Prosecutors Trim Charges in Retrial of Man Accused of Starting Palisades Fire

Federal prosecutors have filed a revised indictment against Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man accused of starting the 2025 Palisades fire, reducing the charges from three to two ahead of his retrial this fall.

The move comes after a jury deadlocked in June on all three felony counts, with ten of twelve jurors favoring acquittal. The judge declared a mistrial, and prosecutors vowed to retry the case.

The new indictment narrows the scope of the allegations. While the original charges tied Rinderknecht to both the January 1 fire and the Palisades fire, the revised filing links him to both fires on only one count. The second charge focuses solely on the destruction caused by the initial blaze.

Prosecutors allege Rinderknecht used a barbecue lighter on January 1, 2025, to ignite a fire that smoldered in root systems before re-emerging on January 7 as the Palisades fire. That fire killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 structures, making it the most destructive in Los Angeles history.

During the first trial, prosecutors argued Rinderknecht was the only person in the area when the first fire began, and presented digital evidence suggesting he was motivated by anger over economic inequality. They also played hours of recorded interviews in which he gave inconsistent accounts of his whereabouts that night.

Defense attorneys countered that prosecutors lacked direct evidence and failed to rule out fireworks as a possible cause of the initial fire.

Rinderknecht's lawyer and the U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on the new indictment. A status conference for arraignment is scheduled before U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang on Wednesday.