Onetime ‘Jerry Springer’ Producer Sentenced To Prison After Death Of Sister In Burning Garage

deadline.com:

A television producer charged with killing her sister pleaded no contest today to voluntary manslaughter.Jill Blackstone, 59, was immediately sentenced to eight years in state prison following her plea to one felony count of voluntary manslaughter involving the March 2015 death of sister 49-year-old Wendy Blackstone in Studio City, along with three felony counts of animal cruelty involving three dogs — two of whom died.Police contend that Blackstone — who has worked on such programs as The Jerry Springer Show, Divorce Court and Family Court with Judge Penny — set a garage on fire, killing her sister and two of the dogs, and staged it as an accident.Her sister Wendy Blackstone was legally blind and required hearing aids, according to the Los Angeles Times.

She was found in a studio city garage alongside a Weber charcoal grill and a trash can with ash in it — both believed to be the source of the carbon monoxide that helped kill the sister, the Times reported in 2019.

A bottle of vodka was also present, but no alcohol was detected by the coroner in Blackstone’s body.During a roughly five-day hearing in 2019 in which Jill Blackstone was ordered to stand trial on a murder charge, a Los Angeles police detective testified that a note allegedly written by the TV producer was found near her dead sister’s hand.

Police also found notes taped with black duct tape to a black trash can, including one that warned to “Enter carefully” and advised that “both parties have do not resuscitate orders.” Another note identified the hair color of each of the two, the detective testified.In an interview with police, Blackstone said she had used a charcoal barbecue to make burgers, then went to get something and remembered falling in the