Arson case in Los Angeles' deadly Palisades fire ends in mistrial, local media says

A federal judge declared a mistrial on Friday in the arson case brought against a man accused of deliberately setting a blaze that grew into one of the deadliest, most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles history, local news media reported.

All three felony counts leveled against Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, were dismissed after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked and unable to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the charges, according to the Los Angeles City News Service.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California swiftly announced it would retry its case against Rinderknecht, a former Uber driver of dual U.S.-French citizenship who once lived in the fire zone, CNS reported.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Kevin Buckland)

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This story was originally published June 26, 2026 at 12:51 PM.