Rinderknecht defense attacks timing of arson lab tests in Palisades retrial
Defense lawyers argue federal prosecutors charged their client first and then produced the lab evidence they are now using against him.
By Hans Laetz
Jonathan Rinderknecht's lawyer is trying to convince jurors that federal prosecutors put their favorite Palisades arson suspect in jail before they even started investigating what actually caused the fires. Rinderknecht is on trial for the second time for allegedly starting two arsons in the Santa Monica Mountains — the New Lachman Fire, and six days later the Palisades Fire, which grew out of the smoldering ashes of the first one.
Federal prosecutors have been given a do-over after the first trial ended in a mistrial. In that case, jurors said they thought Rinderknecht started the first fire but could not be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that his actions caused the second fire. The Justice Department had done a severe blunder: it did not give jurors a way to separate the allegations tied to the two separate fires. The troubled U.S. Attorney's Office has redone the charges this time, clearly separating the two fires into two criminal cases.
The L.A. Times reports that prosecutors this time are putting less emphasis on Rinderknecht's alleged resentment against wealthy residents in the Pacific Palisades. Instead, the feds are highlighting laboratory tests that they say prove a lighter could have ignited the hillside vegetation. Rinderknecht's defense lawyers have jumped on that, arguing the tests were conducted after Rinderknecht had already been charged and arrested.