Palisades fire suspect expected in court Thursday ahead of October retrial
Palisades Fire suspect no-shows court date
Jonathan Rinderknecht is set to be retried in October 2026 after his first federal arson case ended in a mistrial.
LOS ANGELES - The man accused of sparking the historic Palisades Fire is expected to be back in court Thursday morning.
Jonathan Rinderknecht is set to be retried in October after his first federal arson case ended in a mistrial.
Wednesday's status conference had to be delayed until Thursday after Rinderknecht did not appear. His defense attorney said he did not know why Rinderknecht was not present in court, but said it was nothing to be alarmed about.
"It's happened before. These early morning court appearances, even if it's at 11 o'clock, they have to get them up at 3 or 4 in the morning, and logistically a lot of things can go wrong," defense attorney Steve Haney said. "So it is what it is, and we'll be back tomorrow morning."
The now-30-year-old Rinderknecht is awaiting a new trial after jurors could not come to an agreement on any of the arson charges he faced in the original trial. The case ended in a mistrial last month.
Federal prosecutors say Rinderknecht intentionally started what became known as the Lachman Fire.
Investigators say that fire re-ignited into the Palisades Fire, the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history.
His defense team maintains that the Lachman and Palisades fires were entirely separate events and that Rinderknecht had nothing to do with either one.
On Wednesday, Rinderknecht's attorney shared how his client feels going into a new trial in October and added that he planned to look into why Rinderknecht did not appear in court Wednesday.
"He's been great. You know, I just saw him a couple of days ago, so I don't think there's anything by way of frustration or anything unusual going on with him emotionally," Haney said. "He seems to be in a great place right now, very encouraged by the last trial, the outcome, as am I, and we're looking forward to the next trial in October, so I don't think it's anything. I wouldn't read too much into it."
After a mistrial was declared, federal prosecutors immediately said they planned to retry the case.
"The evidence is strong that Jonathan Rinderknecht is responsible for igniting the fire on Jan. 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," U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli wrote on X.
Thursday's status conference is scheduled for 11:15 a.m.