Jonathan Rinderknecht — the man charged for starting the devastating Palisades Fire — should no longer be on the hook for criminal charges after new bombshell testimony from firefighters, according to his attorney.
Rinderknecht was indicted last year on three federal arson charges for allegedly sparking the smaller Lachman Fire in the Palisades Highlands — just six days before the catastrophic Palisades Fire tore through the area. He has pleaded not guilty and has been locked up without bail for 150 days.
Steve Haney, Rinderknecht’s attorney, says depositions recently made public showing firefighters admitting to leaving parts of the Lachman burn area smoldering undercut the prosecution’s narrative.
“The prosecutors didn’t know about these critical failures when they sought an indictment, but they do now,” Haney said, promising more details at a Thursday press conference.
He blasted the criminal complaint as a “blatantly false narrative” and argued the new evidence calls into question “the very foundation of the charges.”
The explosive testimony surfaced as part of a lawsuit filed against the City of Los Angeles and the State of California by thousands of Palisades fire victims.
In one deposition, firefighter Scott Pike described encountering hot spots on Jan. 2 — the day after the Lachman Fire — while cleaning up hoses.
“I could feel the heat coming off of it,” Pike testified. “There was like red-hot coals … still smoldering. I even heard crackling.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California declined to comment beyond saying: “We’ll see Mr. Rinderknecht in court.”
