Man pleads no contest to manslaughter in Lamont gas station shooting after murder convictions tossed

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — From serving life without parole to having an upcoming release date.

That’s been the legal trajectory of Jim Langston, whose murder and robbery convictions for a 2016 shooting in Lamont were overturned, an appeals court ruling incriminating statements he made before being read his Miranda rights were improperly admitted at trial.

On Thursday, Langston, 48, pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and conspiracy, ending his eight-year court saga.

He’ll be sentenced to an 11-year term on July 31 — and will receive credit for time served. Other charges — including two counts each of first-degree murder and robbery — were dismissed at Thursday’s hearing.

It was not immediately clear when Langston will be released.

Given the appeals court’s ruling, prosecutors decided not to retry him.

“A key piece of evidence was excluded by the Court of Appeals,” District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Daniela Gonzaga, referring to Langston’s initial interview with detectives, said in an email.

“This seriously and materially compromised our ability to successfully retry him.”

The shooting

In 2021, Langston and Darnell Hammond, 30, were convicted of murder in the deaths of the owners of Quality Gas during a robbery on Oct. 14, 2016. A jury found the men acted on behalf of the Country Boy Crips street gang.

Heriberto Aceves, 60, and son Juan Luis Aceves, 27, were each shot multiple times during the brazen robbery in broad daylight.

Hammond was arrested shortly afterward. DNA evidence linked him and Langston to the crime, according to prosecutors.

Two other men participated but had not been identified at the time of the trial.

Langston, the alleged getaway driver, was prosecuted under the state’s felony-murder rule. Under the rule, a defendant, in certain circumstances, can be charged with murder even if they weren’t the actual killer but played a role in a crime that resulted in death.

Appeals court ruling

Earlier this year, the 5th District Court of Appeal ruled the trial court was wrong in allowing the jury to hear statements Langston made to detectives before being read his Miranda rights.

“During Langston’s first interview, the detectives who questioned him did not provide Miranda warnings until over two hours into the interview, elicited a confession of his involvement in the underlying crimes in that prewarning period and then, after the warnings, re-interrogated him about the same facts,” one of the justices wrote.

Despite a sheriff’s investigator telling Langston he was brought in because his name “came up” in the investigation — and he was free to leave — the appellate justices found Langston to have been in custody from the moment he was handcuffed. They wrote it was clear detectives intended to treat him as a suspect.

The convictions against Hammond were upheld. He’ll continue to serve a life term.

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