2026-06-26 / 路透社
洛杉矶，6月26日（路透社）——一名联邦法官周五宣布对被控故意纵火引发洛杉矶有史以来最致命、破坏最严重野火之一的男子的纵火案审判无效，但检察官誓言将重新起诉这名嫌疑人。
陪审员表示，他们已陷入无法调和的僵局，以10票对2票倾向于无罪释放，无法就任何一项指控达成一致裁决，因此针对30岁的乔纳森·林德克内希特的三项重罪指控均被撤销。
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美国加利福尼亚中区联邦检察官比尔·埃塞利随即宣布，其办公室将重启对林德克内希特的诉讼。林德克内希特现年30岁，拥有美国和法国双重国籍，曾是优步司机，曾居住在火灾灾区。
“有充分证据表明，乔纳森·林德克内希特应对2025年1月1日的纵火行为负责，这场火灾最终演变为帕利塞兹野火。我们完全打算在新的陪审团面前重新审理此案，并就所有指控罪名作出有罪裁决，”埃塞利在X平台发布的一份声明中说道。
林德克内希特自2025年10月在佛罗里达州被捕后一直被关押，美国地区法官安妮·黄下令将其继续羁押，直至7月中旬的案件情况听证会。重审日期暂定于10月19日。
辩护律师史蒂夫·哈尼在洛杉矶市中心法院外对记者表示，他的当事人是无辜的，并且在第二次审判中会获得更有利的结果。
“10票对2票（无罪）是陪审团发出的明确信息，即政府败诉，没有足够证据证明其指控，”哈尼说道，并排除了通过认罪协议了结此案的可能性。
“绝对不会达成任何协议。他们不会提出协议，我们也不会进行任何谈判。他没有纵火，”哈尼说。
庭审呈现对立叙事
此次无效审判标志着一场备受关注的三周庭审落下帷幕。庭审中，检察官将林德克内希特描绘成一个心怀不满的孤僻者，将他对富人和整个社会的愤怒转化为纵火行为。
辩方则反驳称，林德克内希特是消防部门失职的替罪羊。辩护律师对造成12人死亡、摧毁高档海滨社区太平洋帕利塞兹的那场大火的官方起因提出了质疑。
林德克内希特在10月的三项罪名起诉书中对所有指控均不认罪：以纵火手段毁坏财产、纵火影响州际商业使用的财产、在公共土地上焚烧林木。
林德克内希特在庭审中拒绝为自己作证。如果罪名成立，他将面临最高45年的监禁。
据洛杉矶城市新闻服务社及其他当地媒体报道，陪审员在周四向法官递交便签称，经过13小时的审议后，他们仍僵持不下。
法官将陪审员送回家过夜，随后在周五上午，在陪审员再次表明他们陷入僵局后，宣布审判无效。
这场野火位列加州最致命野火之列
林德克内希特被指控引发了一场灌木丛火灾，火势起初被迅速控制，但在茂密的灌木丛下持续阴燃，六天后的1月7日复燃。强风将这场野火席卷成破坏力极强的帕利塞兹野火。
近7000所房屋和其他建筑被烧毁，财产损失估计达1500亿美元。
这场灾难与另一场由输电线路坠落引发的灾难性大风野火同时发生。1月7日，这场野火在距内陆30英里的伊顿峡谷爆发，造成19人死亡，重创洛杉矶郊区的阿尔塔迪纳社区。
林德克内希特是这两起火灾中唯一被刑事起诉的人。这两起火灾共同成为洛杉矶县历史上最致命的野火灾难，超过了1933年格里菲斯公园大火造成的29人死亡人数。
辩方将起火原因指向烟花
辩护律师哈尼试图说服陪审员，1月1日新年当天，在圣莫尼卡山脉国家休闲区边缘步道附近的山顶火灾是由节日烟花引发的，而非林德克内希特。哈尼还辩称，大规模的帕利塞兹野火是另一起由其当事人以外的人实施的纵火案。
控方的案件依据是纵火调查人员的官方结论，即帕利塞兹野火源于“余烬复燃”——一场在被认为已扑灭后仍在土壤线以下以低强度持续燃烧的火灾。
检方称，在这起案件中，林德克内希特最初引发的火灾在地下茂密的树根丛中持续阴燃，近一周未被发现，随后飓风级的圣安娜大风将火焰重新吹至地面以上。
根据检方的说法，林德克内希特自己手机的监控摄像头录像和地理定位数据显示，新年午夜过后火灾爆发时，他是火灾附近唯一的人。
“社会复仇”
据法庭证词援引自城市新闻服务社的消息，林德克内希特在被捕前接受调查人员询问时称，火灾发生时他正在该区域独自散步，可能在附近的空地上抽了一两支烟，但他否认纵火。
关于作案动机，检察官将林德克内希特描述为一个对富人怀恨在心的不满者，驱使他将“社会复仇”的追求以及对失败恋情和经济困境的愤怒转化为纵火行为。
陪审员听取了林德克内希特接受纵火调查人员采访时一段冗长录音的部分内容，他在采访中指责企业高管造成了“失衡”的体系，并对调查人员说：“这就是我所破坏的。”
证词还显示林德克内希特对火灾有执念，包括检方称林德克内希特反复观看的一首法语说唱音乐视频，视频中歌手点燃物品，以及林德克内希特用手机拍摄的新年火灾燃烧时的画面。
马特·西尔弗斯坦 洛杉矶报道；史蒂夫·戈尔曼 俄勒冈州波特兰市撰稿及补充报道；凯文·巴克兰、马修·刘易斯、大卫·格雷戈里奥 编辑
Federal arson case in Los Angeles’ deadly Palisades fire ends in mistrial
2026-06-26 / Reuters
LOS ANGELES, June 26 (Reuters) – A federal judge declared a mistrial on Friday in the arson case brought against the man accused of deliberately setting a blaze that grew into one of the deadliest, most destructive wildfires ever in Los Angeles, but prosecutors vowed to retry the suspect.
All three felony counts leveled against Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, were dismissed after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquittal, and unable to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the charges.
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The U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli, swiftly announced his office would seek to renew its case against Rinderknecht, a former Uber driver of dual U.S.-French citizenship who once lived in the fire zone.
“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,” Essayli said in a statement posted on X.
Rinderknecht has been jailed since his arrest in Florida in October 2025, and U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang ordered him to remain in custody pending a mid-July status conference in the case. A re-trial date was tentatively set for October 19.
Defense lawyer Steve Haney told reporters outside the downtown LA courthouse that his client was innocent and would win an even more favorable result in a second trial.
“Ten to two (for not guilty) is an overwhelming message from the jury that the government failed and did not have enough evidence to prove their case,” Haney said, ruling out the possibility of a plea agreement to settle the case.
“Absolutely no deal. They’re not going to offer one. We’re not going to have any conversations. He didn’t do it,” Haney said.
TRIAL FEATURED COMPETING NARRATIVES
The mistrial capped a high-profile, three-week trial in which prosecutors branded Rinderknecht a malcontent loner who channeled the rage he felt toward the rich and society at large into an act of arson.
The defense countered by suggesting Rinderknecht was made a scapegoat for the failings of the fire department. Defense attorneys disputed the official origin story of a conflagration that killed 12 people and laid waste to the upscale seaside enclave of Pacific Palisades.
He had pleaded not guilty to all charges in October’s three-count indictment: destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and burning timber on public land.
Rinderknecht declined to testify in his own defense during the trial. He would face a penalty of up to 45 years in prison if found guilty as charged.
Jurors informed the judge in a note on Thursday that they were stalemated after 13 hours of deliberations, the Los Angeles City News Service and other local news media reported.
The judge sent the jurors home for the night, then declared a mistrial on Friday morning after jurors insisted again that they were deadlocked.
FIRE RANKED AMONG CALIFORNIA’S DEADLIEST
Rinderknecht was accused of starting a brush fire that was suppressed relatively quickly but kept smoldering underground beneath dense scrub before re-igniting six days later, on January 7. Fierce winds whipped the blaze into the devastating Palisades fire.
Nearly 7,000 homes and other structures went up in flames, with property losses estimated at $150 billion.
The disaster coincided with another catastrophic wind-driven wildfire, apparently sparked by a downed power line, which erupted on January 7 in Eaton Canyon about 30 miles inland, killing 19 people and ravaging the suburban Los Angeles community of Altadena.
Rinderknecht was the only person criminally charged in connection with either of the two blazes, which together rank as the deadliest wildfire calamity in Los Angeles County history, surpassing the 29 lives lost in the Griffith Park fire of 1933.
DEFENSE POINTED TO FIREWORKS
Haney, the defense lawyer, sought to convince jurors that the hilltop New Year’s Day blaze near a trail at the edge of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area was triggered by holiday fireworks, not Rinderknecht. Haney also argued that the massive Palisades fire was a separate arson fire perpetrated by someone other than his client.
The prosecution case had hinged on arson investigators’ official determination that the Palisades catastrophe sprang from a “holdover fire” — a blaze that keeps burning at low intensity below the soil line after it is presumed extinguished.
In this case, prosecutors said, the fire originally set by Rinderknecht continued smoldering in a thicket of roots beneath the surface, undetected for nearly a week, before hurricane-force Santa Ana winds fanned the flames back above ground.
Security camera footage and geolocation data from Rinderknecht’s own cellphone established he was the only person in the vicinity of the fire when it erupted shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day, according to prosecutors.
‘SOCIETAL REVENGE’
Rinderknecht told investigators under questioning prior to his arrest that he was walking alone in the area at the time the fire began and may have smoked a cigarette or two in a nearby clearing, but he denied setting any fire, according to trial testimony cited by CNS.
In terms of motive, prosecutors cast Rinderknecht as a malcontent resentful of the wealthy and driven to channel his quest for “societal revenge” and anger over failed relationships and financial struggles into an act of arson.
Jurors listened to a recording from portions of a rambling interview Rinderknecht gave to arson investigators in which he blamed corporate executives for an “unbalanced” system, telling the agents, “this is what I disrupted.”
Testimony also pointed to a fixation with fire, including images in a French-language rap music video that prosecutors said Rinderknecht repeatedly watched depicting the singer setting things ablaze, and footage Rinderknecht took with his cellphone of the New Year’s fire while it was burning.
Reporting by Matt Silverstein in Los Angeles; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Portland, Oregon; Editing by Kevin Buckland, Matthew Lewis and David Gregorio
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