Ubay-Farfan & Mattila are in court Tuesday

By Terry Murry on Monday, December 6th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

HERMISTON & PENDLETON – Two hearings in major cases are scheduled for 8:15 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday). One is for alleged murderer Jaime Ubay-Farfan and the other is for John Mattila who was previously convicted of vehicular manslaughter.

Ubay-Farfan, 26, is alleged to have shot and killed a Hood River man in a road rage incident near the junction of Interstate 82 and Interstate 84 more than a year ago. Originally, his trial was set for this month.

“We’ve had some changes in counsel there and so the trial that was set for December has been pushed out,” Umatilla County District Attorney Dan Primus said.

Tuesday’s hearing will be to set a new trial date in Courtroom 5 in Hermiston for the suspect from the Tri-Cities area. A settlement conference is set for Courtroom 1 in Pendleton in the manslaughter case against John Mattila, 26, of Weston. He was convicted of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence in February 2019 on Highway 11. The jury verdict was not unanimous on all charges so he will be tried again in January if a settlement is not reached.