Nearly 18 months after a catastrophic wildfire tore through neighborhoods in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, killing a dozen people and destroying thousands of homes and structures, prosecutors told a federal jury Wednesday that a troubled, 30-year-old former Uber driver charged with causing it did so intentionally with a lighter, out of anger toward society and a yearning for revenge. The defense described Jonathan Rinderknecht as a “frightened and confused young man repeatedly calling for help” who later cooperated with authorities.
The Palisades fire, which ultimately scorched 23,500 acres, was caused by fireworks, not their client, the defense said, promising to show this as the trial unfolds. Rinderknecht, a onetime Palisades resident, faces several charges related to the blaze, one of the most devastating in California history.
Prosecutors argue that Rinderknecht started the Jan. 1, 2025, Lachman fire in the Pacific Palisades with a lighter later found in his car, which would become a smoldering underground “holdover fire” that, driven by fierce Santa Ana winds, transformed into the Palisades fire days later on Jan.
4.
Prosecutors said Rinderknecht’s motive stemmed from his troubled personal life and resentment of the rich. “He was alone on New Year’s Eve and very frustrated about that,” Assistant U.S.
Attorney Matthew O’Brien told the jury. “And he wanted revenge on society because he blamed society for all his troubles.” Defense attorney Steven Haney, however, told the jury that his client noticed the brush fire just after midnight Jan.
1, 2025, and immediately called for help. But because cellular service was spotty on the hill, he did not get through for more than 10 minutes.
Haney played two brief recordings of Rinderknecht calling 911 to report the fire. “It’s the voice and actions of a man who tried to stop the fire,” Haney said.
“No matter what the government’s theory is, the evidence will show Jonathan did not start the Jan. 1 fire.”
The jury, comprised of nine women and three men, listened to the opening statements in a packed courtroom. City Councilmember Traci Park, whose district includes the Palisades, watched the trial.
Rinderknecht sat next to Haney, clad in a dark suit, intently listening to the lawyers’ statements. The government painted Rinderknecht as resentful, both towards an ex, his social situation and towards the wealthy, and pointed to geolocation data that will show that he was in the same area the Lachman fire began at the time investigators determined the blaze started.
Prosecutors said Rinderknecht, finding himself on New Year’s Eve in the neighborhood where he had lived with his ex-boyfriend, a time where “he was happy, he was in good shape and people treated him well,” and lived in a large home his ex was renting. When Rinderknecht and his boyfriend broke up, he moved to a small apartment in North Hollywood, “and his life started to deteriorate,” launching a desire for revenge, “revenge against society, because he blamed society for all of his troubles,” the prosecutor said.
On New Year’s Eve, O’Brien argued that Rinderknecht was angry about his lack of plans and dropped off an Uber passenger in the Summit neighborhood of the Palisades, a familiar area. “It was just a block from where he had lived with his romantic partner a few years before,” he said.
That is where the prosecution argues he listened to a French rap song that he had played repeatedly during the preceding week, which “features the singer lighting things on fire and singing about his despair,” O’Brien said. The government argues he started the fire and then called 911 repeatedly to report it, creating a screen recording of himself doing so, as well as asking ChatGPT if one would be at fault if a fire was started because of a cigarette, which the prosecutor called an attempt at an alibi.
Prosecutors also referenced Rinderknecht’s ChatGPT usage, which they called diary-like. He asked the artificial intelligence service why he was so angry all the time.
Six months before the January 2025 fires, he directed ChatGPT to generate an image of a burning forest, a bunch of people running away from it, with people in poverty trying to get past a gigantic gate with dollar signs on it. In the image, he directed the other side to feature a conglomerate of all the richest people “chilling there,” watching the world burn down, laughing and dancing, according to prosecutors.
A distaste for the wealthy was also evident when ATF agents questioned Rinderknecht after the fires, asking him why someone might start a fire in the Palisades, to which he responded that it would be out of resentment toward the wealthy enjoying their money as others were “enslaved,” prosecutors said. Prosecutors said that ATF experts will testify that the Lachman fire was not started by fireworks, power lines or a cigarette and that the evidence will show that Rinderknecht was the only person near the fire.
“They determined that the fire was set intentionally,” he argued. The government will present evidence that Rinderknecht had a green BIC lighter in his glove box, which prosecutors will argue he used to start the Lachman fire.
Haney argued that Rinderknecht decided to watch fireworks from the hill near the Hidden Buddha clearing when he noticed flames and tried repeatedly to call 911, finally succeeding when he made his way down the hill to better reception. Haney highlighted Rinderknecht’s cooperation with authorities and lack of attempts to flee or hide his identity as he reported the Lachman fire, spoke with ATF agents and offered to return to the Pacific Palisades to show them the area he had been in on New Year’s Eve and the early hours of New Year’s Day.
Playing the audio of the 911 call Rinderknecht placed, Haney said that “the government says that is the actions and the voice of the man that started a fire, but it is actually that of a man who tried to stop the fire.” “There’s a fire at the top of Pacific Palisades, Highlands,” Rinderknecht can be heard saying in the recording. The 911 operator says that they have received calls about it and are sending help.
On Jan. 24, 2025, when authorities came to Rinderknecht’s apartment, he continued to cooperate, Haney said.
He argued that as search warrants for Rinderknecht’s apartment, house and technology were executed, there was “no reliable evidence” that he started the fire. The defense argued that the Palisades fire and Lachman fire were two different fires and that Rinderknecht did not start either fire.
Haney argued that investigators initially looked to connect Rinderknecht to fireworks that authorities believed started the blaze, but did not find any evidence and shifted to a “single-fire theory.” “It’s a tragedy that nobody denies, including my client,” he said of the Palisades fire.
The defense also highlighted the treatment of the Lachman fire scene, an area Haney said was never treated as a crime scene and was left unsecured for 12 days, when firefighters, emergency personnel, hikers, animals and vehicles all traversed the burn area. The defense argued that evidence will show that the ATF examined Buddha Hill, where they believe the fire started, they found no accelerants, no incendiary devices, no witnesses, no confession or admission from Rinderknecht and no physical evidence that he started the fire.
Rinderknecht faces charges of destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, timber set afire and up to 45 years in prison if convicted.