Mistrial declared in federal arson case related to California wildfires

New trial set to take place in October after jury fails to reach decision in closely-watched case on Palisades Fire.A United States federal judge has declared a mistrial in an Arson case brought against a man suspected of sparking the flames that would later grow into one of the deadliest Wildfires in California history.Judge Anne Hwang declared a mistrial on Friday morning, one day after local media reported that the jury in the case had informed her that they were not able to reach a unanimous decision.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Trial begins for man accused of sparking Palisades Fire in Californialist 2 of 3Suspect charged with starting deadly Los Angeles Palisades firelist 3 of 3What can we expect as fire season ramps up in California?end of listOut of 12 jurors, 10 believed that the suspect, Jonathan Rinderknecht, was innocent. Federal prosecutors promised to retry the man they accused of intentionally setting the fire.“The evidence is strong that Jonathan Rinderknecht is responsible for igniting the fire on January 1, 2025, which eventually became the Palisades Fire. We fully intend to retry this case before a new jury and obtain guilty verdicts on all charged counts,” US attorney for the California" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="153477" data-entity-type="location">Central District of California, Bill Essayli, said in a social media post in response to the decision.Judge Hwang ordered Rinderknecht detained until his retrial begins on October 19.Culpability for the Palisades Fire, which led to the deaths of 12 people and destroyed entire neighbourhoods along the coast north of Los Angeles, has become a contentious issue.Prosecutors allege that Rinderknecht used a barbecue lighter to light a fire on January 1, 2025. Firefighters initially believed that they had successfully suppressed the flames, only for them to spark a blaze on January 7 after continuing to burn undetected in the root system.Fierce winds then swept the flames across the area’s dry landscape, fuelling the fire that eventually spread into populated areas and caused widespread destruction.