People v. Mata

Defendant, Bernina Mata, was convicted of first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9—1(a)(2) (West 1998)), and sentenced to death. Defendant appealed directly to this court. 134 Ill. 2d R. 603. While her appeal was pending, the Governor commuted her death sentence to natural life imprisonment. Thereafter, on our own motion, we issued an order transferring the appeal to the appellate court. The appellate court dismissed the case as moot. We granted defendant’s petition for leave to appeal (177 Ill. 2d R. 315(a)).

In this appeal, we consider whether defendant’s challenge to the statutory aggravating…