Palisades Fire Trial Focuses on Digital Clues and Defendant’s State of Mind

In the Palisades arson case, digital trails and witness accounts portray a young man on the verge. Defense attorneys say that doesn’t make him an arsonist.

Fire personnel respond to homes destroyed while a helicopter drops water as the Palisades Fire grows in Pacific Palisades, Calif., on Jan. 7, 2025. David Swanson/AFP via Getty Images

LOS ANGELES—After several days of testimony from a lead agent in the federal arson case against Jonathan Rinderknecht, the 29-year-old Uber driver accused of starting a blaze prosecutors say ultimately led to the catastrophic Palisades Fire of 2025, jurors on Thursday and Friday heard from a string of witnesses describing interactions with the defendant in the days before and after the alleged incident.

“He had ‘incel’ energy,” Brennan White, an Uber passenger, told the court about his ride with Rinderknecht on the evening of Jan. 1, 2025, around 24 hours after prosecutors say the defendant started a brush fire at the summit of a popular hiking trail above an affluent neighborhood in the Santa Monica Mountains.