Overview
- On Wednesday, Aug. 19, Jonathan Rinderknecht was arraigned in federal court, pleaded not guilty and was ordered to stand trial again beginning Nov. 2, 2026.
- A superseding grand jury indictment dropped the timber-set-afire count from the first trial and redefined the remaining counts to treat the Jan. 1 Lachman fire and the Jan. 7 Palisades destruction as separate events.
- Federal prosecutors say they have strong circumstantial evidence linking Rinderknecht to the Jan. 1 blaze and plan a shorter case that they estimate will take five to eight days to present.
- Rinderknecht’s defense says there is no direct evidence he started the initial fire, calls him a Good Samaritan who reported the blaze and argues the fire could have been sparked by fireworks.
- The case draws intense public scrutiny because the Jan. 7 Palisades fire and related blazes killed dozens and destroyed thousands of homes, and the retrial will test the government’s theory that wind-driven rekindling connected the two fires.