A prosecutor implored jurors Monday to use their \u201ccommon sense\u201d and convict a man seen on video returning to a crime scene to burn down a mobile home of two counts of murder while the defendant\u2019s attorney argued the entire case was propped up by the testimony of \u201ccrooks and liars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jason Blanchard is charged with two counts of murder and single counts each of arson and possession of a gun by a felon, all felonies. He also faces special-circumstance allegations of multiple murders and enhancements for the discharge of a gun causing death.<\/p>\n
Blanchard is accused of killing 30-year-old Steven Christian Lucero and 33-year-old Jullian Alise Jones on June 10, 2022 in Santa Ana.<\/p>\n
One of the main witnesses for the prosecution, John Acosta, was given use immunity to testify, meaning what he says in testimony can\u2019t be used against him by prosecutors.<\/p>\n
Blanchard\u2019s attorney, Sara Ross of the Orange County Public Defender\u2019s Office, argued Acosta was the actual killer and ordered Blanchard to help destroy the evidence to cover up the crime.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe set the fire because he\u2019s afraid of Acosta,\u201d Ross argued.<\/p>\n
Acosta, Ross argued, is a gang member. She pointed to text messages in which Acosta orders Blanchard around, Ross argued.<\/p>\n
Ross also attacked the testimony of two other witnesses, pointing to their lengthy criminal records and for one of the women a long battle with mental health issues such as schizoaffective and bipolar disorders.<\/p>\n
Acosta and Blanchard went to a \u201cflop house\u201d at 5002 W. McFadden Ave., between Euclid and Newhope streets, in the afternoon, Ross said.<\/p>\n
Acosta testified that Lucero, who had just a towel around his waist, put his hands up and was backed up into a bedroom where Jones was. Blanchard slammed a gun on Lucero\u2019s head, triggering the weapon and striking Jones, Acosta claimed.<\/p>\n
A woman in the home said she overheard voices before the shooting and recognized Blanchard\u2019s when she saw him later and spoke with him, according to Senior Deputy District Attorney Casey Cunningham. She said she overheard another male voice saying, \u201cDid you just kill her?\u201d before hearing two more gunshots, according to Cunningham.<\/p>\n
Blanchard changed his clothes and returned to the mobile home about 10 p.m. and is seen with a gas can on surveillance video, Cunningham said.<\/p>\n
Another witness who has a criminal history of drug dealing told investigators she saw Blanchard later at a motel in Orange and when she asked him about a gauze bandage on his neck he told her it was a burn wound, Cunningham said. Then Blanchard admitted to killing two people earlier in the day before sparking the blaze, Cunningham said.<\/p>\n
But Ross said that woman who saw him in the motel \u201challucinates\u201d due to her mental health issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe sees aliens, monsters, people who were never there,\u201d Ross said. \u201cShe hears voices\u2026 She\u2019s been in and out of mental hospitals since she was 16 or 17.\u201d<\/p>\n
In June 2022 \u201cshe was off her meds\u201d for two years, Ross argued. The woman was instead \u201cself-medicating,\u201d Ross said, adding, \u201cThat\u2019s not a credible witness.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman had also suffered a brain injury in May 2022 and, \u201cHer brain is literally leaking,\u201d Ross argued. \u201cShe\u2019s got brain damage from a car accident.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ross argued that a defense expert testified on the ballistics, making the case that the trajectory of the bullet that killed Jones was a \u201cstraight line\u201d through the head, contradicting Acosta\u2019s claim that the gun went off after a blow to the head. The expert also testified there was no sign of that kind of a blow to the head of Lucero, Ross argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cAcosta lied,\u201d Ross said. \u201cAcosta lied to all of you. He has to because there\u2019s no other evidence that Jason Blanchard is the killer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ross faulted Santa Ana police for failing to do more investigation of social media activity and cellphone history.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr they should have found witnesses who can tell you the truth,\u201d Ross said.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn Acosta will do anything to gnaw his way out of a jail cell,\u201d Ross said. \u201cHe would do anything to save himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cunningham countered that Acosta had a methamphetamine habit to explain why his statements to police vary.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn Acosta back in that time was a daily methamphetamine user. Does that affect memory? Sure,\u201d Cunningham said.<\/p>\n
Cunningham said when Blanchard struck Lucero with the gun, \u201cNo one was expecting that gun to go off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Otherwise, why would Lucero ask, \u201cDid you just kill her?\u201d Cunningham argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he\u2019s doing this frame job, why not embolden the story?\u201d Cunningham argued.<\/p>\n
If Acosta wanted to frame Blanchard he would just claim the defendant shot the two in cold blood, Cunningham argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy not go big if you want to frame someone?\u201d Cunningham argued.<\/p>\n
Cunningham pointed to a still from surveillance video that he argued indicated Blanchard had a gun in his back pocket as he left the shooting.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou may not like these witnesses because they have prior convictions,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cBut this is the real world and these are the witnesses we have.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the witness with the mental health disorders, Cunningham said, \u201cAsk yourselves, did she happen to imagine seeing the defendant? Did she happen to imagine the defendant saying he got burned in a fire? What a series of coincidences.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prosecutor said the defendant drove away from the shooting and returned to ignite the fire and he later \u201cconfessed\u201d to the shootings to the witness in the motel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey all corroborate each other in different ways,\u201d Cunningham said of the witnesses in the trial.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would be their motivation\u201d to frame the defendant, Cunningham said of the two women.<\/p>\n
The fire shows consciousness of guilt, Cunningham argued.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wanted to do whatever he could to hide the evidence,\u201d Cunningham said.<\/p>\n
The trouble began when a homeless man\u2019s pickup truck was stolen June 8, 2022, Ross said. All of the man\u2019s belongings were in the truck so he wanted to get the vehicle back, Ross said.<\/p>\n
When the man found out Lucero, a friendly acquaintance, had stolen the truck he went to track him down, Ross said. He found out the truck was sold to a man known as Boo Boo, Ross said.<\/p>\n
Blanchard and Acosta, who were also acquaintances of the man, went to Boo Boo\u2019s home in Westminster to discuss the truck, Ross said. They then went to Acosta\u2019s home in Fountain Valley and were hanging out and smoking methamphetamine before Acosta and Blanchard drove to the mobile home park, Ross said.<\/p>\n
Acosta testified he didn\u2019t want to go with Blanchard to the mobile home. He said he wanted to pick up his children from school instead.<\/p>\n
Acosta lived down the street from the mobile home park, he testified. He said Blanchard went into the home first and he followed.<\/p>\n
Jones \u201cwas nervous, I was trying to calm her down,\u201d when Blanchard slammed the gun on Lucero\u2019s head, Acosta testified.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A prosecutor implored jurors Monday to use their \u201ccommon sense\u201d and convict a man seen on video returning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,93562,10663,49257,5686,21777],"class_list":["post-201559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-deliberate","tag-double","tag-jurors","tag-killing","tag-santa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}