Ten jurors thought Jonathan Rinderknecht was not guilty. Two thought he was. That split left a federal judge with no choice but to declare a mistrial in the case of the man accused of deliberately starting the fire that became the Palisades Fire.
Rinderknecht was arrested in October 2025 and charged with destruction of property by means of fire. He pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say he ignited the blaze on January 1, 2025. The fire caused an estimated $35 billion to $45 billion in damage and killed 12 people.
A verdict that was not
On the afternoon before the mistrial, jurors told the court they had reached a verdict. Thirty minutes later they came back to say they had none. The judge asked whether an additional instruction or a rereading of testimony might help.
“There is nothing the court can do to assist the jury in their deliberations. Additional instructions or rereading the testimony would not help in deliberations. Unfortunately, we cannot reach a unanimous verdict,” the jury replied.
A woman who identified herself as juror number four spoke to media afterward. She said there was “no proof” and that the government’s “hold over theory just wasn’t like it wasn’t working for me.” Retrying the case, she said, would be a “waste of our American dollars.”
Both sides respond
United States Attorney Bill Essayli said on X that “the evidence is strong that Jonathan Rinderknecht is responsible for igniting the fire,” and that the office intends to retry the case before a new jury. The retrial is set for mid-October.
Defense attorney Steven Haney read the outcome differently. He said he would have preferred an acquittal, but that the result showed the government “does not have the evidence that it needs.”
At trial, behavioral analyst Kevin Kelm testified that Rinderknecht’s behavior resembled that of someone driven by “societal revenge.” Prosecutors also argued in a court filing that Rinderknecht was partly inspired by Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City on December 4, 2024. According to the filing, he fixated on Mangione in the weeks and hours before the fire, and federal prosecutors said he searched for terms including “free LuigiMangione” on December 12 and 13, 2024.
Mangione’s attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, rejected the link in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Mr. Mangione does not support violent actions and does not condone past or future political violence,” she said. “These repeated attempts to connect him to unrelated acts or to insinuate that he condones or supports these acts are irresponsible, dangerous and prejudicial.”
What a former prosecutor worries about
Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Fox News Digital that the deadlock could be jury nullification, or jurors blaming officials such as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and the Los Angeles Fire Department. It took the Justice Department nine months to arrest and charge Rinderknecht, he noted, and many people who lost homes had pointed at local officials over preparation for the high winds.
Rahmani said the Mangione case poses a more direct nullification risk. Mangione’s federal trial could begin around the time of Rinderknecht’s retrial. “He’s probably the most popular accused murderer I’ve ever covered in my 25 years of practice,” Rahmani said, adding that depending on the survey, 10 to 20 percent of people believe Mangione was justified. A defendant needs only one sympathetic juror in twelve, he said. He also warned about “stealth jurors” who hide their biases to influence a verdict.
Fox News Digital reached out to Mangione’s defense team for comment on Rahmani’s remarks.
Sources
- Palisades Fire deadlock fuels fear that ideology is creeping into jury box — and Mangione could be next
- Mistrial declared for Palisades Fire suspect who allegedly fixated on Luigi Mangione
