On Thursday afternoon, court reporters who had been following the trial of Palisades Fire suspect Jonathan Rinderknecht were buzzing on social media with news that the jury in the case had reached a verdict.
Brittny Mejia, the Metro reporter for The Los Angeles Times, was one of several journalists who initially wrote that a verdict had been reached. Later, however, it was shared that the jury had indicated they were “at a standstill”:
Drama here. Jury sent a note saying they’d reached a unanimous verdict. Then they sent a second note: “We are at a standstill. We are unsure how to proceed.” https://t.co/IGMsnbJO74
— Brittny Mejia (@brittny_mejia) June 25, 2026
The note also stressed that each side in the jury room was “deadset.” Mejia revealed in a follow-up tweet that it appeared the judge was going to send a note to the jury offering to give them materials that maybe would help them reach a verdict, but that the jury wrote back that they believed it wouldn’t help:
Jonathan Rinderknecht is on trial for destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce and timber set afire. Jury just sent back another note saying they cannot reach a verdict on any of the three charges. They underlined “cannot”
— Brittny Mejia (@brittny_mejia) June 25, 2026
SEE ALSO: More Creepy Info Revealed About LA Arson Suspect — Including His Obsession With Disturbing Leftist Idol
LAFD Whistleblowers Destroy Official Narrative on Palisades Fire Cause
Here’s the case prosecutors made to the jury:
Driven by revenge, anger and loneliness, Rinderknecht ignited a small brush fire around midnight on New Year’s Eve 2025 at a remote, deserted area adjacent to the Pacific Palisades’ Summit neighborhood that ultimately exploded into the deadly conflagration that wiped out much of the upscale community, a prosecutor told jurors on Tuesday.
Firefighters initially thought they had extinguished the New Year’s Eve Lachman Fire, but instead it smoldered underground for six days in the root system of brushes and trees before bursting into view as the deadly Palisades Fire on Jan. 7, 2025, bolstered by strong Santa Ana winds, Assistant U.S. Attorney Danbee Kim said during closing arguments of Rinderknecht’s trial.
Rinderknecht “had a deeply entrenched belief that the wealthy were destroying the world,” she said, telling the panel in federal court that to the defendant’s way of thinking, “the Pacific Palisades neighborhood represented all of that.”
With the jury seeming to be hopelessly deadlocked, unless that changes, we could be looking at a hung jury scenario. We’ll keep you posted on what develops.
The Palisades and Eaton fires covered 59 square miles, killed 31 people in early 2025, and destroyed over 16,000 structures.
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