led by fire victims against the city.

Defense attorney Steven Haney said he also plans to argue that the government lacks solid evidence or witness testimony linking Rinderknecht to the first fire, and that first responders heard fireworks in the vicinity of where the blaze started.

Prosecutors say geolocation data from Rinderknecht's phone shows that he was in the area of the fire as it rapidly grew, and investigators later seized a Bic barbecue lighter from his car that he admitted to having with him on the trail. They will claim he was upset about a failed relationship as well as thwarted plans for New Year's Eve, and that he ranted to his Uber passengers that evening about being angry at the world, according to an April 29 pretrial memo filed by the U.S. attorney's office.