Signaling a possible mistrial, a federal jury hearing the arson case against Jonathan Rinderknecht, a 30-year-old former Uber driver accused of setting what would become the deadliest wildfire in Los Angeles history, said Thursday that it was unable to come to a unanimous verdict after more than 13 hours of deliberations.<\/p>\n
The jury sent a note at 2:30 p.m. to U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang, who read it aloud, suggesting the panel was deadlocked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have people on both sides that are deadset,\u201d the note read.<\/p>\n
After discussions with defense attorneys and prosecutors, Hwang sent the jury back a note saying: \u201cIs there anything the court can do to assist in the jury\u2019s deliberations? For example, would an additional instruction or the rereading of any testimony help in the jury\u2019s deliberation. Do not disclose the vote count in responding.\u201d<\/p>\n
The jury responded that nothing would help. \u201cUnfortunately we cannot reach a unanimous verdict,\u201d they wrote in a subsequent note read by Hwang shortly after 3:20 p.m.<\/p>\n
The jury was instructed to return to court at 9 a.m. Friday.<\/p>\n
Defense attorney Steve Haney told The Times it appeared the trial was heading to a \u201chung jury.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the 12th day of a trial in which prosecutors called more than 30 witnesses, who painted a picture of a man<\/a> spiraling mentally and seeking vengeance against the wealthy when he hiked to a clearing overlooking Pacific Palisades and used a lighter to set the Lachman fire on New Year\u2019s Day 2025.<\/p>\n Prosecutors said the Lachman fire smoldered underground for a week before exploding into the deadly Palisades fire. Firefighters had thought they had extinguished the initial blaze and left with their equipment on Jan. 2<\/a>. The secondary inferno erupted Jan. 7. 2025, killed 12 people, destroyed 6,500 structures across the Palisades and Malibu and cost billions in damage and insurance claims.<\/a> <\/p>\n Rinderknecht, who has been in federal custody since October, was on trial for destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and timber set afire. In a follow-up note Thursday at 3:40 p.m., the jury said it could not reach a unanimous verdict on any of the three felony charges.<\/p>\n During the trial, Rinderknecht\u2019s defense attorney called several witnesses in an attempt to undercut the prosecution\u2019s theory of the fire. A Palisades resident said he saw several teens leaving the hill behind his house after the fire started, acting \u201cboastful.\u201d A Los Angeles firefighter testified that he saw flashes of light and heard loud noises that sounded like fireworks around midnight near the neighborhood closest to where the blaze sparked. A defense expert told jurors that the most likely cause of the blaze was fireworks and cast doubt on exactly where it originated.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the lighter ignited the fire, because that\u2019s what they claim happened here,\u201d Haney told the jury in his closing argument Tuesday. \u201cThey don\u2019t have any evidence at all that Jonathan started a fire on that hill with a lighter.\u201d<\/p>\n Haney argued that no one knew exactly when the Lachman fire ignited, only that it was first spotted at 12:12 a.m., meaning it could have happened before his client reached the top of the hill. He told jurors that the scene of the Lachman fire was not secured to preserve evidence that could have exonerated his client \u2014 evidence he argued probably was lost during the fire suppression efforts used on the Palisades fire.<\/p>\n Assistant U.S. Atty. Danbee C. Kim countered that there were significant data and fire pattern indicators that remained, which she called \u201cextremely incriminating\u201d for Rinderknecht. <\/p>\n \u201cHe was the only one there and he was in the specific origin area when the fire was visible from up to five miles away,\u201d Kim said. She argued that \u201cthere was no evidence of any fireworks in the area that night.\u201d<\/p>\n Rinderknecht had been working as an Uber driver on New Year\u2019s Eve, dropping off his last passenger around 11:35 p.m. in a neighborhood close to where the fire began, according to both the defense and prosecutors.<\/p>\n Assistant U.S. Atty. Matt O\u2019Brien said Rinderknecht knew the area well because he had lived there a few years earlier, before moving to a small apartment in North Hollywood where \u201chis life started to deteriorate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ll hear that in 2024, defendant was lonely with no real friends,\u201d O\u2019Brien said. \u201cHe lived by himself and was withdrawn.\u201d<\/p>\n