Welp.
It's California … what did you expect??
Only two of the 12 jurors voted to convict Jonathan Rinderknecht.
As a reminder, Rinderknecht's phone was pinged less than 30 feet from the ignition point for the Palisades fire that razed a huge swath of Los Angeles in January 2025.
A green BIC lighter was found in his rental car … oh, and he filmed himself starting a fire
ABC 7 said prosecutors claim he was also in an angry mood at the time:
In a trial memorandum, federal prosecutors say 30-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht was distraught over a relationship with a former co-worker and angry about not having any New Year's Eve plans.
Several Uber passengers Rinderknecht drove that night described him as angry, driving erratically and ranting about being mad at the world.
Supporters of Rinderknecht say he shouldn't be held liable because massive, successive failures by city leadership caused a small fire to get out of control, and then when the city did try to fight it, they ran out of water thanks to California mismanagement and corruption.
A new trial will have to be arranged.
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