Closing arguments started Tuesday in the federal arson trial of a Florida man accused of starting a fire that became the deadly January 2025 Palisades Fire.

Dual French and U.S. citizen Jonathan Rinderknecht faces up to 45 years in prison if convicted of three arson counts -- destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and timber set afire.

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Witness testimony continued early Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang delivered instructions to the jury, which will consider each count separately. After the defense and prosecution conclude their final arguments, jury deliberations in the three-week trial are expected to begin.

Rinderknecht, 30, has been present in the courtroom, but did not testify.

On Monday, firefighters were asked about a smaller fire called the Lachman Fire that the federal government accused Rinderknecht of starting Jan. 1, 2025 in the coastal LA County neighborhood. The fire re-ignited in a powerful Santa Ana windstorm Jan. 7, 2025 and became the Palisades Fire.

Prosecutors have spent the duration of the trial painting Rinderknecht as a vengeful, mentally unstable arsonist who was angry at society. They brought expert witnesses who testified the fire cause was  incendiary,  or caused by an open flame.

Rinderknecht's attorney Steve Haney has repeatedly posited that investigators missed one simple explanation: fireworks. Haney called two firefighters to the stand who delivered contradicting accounts of the evening.

One firefighter told the court that he heard fireworks before the blaze started, but another said he did not.

Los Angeles Fire Department firefighter Robert Appleford, stationed in the Pacific Palisades, testified to seeing flashes of light and hearing fireworks before and after midnight that evening. Minutes later, the department received a call about the brush fire that Rinderknecht is accused of sparking.

But Appleford's captain, Dave Sanders, later testified that he did not see or hear any fireworks. When Haney ask

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