He's not innocent but he hardly deserves to die for being manipulated, threatened and blackmailed by Ella, which is the root of the main conflict between Jake and the MC.
So you're implying that, despite being smart enough to use critical thinking and pick up on clues, despite having multiple reasons to doubt Ella's story and even her little impersonation, Jake is justified to believe her and shouldn't be considered responsible, while all the blame should be put on Ella.
You're way to naïve for this game, friend.
Jake had multiple occasions to doubt his Goth Goddess' word. I'll only point the most blatant one : right after the little stunt Ella pulled by impersonating the MC, the real MC went to the beach with all his friends. There, he's nice to Jake. Friendly. Like he's always been.
"Yeah but Jake could think he was because there was other people around".
Not a solid argument, plus I seem to remember a point where him and the MC are alone, or nearly alone anyway. Yet the MC shows himself to be friendly and supportive.
Does that make Jake doubt anything ? Fuck no. He doubles down on pleasing Mommy Ella like a good little simp.
The guy choose his path. He choose what happened and what he did. He's not a defenseless victim. Arguably he has one of the most powerfull powers seen yet (if compairing their immediate power at their starting point), and yet he acts like he's barely able to exist around her and has to do everything she tells him to.
He was used and abused by Jared. He then got used and abused by Ella. There's no difference. He put himself in that situation, choose to never doubt any of her words, to the point of thinking one of the less trustworthy character in the whole game would actually heal Mia out the the kindness of her heart. She won't. She uses that promise to further tie him down. Two minutes of thinking would have told him that.
Jake isn't an innocent victim. He's a willing one. He has the full mental capacity to understand everything that is wrong about the situation, but choose to ignore it and to double down on that path.
He betrays the only person who put himself at risk to protect him from someone he (Jake) thought was absolutely untouchable (Jared, being the Dean's daughter's boyfriend). And in the end, that count for absolutely nothing.
No matter the amount of reasoning and kindness you throw his way. I know, I tried to reason him during the prison part. He doesn't believe a word of it, or cares, in any way. He choose to believe everything Ella told him without question.
He's a tool. He's not a defensless victim.