Inside the high-stakes Palisades fire trial

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, June 24, and it’ll be hot (again) today.

Closing arguments ended yesterday in the federal trial against Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man accused of starting a blaze that later exploded into the Palisades fire.

If you’re like me, you probably haven’t followed the play-by-play. Luckily, my colleague Matt Hamilton is one of the best legal affairs reporters in California — and he’s been sitting in on the trial.

Yesterday, he published a riveting account of the absurd hike that Rinderknecht took with federal agents as he slowly began to realize that he was under investigation. Today, I’ve asked Matt to lay out the case for us.

Walk us through the government's case.

It’s best viewed looking backwards. Investigators determined that the Palisades fire was actually a “holdover” ignited by underground embers and burning roots from the smaller Lachman fire on Jan. 1. 

Investigators determined that Rinderknecht was the only person in the area roughly when the Lachman fire started. They also pored over his digital footprint and interviewed people who interacted with him, finding a man who was angry, interested in fires and violence as a means of revenge, and increasingly resentful toward society and the rich and powerful. 

When Rinderknecht spoke to investigators for nearly 9 hours, he (eventually) talked about these themes of revenge, offered inconsistent answers about his whereabouts on the night of the fire, and acknowledged he had been smoking that night.

So do prosecutors think the fire was lit by a cigarette?

Actually, no. Government investigators testified that they ruled out all other potential causes of the Lachman fire — lightning, electricity, fireworks, cigarette — and determined it was set by a lighter. Rinderknecht eventually copped to having one on him that night. 

This sounds... a little bit circumstantial? Does the government have a strong case here?

That’s ultimately for the jury to decide, but I’d say they have Rinderknecht at the location and general time when the fire occurred, and his ChatGPT history — which includes things like asking, in the moments after the fire ignited, if someone could be held responsible for starting a blaze with a cigarette — boosts the government’s portrayal of him as a self-styled vigilante using arson to exact revenge. 

But the government can’t say exactly when the Lachman fire started — they have roughly a 25-minute window when they believe it ignited. And this is among the holes that Rinderknecht’s defense has seized on. 

What else is Rinderknecht's team saying?

Steve Haney, the lead defense attorney, told jurors that the government’s case defied common sense. Haney pointed out that Rinderknecht dialed 911 a total of 17 times shortly after midnight, and that federal agents initially believed the Palisades fire was started by fireworks. He argued that investigators, essentially, chose their suspect and molded their theories to fit him.

Rinderknecht’s defense has also made hay out of the fact that the investigation into what started the Lachman fire didn’t begin until 12 days later; Haney argued that the crime scene was not preserved and key evidence was destroyed. 

Closing arguments were today. What happens next?

Yes, both prosecution and the defense made their final pitch to the jury, who will deliberate starting this morning on the three counts that Rinderknecht is facing: destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting interstate commerce, and timber set afire. 

If you've been affected by the smoke from the cold storage facility that’s burning in Boyle Heights, you no doubt have questions about safety and air quality. L.A. Material’s Antonia Cereijido and Jessica Garrison will moderate a panel with three experts to provide guidance.

Join us on Zoom at 7:30 p.m. this evening with professors Sam Silva (USC), Yifang Zhu (UCLA), and Jill Johnston (UC Irvine).

SCREEN BAN: L.A. Unified will ban screen time for its youngest students and implement strict restrictions for older grades. The L.A. Times reported that they’re some of the most aggressive restrictions in the country.

WAREHOUSE SCRUTINY: Lineage Logistics, the company that owns the burning cold storage facility in Boyle Heights, has previously been cited for regulatory violations, the L.A. Times found.

PALISADES FEUD: Ex-LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley sued Karen Bass for defamation, the California Post reported. It’s the latest development in their long-running conflict over the city’s preparedness for the Palisades fire. 

QUAKE ALERT: A new study found that the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults are “critically stressed” and overdue for earthquakes. “We should certainly expect to experience large earthquakes in our lifetimes,” one scientist told LAist.

SOARING TIX: The L.A. Times’ Hailey Branson-Potts bemoaned the sky-high cost of attending Dodgers games. Related: Fans shared how much it’s costing them to attend the World Cup.

Scandia reigned in mid-century Los Angeles as a heavily-upholstered, star-studded Scandinavian hotspot on the Sunset Strip.

Here’s the recipe for their Gravlaks with Mustard Dill Sauce, as published in the 1982 cookbook Dining In - Los Angeles:

AND FINALLY… A poem to pair with your morning coffee: “Coping” by Audre Lorde.

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