Key Lighter Evidence to Feature in Second Palisades Fire Trial, Lawyer States
Accused arsonist Jonathan Rinderknecht's attorney says testing on a found lighter will be central to the defense.
The second federal trial for Jonathan Rinderknecht, accused of sparking the deadly Palisades Fire, is set to begin Nov. 2, with his defense attorney asserting that a lighter found in his client's car will be crucial evidence. Rinderknecht appeared in a Los Angeles federal courtroom Thursday in preparation for the upcoming proceedings.
Following an hour-long hearing, Rinderknecht's lawyer, Steve Haney, disclosed that extensive testing was conducted on the green Bic barbecue lighter that prosecutors allege Rinderknecht used to start the blaze. Haney expressed that the results of this testing, which occurred nine months after Rinderknecht's arrest and 11 months after the fire, will be prominently featured in the trial.
"The cause of the fire according to the government was a lighter, with no accelerants on a hill on January 1st, and they need to prove that," Haney told the California Post. "They didn’t prove it in the first trial, and I think that will be even a bigger challenge based on the new evidence in the second trial."
The lighter was discovered by investigators on January 24, 2025, in the glove compartment of Rinderknecht’s vehicle. During his initial trial, which concluded with a mistrial due to a deadlocked jury, the lighter was visible in the background of a selfie Rinderknecht took in his apartment hours before the alleged ignition of the Lachlan Fire on New Year's Day.
Prosecutors contend that the Lachlan Fire smoldered for days before re-igniting and spreading into the massive Palisades Fire during record Santa Ana winds days later. Rinderknecht faces two federal counts of arson, with a potential maximum sentence of 45 years in prison.
The first trial resulted in a hung jury, with deliberations showing an 11-1 split in favor of acquittal. One juror from the initial trial told The Post that she felt the prosecution had not presented a sufficiently convincing case. Los Angeles's top federal prosecutor, Bill Essayli, has stated his intention to retry Rinderknecht, asserting on X that the evidence strongly indicates Rinderknecht's responsibility for igniting the fire and expressing confidence in obtaining guilty verdicts.