Mattila sentenced to 110 months in plea deal
By Terry Murry on Friday, December 10th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – A settlement conference in the retrial of John McKenzie Mattila, 26, of Weston results in having a little less than a year shaved off of his original 10-year sentence. Earlier this week, Mattila agreed to plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter, driving under the influence of intoxicants, and other crimes in exchange for a sentence of 110 months, which is approximately 9.17 years.
Mattila was being tried a second time because his first conviction was the result of a non-unanimous jury verdict. The vote was 11-1 to convict on charges of first- and second-degree manslaughter and 10-2 on the DUII charge. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that jury verdicts had to be unanimous. Only Oregon and Louisiana allowed non-unanimous verdicts for major crimes.
Mattila was driving on Highway 11 on Feb. 22, 2019, when his vehicle crashed, taking the life of Department of Human Services employee Adelaida Solis Torres. He left the scene of the crash and was taken into custody later.
Mattila was returned to the Umatilla County Jail for a second trial on Sept. 29. His first trial lasted six days and it took the jury three hours to return the guilty verdict.
