P. v Lynch
Lee Roy Lynch shot his girlfriend in the chest. When the girlfriend recovered, they moved to Arizona and married. About five years and four months after the shooting, Lynch was arrested and charged with attempted murder (count 1) and several other felonies arising from the shooting (counts 2 through 6). A jury convicted Lynch of the charged crimes, and the court sentenced Lynch to prison for 17 years.
This is Lynch's second appeal. In his first appeal, Lynch challenged his conviction on numerous grounds, including that the trial court erred in denying his posttrial motion to dismiss counts 2 through 6 as barred by the three-year limitations period. (People v. Lynch (2010) 182 Cal.App.4th 1262 (Lynch I).) We rejected each of these contentions, except that we remanded the case "to the trial court for the limited purpose of holding a hearing to determine whether Lynch's prosecution on counts 2 through 6 was time-barred." (Id. at p. 1265.) On remand, the trial court held an evidentiary hearing and found Lynch's prosecution on these counts was timely because the statute of limitations was tolled while Lynch lived in Arizona. The court then reinstated the judgment as to counts 2 through 6.
In this appeal Lynch challenges the trial court's factual finding that he was outside California for a sufficient time to toll the limitations period. We conclude substantial evidence supports the trial court's factual finding and affirm the order reinstating Lynch's conviction.
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