{"id":115611,"date":"2026-01-01T00:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/115611\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T00:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T00:32:07","slug":"3-accused-in-fatal-east-bakersfield-stabbing-plead-not-guilty-trial-set-for-february","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/115611\/","title":{"rendered":"3 accused in fatal east Bakersfield stabbing plead not guilty, trial set for February"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Three people pleaded not guilty in the January 2025 stabbing death of 21-year-old Jason Raymond Mena in east Bakersfield, according to Kern County Superior Court records. The primary suspect, Matthew Chavez, faces murder.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/man-fatally-stabbed-in-east-bakersfield-deputies-investigate-early-morning-attack-crime-pioneer-drive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Coroner identifies man fatally stabbed in east Bakersfield<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Matthew Chavez also faces two enhancement charges related to the use of a deadly or dangerous weapon and circumstances of aggravation involving great violence or bodily harm.<\/p>\n<p>Co-defendants Larry Chavez and Michelle Ballantine face accessory charges. They also pleaded not guilty, the court website shows.<\/p>\n<p>On Jan. 20, 2025, at around 2 a.m., deputies were called to the 3100 block of Pioneer Drive, near Oswell Street, regarding a report of a person who was stabbed. Upon arrival, Jason Mena, 21, of Bakersfield, was found with stab wounds. He later died at the hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Kern County Sheriff&#8217;s detectives arrived and assumed the investigation.<\/p>\n<p>Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n<p>Court records show that Matthew Chavez, Larry Chavez, and Michelle Ballantine are due in court on Jan. 30, 2026, for a readiness hearing and on February 9, 2026, for a tentative trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Three people pleaded not guilty in the January 2025 stabbing death of 21-year-old Jason Raymond&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-115611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}