Palisades Fire Arson Retrial Set for November 2 After Not-Guilty Plea in Downtown LA

Jonathan Rinderknecht pleaded not guilty on August 19, 2026 to a revised federal indictment that splits the January 1, 2025 Lachman fire from the Palisades fire six days later. His first trial ended with jurors deadlocked 10 to 2 for acquittal.

A federal judge in Downtown Los Angeles set November 2 as the retrial date for Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man accused of causing the Palisades fire, after he pleaded not guilty on Wednesday, August 19, 2026 to a revised federal arson indictment, NBC Los Angeles reported.

The revised charges allege Rinderknecht ignited a smaller fire in Pacific Palisades days before the Palisades fire, and that the smaller fire reignited in intense winds six days later.

Rinderknecht entered the pleas in the ninth-floor courtroom at US District Court in Downtown Los Angeles, according to NBC Los Angeles. It is the same courtroom that hosted his first trial on similar charges, which ended with a hung jury earlier this summer.

He appeared in a beige jail jumpsuit and stood at the lectern with his attorney, telling the judge he understood the new charges, the outlet reported.

"And how do you plead to the charges?" asked US District Court Judge Anne Hwang, in an exchange reported by NBC Los Angeles.

"Not guilty," Rinderknecht said.

Prosecutors expect a shorter case

Judge Hwang set the retrial for November 2. Assistant US Attorney Mark Williams told the judge the government's case should move faster the second time.

"We believe the retrial is probably going to be shorter," Williams said, per NBC Los Angeles. He estimated it would take five to eight days to present the prosecution's case.

What changed in the indictment

A superseding grand jury indictment was made public in the week before the August 19 hearing, according to NBC Los Angeles. The outlet reported that prosecutors opted to drop one of the three arson charges brought at the first trial.

The two remaining counts were redefined. The new indictment separates the arson allegation attached to the first fire, which burned on January 1, 2025 and is known as the Lachman fire, from the fire destruction caused by the Palisades fire six days later.

That is a shift from how the government argued the case in June. At the first trial, prosecutors characterized the two fires as a single, continuous event, NBC Los Angeles reported. Jurors reported they were deadlocked on all counts, 10 to 2 in favor of acquittal.

The defense position

Rinderknecht's defense attorney, Steve Haney, told reporters outside court that the reworked indictment does not solve the government's central problem.

"There is no direct evidence that establishing that he started a fire on January first," Haney said, in remarks reported by NBC Los Angeles. "There wasn't when they charged the case a year ago, there wasn't in June, there won't be in November. And that's the challenge they have, despite how they have changed, modified, turned upside-down the indictment."

Rinderknecht remains in federal custody with no bail, according to NBC Los Angeles.

The reporting available to this desk does not describe what evidence prosecutors intend to present on the Lachman fire count, or whether the defense will seek any change of venue or schedule before November 2. Those are the open questions heading into the fall.