People v. Mata CA4/3

Filed 7/1/25 P. v. Mata CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, G064144

v. (Super. Ct. No. 98WF2276)

JUAN MANUEL MATA, OPINION

Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from a postjudgment order of the Superior Court of Orange County, Terri K. Flynn-Peister, Judge. Affirmed. So’Hum Law Center of Richard Jay Moller and Richard Jay Moller, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Juan Manuel Mata appeals the denial of his petition for resentencing under Penal Code1 section 1172.6. His court-appointed counsel filed a brief pursuant to People v. Delgadillo (2022) 14 Cal.5th 216 (Delgadillo), setting forth the facts of the case, advising he found no viable issues, and asking this court to conduct an independent review. Mata was given an opportunity to file a supplemental brief but did not do so. Exercising our discretion under Delgadillo, we have examined the record and find no arguable issues. We therefore affirm. FACTS Mata and his brother worked at Slauson Foods with Ismael Galvan, who owned a Pontiac Trans Am. One Saturday evening in 1998, Galvan was found dead behind a building, severely beaten and strangled by a ligature. His pockets were turned out, and he only had 25 cents on him. When police arrested Mata, he explained that he and his brother had assaulted Galvan while he was cleaning his car. Although Mata denied strangling Galvan, he admitted that he hit Galvin many times and put a bag over his head. Mata and his brother then put Galvin in the car and dumped him. A jury convicted Mata of first degree murder and also found true a special circumstance allegation that the murder occurred during the commission of a carjacking. The trial court sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole. We affirmed the judgment. (People v. Mata (June 10, 2002, G027682) [nonpub. opn.].) In 2022, Mata filed a petition for resentencing under section 1170.95 (later renumbered section 1172.6), asserting he could not presently