Opinion
January 13, 1998
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Bronx County (Joseph Cerbone, J.).
Since defendant failed to advance before the trial court his present arguments concerning the court's disallowance of a defense peremptory challenge, such claims are unpreserved for appellate review and we decline to review them in the interest of justice. Were we to review them, we would find, from the totality of the record, that the trial court properly followed the protocols required by Batson v. Kentucky ( 476 U.S. 79), and correctly concluded that the reasons provided by defense counsel for exercising a peremptory challenge were pretextual ( see, People v. Hernandez, 75 N.Y.2d 350, affd 500 U.S. 352; People v. Warwick, 239 A.D.2d 124, lv denied 90 N.Y.2d 865).
Concur — Sullivan, J.P., Milonas, Ellerin, Nardelli and Mazzarelli, JJ.