony counts leveled against Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, were dismissed after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked and unable to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the charges.
The U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli, swiftly announced his office intended to retry its case against Rinderknecht, a former Uber driver of dual U.S.-French citizenship who once lived in the fire zone.
“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,” Essayli said in a statement posted on X.
A detention hearing was set for later in the day to determine the immediate custody status for Rinderknecht, who has remained jailed since his arrest in Florida in October 2025.
TRIAL FEATURED COMPETING NARRATIVES
The mistrial capped a high-profile, three-week trial in which prosecutors branded Rinderknecht a malcontent loner who channeled the rage he felt toward the rich and society at large into an act of arson.
The defense countered by suggesting Rinderknecht was made a scapegoat for the failings of the fire department, and by disputing the official origin story of a conflagration that killed 12 people and laid waste to the upscale seaside enclave of Pacific Palisades.
He had pleaded not guilty to all charges in the three-count indictment returned against him in October — destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and burning timber on public land.
Rinderknecht, who declined to testify in his own defense during the trial, would face a penalty of up to 45 years in prison if found guilty as charged.
Jurors informed U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang in a note on Thursday afternoon that they were stalemated in attempts to reach a consensus, the Los Angeles City News Service and other local news media reported.
“There is nothing the court can do to assist the jury in their deliberations. Additional instructions or rereading the testimony would not help in deliberations. Unfortunately we cannot reach a unanimous verdict,” the note said, according to CNS.
The judge sent the jurors home for the night, then declared a mistrial on Friday morning after the proceeding resumed.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Kevin Buckland and Matthew Lewis)
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