People v. Mata CA4/3

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

1 All statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 be convicted of murder under sections 188 and 189, which were amended in 2019 to limit the scope of the traditional…