The attorneys for the man accused of setting one of California’s most destructive wildfires are arguing he should be released due to a newly released deposition from a firefighter who was at the scene.

Law enforcement arrested 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht in Melbourne, Florida, on Oct. 8, suspecting he maliciously started the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles on New Year’s Day. Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said prosecutors believed Rinderknecht set the fire that would go on to kill 12 people and destroy more than 6,000 homes in the wealthy Pacific Palisades neighborhood.

Rinderknecht’s defense attorneys have since argued he is being used as a scapegoat to detract from the LA Fire Department’s failure to fully extinguish the earlier blaze, according to reporting from the Associated Press. His attorneys’ calls intensified after an LA firefighter, in a newly released deposition, reported hot spots were still active at the fire’s original scene, contradicting testimony from a battalion chief who said all hot spots were out.

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“This evidence calls into question not only the fundamental fairness for my client’s continued detention, but the very foundation of the charges themselves,” Rinderknecht’s attorney, Steve Haney, said in a statement to the AP. “This is not a case about an individual causing a fire. This is a case about government agencies failing to do their jobs.”

Rinderknecht pleaded not guilty to the charges last October. His next court date for the case is scheduled for April.