Arsonist or Scapegoat? Attorneys Offer Closing Arguments in Pacific Palisades Fire Trial

A federal jury will decide whether a 29-year-old Uber driver set the blaze that would lead to one of the most destructive fires in U.S. history.

A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire as it burns homes on the Pacific Coast Highway in Los Angeles on Jan. 8, 2025. Apu Gomes/Getty Images

LOS ANGELES—After two weeks of evidence and more than three dozen witnesses, attorneys in a federal trial accusing Jonathan Rinderknecht of setting a blaze in the Santa Monica Mountains that would, days later, lead to the catastrophic Palisades Fire, on Tuesday offered their final pleas to a jury.

“On Jan. 1, 2025, the defendant started a fire on a hill In the Pacific Palisades. After months of stewing in frustration and resentment toward the rich and powerful, he was angry—all the time,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Danbee Kim told the jury.