{"id":294568,"date":"2026-05-01T06:54:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T06:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/294568\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T06:54:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T06:54:11","slug":"judge-finds-ray-mata-jr-competent-to-stand-trial-in-genesis-matas-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/294568\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge finds Ray Mata Jr. competent to stand trial in Genesis Mata&#8217;s death"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A Kern County judge has found Ray Mata Jr., the father of<a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/search?find=Genesis+Mata\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Genesis Mata<\/a>, competent to stand trial in a <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/death-investigation-launched-after-body-found-at-bakersfield-hotel-in-central-bakersfield-according-to-bakersfield-police-department\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">case involving the 8-year-old&#8217;s death<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/father-of-slain-8-year-old-genesis-mata-to-undergo-competency-exam-in-april-records-court-crime-la-quinta-inn-riverside-drive-bakersfield-police-report-documents\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">competency exam for Ray Mata was set back in March<\/a> by a judge.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"KBAK\/KBFX{p}{\/p}\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/e745426b-f547-4ce7-a198-5fd810ca1819-Sequence_MILLS_MATABUSTAMONTEPREPRE_0001_frame_3102.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Genesis was found dead in a La Quinta motel bathtub on August 2, 2025. Mata and Genesis\u2019 stepmother, Graciela Bustamonte, are accused of torturing and killing the girl.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/court-documents-reveal-horrific-abuse-leading-to-death-of-8-year-old-girl-hotel-central-bakersfield-kern-county-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Court documents reveal horrific abuse leading to death of 8-year-old girl<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A death investigation is underway after a body was discovered inside the La Quinta Inn in central Bakersfield, according to the Bakersfield Police Department. This is a photo of the crime scene on August 2, 2025. PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/c69f3752-0654-44ae-b7da-f141fb80b8cc-Image23.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A death investigation is underway after a body was discovered inside the La Quinta Inn in central Bakersfield, according to the Bakersfield Police Department. This is a photo of the crime scene on August 2, 2025. PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A death investigation is underway after a body was discovered inside the La Quinta Inn in central Bakersfield, according to the Bakersfield Police Department. This is a photo of the crime scene on August 2, 2025. PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/337d67ae-32e6-4ac0-a5f4-96a8ca71f571-Image21.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A death investigation is underway after a body was discovered inside the La Quinta Inn in central Bakersfield, according to the Bakersfield Police Department. This is a photo of the crime scene on August 2, 2025. PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX<\/p>\n<p>Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>JOIN THE CONVERSATION (1)<\/p>\n<p>Ray Mata and Bustamonte are due in court on June 30, 2026, according to court officials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A Kern County judge has found Ray Mata Jr., the father of Genesis Mata, competent&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-294568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294568","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=294568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=294568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=294568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=294568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}