LOS ANGELES, CA – A federal judge tentatively agreed Thursday to instruct jurors in the retrial of Jonathan Rinderknecht, who is accused of setting the fire that prosecutors say later became the Palisades fire, to disregard inadmissible evidence about whether the Los Angeles Fire Department adequately fought the initial blaze.
U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang took up the prosecutors’ request at a hearing Thursday, Oct. 22, in Los Angeles federal court. She deferred a final decision until after the retrial begins Nov. 2.
Rinderknecht, 30, has pleaded not guilty to the revised charges and has remained in federal custody since his first trial ended in a mistrial in June. An arrest is not a conviction, and the allegations remain subject to the criminal court process.
Prosecutors allege Rinderknecht set the Lachman fire on Jan. 1, 2025, and that it smoldered underground before reigniting as the Palisades fire on Jan. 7, 2025.
What the judge decided
Hwang tentatively granted the government’s request for an instruction telling jurors to disregard inadmissible evidence about the adequacy of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s fire suppression efforts. Her ruling is not final, and she said she would revisit it once the new trial is underway.
The judge said she was not relying on statements jurors made after the first trial. She raised a concern about whether jurors could separate questions about the adequacy of firefighting from evidence on whether the first blaze kept smoldering.
In a court filing, prosecutors wrote that without the instruction, another mistrial is “all but inevitable.”
Why the issue came up
The question drew attention after the first trial, when a juror asked why Rinderknecht was being held solely responsible for the Palisades fire, given that it erupted days after firefighters left the scene of the initial blaze. Hwang had barred defense attorney Steve Haney from raising allegations of negligence by the fire department at that trial.
Jurors deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal on June 26, which resulted in a mistrial. Earlier this month, Hwang ordered that there be no reference to the first trial during the retrial.
Firefighters have given testimony about the response to the New Year’s Day fire in a separate civil lawsuit, including accounts of communication failures that led crews to leave the area early. That testimony is not part of the criminal case.
Revised charges narrow the case
A grand jury first indicted Rinderknecht on Oct. 15, 2025, on three counts: destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and timber set afire, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office case page. The case is docket 2:25-CR-833-AH.
Prosecutors later obtained a revised indictment, filed in August. It narrows one count to focus solely on damage from the Lachman fire. A second count still seeks to hold Rinderknecht responsible for both the Lachman and Palisades fires, and the timber-set-afire count has been dropped.
Defense says it is not concerned
Haney said after the hearing that he was not concerned about the jury instruction. He said he expects largely the same evidence in the second trial, with some very strong evidence that he said will erode the government’s theory of how the fire started.
The defense has said there is no direct evidence that Rinderknecht started a fire on Jan. 1.
Prosecutors vow a verdict on all counts
At the first trial, prosecutors called more than 30 witnesses. They said Rinderknecht used a lighter to set the Lachman fire.
After the mistrial, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the evidence is strong that Rinderknecht is responsible for igniting the Jan. 1, 2025 fire that became the Palisades fire. He said his office intended to retry the case before a new jury and seek guilty verdicts on all counts. The prosecution has estimated it will need five to eight days to present its case at the retrial.
What fire officials have said about the Jan. 7 fire
The Los Angeles Fire Department released its After-Action Review Report on the Palisades fire on Oct. 8, 2025. The department said the goal of the report was “to identify lessons learned from the first 36 hours of response to enhance preparedness and response for future wildfires,” according to the department’s announcement.
The report says the Lachman fire started about 12:17 a.m. Jan. 1, 2025. It describes the Jan. 7 fire as the reactivation of an undetectable holdover fire rather than failed suppression.
In a statement issued the same day as the arrest announcement, Interim Chief Ronnie Villanueva described the alleged act as deliberate and intended to cause devastating harm to the city. The department also released a fact sheet saying holdover fires can be nearly impossible to detect with infrared imaging.
The fire’s toll
The Palisades fire started at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 7, 2025, and was fully contained Jan. 31, 2025, according to CAL FIRE’s incident page. The agency lists the cause as arson, the burned area at 23,448 acres, 12 confirmed civilian deaths and 6,845 structures destroyed.
Pretrial conference is Oct. 29, trial begins Nov. 2
A pretrial conference is set for 1:30 p.m. Oct. 29, and the jury trial is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 2 in Hwang’s courtroom on the ninth floor of the federal courthouse at 350 W. 1st St. in Los Angeles. Hwang’s final decision on the jury instruction will come after the retrial begins.
