洛杉磯致命帕利塞茲大火被控縱火者重返聯邦法院接受重審

作者：Steve GormanBy Steve Gorman

路透洛杉磯11月2日電——城市新聞社（City News Service）報導，檢方稱一名男子蓄意縱火，火勢後來擴大為洛杉磯史上死亡最慘重、破壞性最大的野火之一；該男子重審的陪審團遴選週一展開。LOS ANGELES, Nov 2 (Reuters) - Jury selection began on Monday for a retrial of the man prosecutors say deliberately set a blaze that grew into one of the deadliest, most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles history, City News Service reported.

30歲的喬納森・林德克內希特在洛杉磯市中心的美國聯邦地方法院受審，所面臨的指控已較最初版本縮減。先前為期三週的初審在6月底因陪審團意見僵持而結束，未能作成裁決。Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, in US District Court in downtown Los Angeles, is facing a scaled-down version of the charges leveled against him in an initial three-week trial that ended in a hung jury in late June.

檢方將林德克內希特描述成一名沮喪的孤獨者；他曾是Uber司機，擁有美國與法國雙重國籍，對社會懷有深刻怒意，尤其針對富人，並把憤怒轉化為縱火行為。Rinderknecht, a former Uber driver of dual US-French citizenship, was cast by prosecutors as a dejected loner who harbored deep anger at society, particularly the wealthy, and channeled his rage into an act of arson.

他被控於2025年1月1日「惡意」引發一場灌木火災。該火災雖很快被撲滅，卻在茂密灌叢的根部悶燒，數天後再度復燃，並在強風助長下形成大火，將海濱社區太平洋帕利塞茲（Pacific Palisades）夷為廢墟。He is accused of "maliciously" starting a brush fire on January 1, 2025, that was quickly extinguished but smoldered in the roots of dense scrub before reigniting days later, whipped by fierce winds into a conflagration that laid waste to the seaside enclave of Pacific Palisades.

辯護律師一直主張林德克內希特遭到錯誤指控。他們稱，元旦當天山頂的火災是節慶煙火引發，並非其當事人所為；而一週後造成12人死亡、數千棟房屋被毀的帕利塞茲大火，是另一場由其他人引發的獨立火災。Defense attorneys have maintained that Rinderknecht was wrongly accused. They asserted the hilltop New Year's Day blaze was triggered by holiday fireworks, not their client, and that the massive Palisades inferno that killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes a week later was a separate fire set by someone else.

關於這場災難，控辯雙方敘事相互對立，使陪審團在6月以10比2傾向無罪的局面陷入僵局，無法就三項指控中的任何一項達成一致裁決。The opposing narratives of the disaster left jurors deadlocked 10-2 in favor of acquittal and unable to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the three charges in June.

法官安妮・黃（Anne Hwang）宣布審判無效，檢方隨後依據一份大陪審團起訴書，要求重新審理被告；該起訴書撤回林德克內希特原本面臨的一項指控，並修改其餘兩項聯邦縱火罪名。Judge Anne Hwang declared a mistrial, and prosecutors moved to retry the defendant under a grand jury indictment that dropped one of the original charges Rinderknecht faced and modified the two remaining federal arson counts.

近7,000棟住宅與其他建物付之一炬，財產損失估計達1,500億美元，其中部分屬於接受聯邦財務援助或涉及州際商業的組織。Nearly 7,000 homes and other structures went up in flames, with property losses estimated at $150 billion, some of that belonging to organizations receiving federal financial assistance or involved in interstate commerce.

同時發生的災難SIMULTANEOUS DISASTERS

帕利塞茲大火發生之際，另一場由強風推動的災難性野火幾乎同時在東方約30英里（48公里）外的伊頓峽谷（Eaton Canyon）爆發，造成19人死亡，並重創洛杉磯郊區阿爾塔迪納（Altadena）。火災調查人員後來認定，伊頓大火是由一座輸電塔產生的火花引燃。The Palisades blaze coincided with another catastrophic wind-driven wildfire that erupted almost simultaneously in Eaton Canyon, about 30 miles (48 km) to the east, killing 19 people and ravaging the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena. Fire investigators later concluded that sparks from an electrical transmission tower ignited the Eaton fire.

林德克內希特是兩起1月7日火災中唯一遭刑事起訴的人。這兩場火災合計成為洛杉磯郡史上死亡最慘重的野火災難，超越1933年格里菲斯公園（Griffith Park）火災造成29人喪生的紀錄。Rinderknecht was the only person criminally charged in connection with either of the two January 7 blazes, which together rank as the deadliest wildfire calamity ever in Los Angeles County, surpassing the 29 lives lost in the Griffith Park fire of 1933.

林德克內希特已否認犯罪。他在第一次審判期間拒絕為自己作證。若依最新起訴書所列罪名遭定罪，他最高可能面臨40年徒刑；原起訴書的最高刑期為45年。Rinderknecht, who pleaded not guilty, declined to testify in his own defense during his first trial. He would face up to 40 years in prison if found guilty as charged under the latest indictment. The original indictment carried a maximum prison term of 45 years.

自2025年10月在佛羅里達州被捕後，他一直遭羈押。He has remained in custody since his arrest in Florida in October 2025.

辯護律師史蒂夫・海尼在第一次審判期間主張，檢方缺乏將林德克內希特與縱火行為相連的物證，也沒有任何紀錄顯示他有縱火意圖。Defense attorney Steve Haney asserted during the first trial that prosecutors lacked physical evidence linking Rinderknecht to arson or any records showing an intent to commit arson.

海尼也在法庭文件及有關本案的公開聲明中暗示，他的當事人被當成洛杉磯消防局失誤的代罪羔羊。In court documents and public statements about the case, Haney also suggested that his client was being scapegoated for failures of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

林德克內希特本人曾住在太平洋帕利塞茲。他在去年3月提交的法院聲明中宣稱自己無罪，否認曾蓄意引發任何火災。A onetime Pacific Palisades resident himself, Rinderknecht professed his innocence in a court declaration filed last March, denying he had willfully started any fire.

他承認，自己曾從一座山丘上目擊1月1日火災發生，該火災最初被稱為拉赫曼火災（Lachman fire）；他當時爬上山，是為了觀看新年煙火。但林德克內希特說，他立刻撥打911報案，通報火災，並留在現場直到消防員抵達，還主動提出協助。He acknowledged witnessing the outbreak of the January 1 fire, originally called the Lachman fire, from the vantage point of a hill he had climbed to watch New Year's fireworks. But Rinderknecht said he immediately called emergency 911 to report the blaze and remained at the scene until firefighters arrived and offered to help them.

檢方指稱，林德克內希特在撥打911電話時，曾用手機詢問AI應用程式ChatGPT，如果有人「因為你的香菸」點火，是否會被認定有責任；ChatGPT回答：「會。」Prosecutors have alleged that while placing his 911 call, Rinderknecht asked the AI app ChatGPT on his phone whether someone could be found at fault for lighting a fire "because of your cigarettes," to which ChatGPT replied, "Yes."

檢方也表示，監視器畫面以及林德克內希特手機的位置資料顯示，1月1日那場火災在聖塔莫尼卡山國家遊憩區（Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area）一條步道附近發生時，他是當時附近唯一的人。Prosecutors also said security camera footage and location data from Rinderknecht's cellphone show he was the only person in the vicinity of the January 1 blaze when it began near a trail in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

（Steve Gorman報導；Donna Bryson、Jonathan Spicer和Bill Berkrot編輯）(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Donna Bryson, Jonathan Spicer and Bill Berkrot)