At the center of the defense argument is a firefighter’s deposition, gathered in a civil lawsuit filed by fire victims against the city, in which the firefighter testified that he observed the ground still smoldering on January 2 and alerted a supervisor that hot spots remained — an account that directly contradicts testimony from a battalion chief who stated he had cleared the burn area. Attorney Steve Haney said the testimony was not available when his client was indicted and fundamentally undermines the prosecution’s case.
LOS ANGELES — Defense attorneys for Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man charged with sparking the deadly Palisades Fire, called Thursday for his release from federal detention and asked U.S. prosecutors to dismiss the indictment against him, saying newly available deposition testimony shows the Los Angeles Fire Department, not their client, bears responsibility for the wildfire that killed 12 people.
Rinderknecht, 29, has been held in federal custody since October, when he was charged in connection with one of the most destructive wildfires in California history. The fire began January 7, 2025, in the hillside neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Malibu. He has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors allege Rinderknecht started a fire on January 1, 2025, that burned undetected deep in root systems before reigniting a week later. His attorneys say he is being used as a scapegoat for the fire department’s failure to fully extinguish that earlier blaze.
The competing accounts
The central new evidence, according to defense attorney Steve Haney, is a deposition in which a firefighter testified that he observed the ground still smoldering from the January 1 fire on January 2 and alerted a supervisor that hot spots remained. California state park ranger Christy Araujo separately testified that she, too, confirmed the presence of a smoldering burn scar, Haney said.
That testimony directly contradicts an account from a battalion chief, who testified that he walked the perimeter of the burn area four times throughout the day and ensured all hot spots had been extinguished.
Both depositions were gathered from a civil lawsuit filed by fire victims against the city of Los Angeles.
“This evidence calls into question not only the fundamental fairness for my client’s continued detention, but the very foundation of the charges themselves,” Haney said in a statement. “This is not a case about an individual causing a fire. This is a case about government agencies failing to do their jobs.”
Defense demands dismissal
Haney said the deposition evidence was not available to the defense when Rinderknecht was indicted. He also said no evidence establishes that Rinderknecht started the January 1 fire, adding that witness testimony suggests the blaze was likely ignited by fireworks.
Rinderknecht has been jailed for 150 days as of Thursday, Haney said. Haney called on U.S. Attorneys to review the case and dismiss the indictment. Federal procedural rules prevent him from filing a motion to dismiss directly.
Haney said he plans to file a motion next week to suppress all evidence obtained through search warrants he contends lacked probable cause.
The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment Thursday.
Fire department response
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore, who was appointed in October, has said he is concerned about the conflicting testimonies and commissioned an independent report examining how the January 1 fire was handled.
The next pretrial conference in Rinderknecht’s case is scheduled for April.