{"id":9353,"date":"2026-05-26T20:01:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:01:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9353"},"modified":"2026-05-26T20:01:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T20:01:29","slug":"gunman-pleads-to-voluntary-manslaughter-for-killing-santa-ana-couple-in-their-mobile-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9353","title":{"rendered":"Gunman pleads to voluntary manslaughter for killing Santa Ana couple in their mobile home"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A man accused of gunning down a couple in a Santa Ana mobile home and later returning to set it ablaze pleaded guilty to manslaughter on Tuesday, May 26, after a jury was unable to reach a verdict on more serious murder charges.<\/p>\n

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Jason Phillip Blanchard, 47, accepted a plea deal in which he admitted to two counts of voluntary manslaughter for\u00a0killing of Steven Lucero, 30, and Jillian Jones, 33, at the Bit O\u2019Home Trailer Park on West McFadden Avenue in June 2022.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year an Orange County Superior Court jury found Blanchard guilty on arson and weapons charges. But the jurors deadlocked on the murder charges, resulting in a mistrial.<\/p>\n

Under the terms of the plea deal, Blanchard is expected to be sentenced to 14 years in prison.<\/p>\n

In response to a question by Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard M. King, a prosecutor confirmed that the plea deal was driven by insufficient evidence to proceed to a second double-murder trial.<\/p>\n

Blanchard showed up to the mobile home uninvited, Deputy District Attorney Casey Cunningham told jurors during the trial. He killed Lucero and Jones \u201cfor no reason,\u201d and then later \u201creturned to the scene to destroy the evidence, to destroy the bodies and to set the scene on fire,\u201d the prosecutor added.<\/p>\n

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Blanchard\u2019s attorney, Assistant Public Defender Sara Ross, argued that law enforcement conducted a \u201cshoddy\u201d investigation that resulted in the wrong man being identified as the killer. John Acosta \u2014 who admitted entering the mobile home with Blanchard and who testified against Blanchard at trial \u2014 was the actual gunman, the defense attorney told jurors.<\/p>\n

According to the defense attorney, Lucero had stolen a vehicle and a trailer, which were owned by a homeless man. Blanchard and Acosta visited the homeless man and the buyer before going to the Santa Ana mobile-home park.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Acosta testified that Blanchard confronted Lucero and shot him, and then Jones.<\/p>\n

Security footage captures both Blanchard and Acosta leaving the mobile-home park moments after the shootings. The defense claimed that a dark object that Acosta appeared to have in his hand in that footage was a gun, but he denied it was a weapon.<\/p>\n

Blanchard returned to the mobile home about an hour and a half after the killings, the cameras show. He was alone and carrying a bag that the prosecution says contained a gas can. Moments later, the cameras captured flames erupting from the mobile home.<\/p>\n

A woman who Blanchard met later that night at the Crazy 8 motel in Orange testified that Blanchard admitted to her that he had killed two people that night in Santa Ana and had set the house on fire.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jurors previously deadlocked on murder charges, leading to a plea deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nGunman pleads to voluntary manslaughter for killing Santa Ana couple in their mobile home - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=9353\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gunman pleads to voluntary manslaughter for killing Santa Ana couple in their mobile home - 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