A federal prosecutor told jurors on Wednesday that a former Uber driver despondent over a failing relationship and resentful of the rich deliberately set a blaze that grew into one of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires on record in Los Angeles.
Jonathan Rinderknecht’s attorney countered that the defendant had nothing to do with the January 2025 blazes.
Rinderknecht, 30, was indicted last October on one felony count each of destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and illegal burning of timber on public lands.
He is accused of starting a fire in early January 2025 that was quickly suppressed but continued to smolder under dense vegetation before reigniting a week later.
Fierce winds then whipped it into a conflagration that killed 12 people and laid waste to the seaside enclave of Pacific Palisades, leading to billions of dollars in property damage.
Rinderknecht pleaded not guilty but has remained in custody since his arrest in Florida.
If convicted on all three counts, he would face at least five years in prison, the U.S. Justice Department says, while the maximum sentence is 45 years.
“The evidence will show that the defendant lit this fire on January 1 and that he did so on purpose and the evidence will show that the fire that the defendant started on Jan. 1 was the same fire that caused all of that destruction on January 7,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Williams told jurors in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom.
MANGIONE ADMIRER?
A pretrial memorandum alleged that Rinderknecht was closely tracking news of Luigi Mangione, charged with killing the CEO of insurance giant UnitedHealthcare and admired in some extreme left-wing circles as a working-class folk hero.
The memo also said Rinderknecht was “deeply agitated” over a fraying romantic relationship.
A onetime Pacific Palisades resident, Rinderknecht professed his innocence in a court declaration in March.
He said he saw flames erupt from the vantage point of a hilltop he had climbed to watch New Year’s Eve fireworks after dropping off an Uber passenger. He said he called the 911 emergency number to report the blaze, and stayed on the scene until after firefighters arrived and offered to help them.
But according to a criminal complaint filed in the case, cellphone data showed that no one besides Rinderknecht was in the area where the fire started.
