LOS ANGELES —  A mistrial was declared Friday in the federal arson case against Jonathan Rinderknecht, charged with starting a blaze in 2025 that prosecutors say developed into the deadly Palisades fire, one of the most devastating infernos in the city’s history.

Rinderknecht, 30, faces three charges over the blazes: one count of destruction of property by means of fire, one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and one count of timber set afire. After two days of deliberation, the jury was deadlocked over two holdouts who found Rinderknecht guilty of the charges. Ten jurors believed he was innocent.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli wrote on X Friday that “the evidence is strong” against Rinderknecht and that prosecutors “fully intend to retry this case before a new jury.”

Federal prosecutors arrested Rinderknecht in October 2025, nine months after he allegedly used a lighter to start the Lachman fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day.  The government argued that a holdover fire burned in underground root systems and reemerged on Jan. 7 as the Palisades fire, which claimed the lives of 12 people and decimated some 6,800 structures. 

Throughout the trial, which spanned nearly three weeks, prosecutors highlighted Rinderknecht’s ChatGPT history, including  repeated prompts for artificial intelligence-generated images depicting a fire blazing as the rich carried on unharmed, and his research on Luigi Mangione, a man charged with shooting and killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in 2024. 

Prosecutors allege Rinderknecht spent months leading up to the arson stewing in anger over the wealthy residents of Los Angeles and feeling powerless to change his own monetary situation. They alleged Rinderknecht, motivated in part by frustration over no New Year’s Eve plans, ventured to a hill in the Pacific Palisades, a neighborhood he associated with “wealth and rejection,” and started a fire.

Defense attorney Steven Haney argued that Rinderknecht did not start the fire but found it — which, he asserted, could have been started by fireworks — and called 911 several times to report it to authorities.

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