The trial of a man accused of gunning down two people in a Santa Ana mobile home and then later returning to the residence to set it ablaze ended in a mistrial on Monday, March 23, after jurors were unable to reach a verdict on murder charges.
An Orange County Superior Court jury deliberated for more than a week and a half before declaring it had reached a guilty verdict on arson and weapons charges, but was hopelessly deadlocked when it came to far more serious double murder charges in the month-long trial of Jason Phillip Blanchard.
Blanchard is accused of killing Steven Lucero, 30, and Jillian Jones, 33, whose bodies were located in a burned up mobile home at the Bit O’Home Trailer Park on W. McFadden Avenue in June 2022.
The prosecution alleged that Blanchard showed up at the mobile home uninvited, killed Lucero and Jones “for no reason” and later “returned to the scene to destroy the evidence, to destroy the bodies and to set the scene on fire.”
Blanchard’s attorney accused law enforcement of conducting a “shoddy” investigation that ultimately identified the wrong man. The defense alleged that another man — John Acosta — who admitted to entering the mobile home with Blanchard — and who testified against Blanchard under an immunity agreement during the trial — was the actual gunman.
The killing may have been tied to the theft days earlier of a truck with a trailer attached, according to courtroom testimony.
Lucero had allegedly stolen the vehicle and trailer — which was owned by a homeless man named Brian Salemi — and sold it to a man with the street moniker of “Boo Boo.” On June 10, 2022, Blanchard and Acosta met with “Boo Boo” in Westminster and Salemi in Fountain Valley, then went to the Santa Ana mobile home park where Lucero and Jones were living.
Acosta testified that he believed Blanchard wanted to stop by the mobile home park to meet a girl Blanchard had either dated or “messed around with.” Instead, Acosta testified, Blanchard confronted Lucero and shot him, and then Jones, in their bedroom. Acosta claimed that minutes earlier Jones had told him she was pregnant.
Security footage showed Blanchard and Acosta leaving the mobile home park moments after the shootings. The cameras also captured Blanchard returning about an hour and a half later with a bag that prosecutors say contained a gas can. Moments later, the cameras captured flames erupting from the mobile home.
Hours later, Blanchard met a woman he knew at the Crazy 8 motel in Orange. She testified that Blanchard admitted to her that he had killed two people that night in Santa Ana and had set a house on fire.
The defense attorney, Sara Ross, argued that the security footage of Acosta leaving the mobile home moments after the shooting showed him holding what she alleged was a gun against his money. Ross described Acosta and others who testified against Blanchard as “a bunch of crooks and liars.”
The defense attorney also sharply criticized the police investigation.
It took four days for police to discover Jones body in the small bedroom of the mobile home after the blaze had been brought under control, Ross noted. And detectives didn’t look into Acosta’s cell phone records or realize he had a second burner phone, she added.
An April 24 hearing was scheduled for the attorneys and the judge to decide how to proceed on the murder charges. If convicted of those charges, Blanchard would face up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.