A test done on the lighter that prosecutors believe sparked the Palisades Fire showed the torch failing to light brush three times, as a jury watched video of the experiment at the trial of the suspect accused of starting the deadly blaze.
Opening statements in the second federal trial of Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, on Wednesday kicked off with the footage shown to jurors by the suspect’s attorney, Steve Haney.
In the nearly 1-minute video, a green barbecue lighter similar to the one found in Rinderknecht’s car was shown trying to light a foil oven pan filled with dead vegetation taken from Pacific Palisades.
The lighter’s flame touches the brush in three different parts of the medium-sized pan, ignites briefly but then fails to continue burning, according to the video. The test was performed by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Rinderknecht is accused of using the lighter on New Year’s Eve 2024 to spark the Lachman Fire, which smoldered for days before reigniting to become the Palisades Fire on January 7, 2025.
The video evidence was part of a test ordered by government prosecutors on the lighter 11 months after Rinderknecht was charged.
“Based on that video, that lighter does not have the ability to start the fire on January 1st,” Haney told the California Post after opening statements.
The green lighter was discovered in the glove compartment of Rinderknecht’s car on Jan 24, 2025, more than three weeks after the devastating fire swept through the Palisades.
During his opening statement, Haney explained that the Lachman Fire could be seen from 5 miles just moments after it started.
“That fire couldn’t get across a baking pan,” he said of the test, before announced an upcoming witness will testify that he heard an explosion just before the fire sparked.
“He ran out to his backyard to see what it was,” Haney said of the witness, who lived at the foot of the hill where the New Year’s blaze is believed to have started.
The defense has stated that fireworks caused the New Year’s blaze. “We all know what it’s like on New Year’s,” Haney told the jury
The prosecution’s opening argument hit many of the same points that presented in Rinderknecht’s first trial, which ended in a hung jury that voted 10 to 2 for acquittal.
In its statement, the government said Rinderknecht’s phone showed he was the only one in the area at the time the fire started and suggested he called 911 to report the fire 16 times to create a backstory.
“He made a screen recording of what he was doing with his phone, which was calling 911, to create an alibi,” prosecutors said Wednesday.
Prosecutors also pointed to a question Rinderknecht allegedly asked ChatGPT in between his calls: to 911: “Are you at fault if a fire is lit because of your cigarettes”
“He appeared to be admitting he lit the fire,” prosecutors said, despite presenting an additional ATF test that showed cigarettes did not start the fire.
“Things Jonathan typed into his phone will take the place of direct evidence of him starting the fire,” Haney said.
The second trial is expected to last nearly two weeks.
Rinderknecht, who watched the opening statements dressed in gray suit, blue tie, and short beard, is charged with two counts of arson.
“They keep calling him the defendant, his name is Jonathan Rinderknecht. He will be judged by you, and only you. This is your case,” Haney told the jury.
