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State Supreme Court won’t review man’s conviction for Sun Valley man’s traffic death

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LOS ANGELES, Calif. – The California Supreme Court refused today to review the case against a carjacker who led police on a Thanksgiving Day chase in 2008 that ended with a collision that killed a Sun Valley resident.

Daryl Lynch, who was 19 at the time of the crimes, was convicted in February 2011 of one count each of first-degree murder, carjacking, second- degree robbery, evading an officer causing death and attempted carjacking. Jurors found true the special circumstance allegations of engaging in immediate flight after a robbery and engaging in immediate flight after a carjacking.

Lynch unsuccessfully tried to carjack a woman in the parking lot of a Vons grocery store at Pasadena Avenue and Avenue 24 in the Lincoln Heights area, then walked over to another motorist, pulled him out of a 1991 Toyota Corolla and punched him in the back of the head before fleeing in the car on Nov. 27, 2008.

A Los Angeles police officer giving a citation to another motorist began trying to follow Lynch after seeing him speeding and running a red light at West Olympic Boulevard and Hill Street, then saw him running another red light at the intersection of Hope Street and Pico Boulevard where the Corolla collided with a vehicle driven by Tyrone Tucker, 68, of Sun Valley, who died at an area hospital.
In June, a three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal turned down Lynch’s claim that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction. The justices also rejected his contention that his April 2011 sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

“Lynch’s sentence is undoubtedly harsh … but we cannot say it is grossly disproportionate or shocks the conscience in view of Lynch’s crimes,” the appellate court panel wrote in its June 26 ruling. “… Here, Lynch may not have had the intent to kill, but he attempted to carjack one vehicle, took another, and drove with extreme reckless indifference to human life when making
his getaway.”

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