Jaime Garcia Zamora has been ordered to spend 17 years in state prison after admitting to voluntary manslaughter in a Gerber shooting that left one man dead and another wounded, in a case that also wrapped in a separate drug charge tied to his time in custody.
Last Monday, Zamora pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter with a firearm enhancement and received a 17-year sentence, according to Action News Now. Prosecutors said deputies found methamphetamine in his pocket when he was booked into jail, and that a separate possession charge stemming from that discovery was resolved as part of the plea deal.
The deadly confrontation began on May 31, 2024, at a residence in the 300 block of Ventura Avenue in Gerber, where responding deputies found one man dead in an outbuilding and another man suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg. As reported by the Corning Observer via Yahoo, investigators identified the man who died as Daniel Ornelaspio and said the injured man was Gustavo Espinoza.
Prosecutors, citing accounts from the scene reported by Action News Now, said people at the gathering had been drinking beer and smoking methamphetamine and that several attendees were armed. Those details, they noted, played into how the case was ultimately resolved through the plea agreement.
Arrest and Case Timeline
According to law enforcement accounts, Zamora stayed out of reach of investigators for nearly two years after the shooting before officers arrested him in Corning in March 2026, following surveillance at an apartment at Spring Mountain Apartments. The Corning Observer reported that he first gave officers a false name at the time of his arrest, but fingerprints confirmed his identity and investigators said he later confessed during a custodial interview.
What the Law Says
Under California law, voluntary manslaughter can carry a prison sentence of three, six, or 11 years, and using a firearm personally in the crime can add another three, four, or 10 years, according to legal summaries of Penal Code sections 192 and 12022.5. Shouse Law and Shouse Law describe how those provisions are often stacked at sentencing to reach the final term.
Zamora will serve his 17-year sentence in state prison. The Tehama County District Attorney's Office prosecuted the case and has said the plea and sentence bring closure to a long-running local homicide investigation.
