Trial dates set for Mattila case
Published 10:00 am Saturday, October 16, 2021
PENDLETON — Manslaughter defendant John McKenzie Mattila of Weston has new trial dates.
Court records show the Umatilla County Circuit Court set a trial readiness hearing in the case for Oct. 12 and then a 12-person jury trial for six days, Nov. 15-19 and 22.
A jury in March 2020 convicted Mattila, 26, of driving drunk and causing the death of Adelaida Solis Torres on the night of Feb. 22, 2019. The jury reached a unanimous verdict on a charge of hit-and-run. But the jury voted 11-1 to convict Mattila of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter and voted 10-2 on driving under the influence of intoxicants.
The 2020 U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring unanimous guilty verdicts for criminal trials sent the case back for a retrial. Umatilla County District Attorney Dan Primus has said his office has handled a handful of these cases already.