The next step was to petition for leave to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court. In that petition, Mauter again argued that his counsel had filed a deficient Rule 604(d) certificate, but the Illinois Supreme Court rejected the petition in September 2013. R. 9-2, Exh M, 2013 PLA at 22; People v. Mauter, 996 N.E.2d 20 (Table) (Ill. 2013), available at R. 9-2, Exh. M at 52. Mauter filed a state-court post-conviction petition on February 6, 2014. Mauter II, 2016 WL 2610651, at *2.