ORANGE, Texas — A City of Orange man will spend 40 years in prison after pleading guilty Monday to two intoxication manslaughter deaths he committed in one night in Bridge City.
Jerrod Lee Watkins, 26, of Orange, faced two charges of intoxication manslaughter and one for failure to stop and render aid in the June 2020 death of Robert Jackson and Jillian Blanchard.
He pleaded guilty to all three charges, although he was only on trial for one manslaughter charge on Monday.
Watkins will receive 20 years on each. The two manslaughter cases will run consecutively, but the Jackson cases will run concurrently, according to Defense Attorney Ryan Gertz.
Judge Rex Peveto presided over the trial in Orange County's 163rd District Court.
Jackson, 45, was riding a bicycle in the 200 block of Ferry Drive when he was struck and killed on June 13, 2020.
Not long after Jackson was struck and about six miles away, police say Watkins was involved in a head-on wreck that killed Jillian Blanchard, 20.
Police were initially called to the scene of that fatal wreck at about 3:06 a.m. in the 4000 block of FM 1442 near Bessie Heights Road.
Four minutes later, at 3:10 a.m., officers learned that Jackson had been struck by a vehicle in the 200 block of Ferry Drive. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
At the scene of Blanchard's death Watkins “was immediately identified as the driver of the pickup, as he was still inside the truck at the time officers arrived on the scene,” according to an October 2020 Bridge City Police Department news release.
Nearly four months later, in October 2020, Watkins was charged with intoxication manslaughter in Blanchard's death. He was not charged in Jackson's death until August 2021, more than a year after the deaths.
The crashes and the subsequent investigation led to continued cries for justice from the victims' families and the community until Watkins was charged in both cases.
Family members of Blanchard along with family members of Jackson contended from the beginning that the two incidents were related and held a protest at the Bridge City Police Department in August 2020 saying that police had not been forthcoming in the investigation.
CRIME STOPPERS | Submit a tip @ 833Tips.com
CRIME STOPPERS APP | Download the P3 Tips App
Jackson's widow, Mandi Jackson, appeared before the Bridge City city council in April 2021, and made an impassioned plea to officials for justice in her husband's death.