Federal prosecutors failed to secure a conviction against Jonathan Rinderknecht, the former Uber driver accused of starting the fire that eventually tore through the wealthy Pacific Palisades neighborhood last year. U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang declared a mistrial Friday in the case against Rinderknecht after jurors said they could not reach a unanimous decision, NBC News and other outlets reported. Rinderknecht was facing federal charges of destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and timber set afire. If convicted on all counts, he faced between five and 45 years in prison. ABC 7 Los Angeles reports that the jury was deadlocked, with 10 jurors voting to acquit and two voting to convict. The trial comes about a year and a half after the 2025 Palisades Fire burned through more than 23,000 acres, destroyed thousands of homes, and killed 12 people.
Prosecutors tried to make the case that Rinderknecht was responsible for a previous fire that broke out in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2025. According to court documents, that fire, known as the Lachman Fire, was suppressed by firefighters but continued to smolder underground in the root structure of dense vegetation. On January 7, heavy winds allegedly caused the underground fire to resurface and spread into what became the Palisades Fire.
