Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man accused of starting the deadly Palisades Fire, is on trial in a federal court. Prosecutors have presented evidence, including surveillance footage and witness testimony, to build their case against him.

The Alleged Origin of the Palisades Fire

According to prosecutors, Rinderknecht was the only person on a Palisades hillside clearing, known as the Hidden Buddha, in the late hours of New Year’s Eve 2024 and early hours of New Year’s Day 2025, when a fire broke out. Surveillance footage captured at nearby homes and by wildfire monitor cameras showed Rinderknecht’s rental car driving through the area before it parked near the Hidden Buddha location.

Rinderknecht’s attorney, Steve Haney, has argued that the government’s case is based on circumstantial evidence and that nobody saw his client light a fire. Haney also emphasized that Rinderknecht called 911 multiple times when the initial blaze broke out, which he claims shows that his client was trying to stop the fire, not start it.

Witness Testimony

Several witnesses, including Uber passengers who rode with Rinderknecht on the night of the fire, testified about their interactions with him. They described Rinderknecht as irritable and enraged, and said he was driving recklessly fast. One passenger, Macy Miller, testified that Rinderknecht appeared to like the subject of Luigi Mangione, the 28-year-old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO, and said, ‘What he did was good.’

Prosecutors also presented evidence that Rinderknecht had been fascinated by fire for months leading up to the blaze and had treated ChatGPT like a diary, asking the AI chatbot to create images of fire. Rinderknecht’s attorney argued that this evidence is irrelevant to the heart of the prosecution’s case.

Original reporting: KOAT Albuquerque — read the source article.