A mistrial was declared on Friday in the case against Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man charged with starting the Palisades Fire. A retrial date has been scheduled for October 19th.
KNX News’ Craig Fiegener reported the jurors told the judge that 10 of them were leaning not guilty and two were guilty with no reasonable probability of reaching a unanimous verdict.
Rinderknecht will remain in custody until July 15th when a status conference for the case is scheduled.
The 30-year-old Uber driver is accused of starting the Lachman fire that eventually sparked the deadly Palisades Fire.
He is facing three federal arson charges, but wasn't charged in connection with the deaths in the Palisades Fire.
In a post on X, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli wrote, “The evidence is strong that Jonathan Rinderknecht is responsible for igniting the fire on January 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.”
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