Opinion
Argued November 30, 1999
January 24, 2000
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Richmond County (Kuffner, J.), rendered February 13, 1996, convicting him of murder in the second degree (three counts) and robbery in the second degree (two counts), upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Lynn W. L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (DeNice Powell of counsel), for appellant.
William L. Murphy, District Attorney, Staten Island, N.Y. (Karen F. McGee, Jonathan J. Silbermann, and Michael K. Degree of counsel), for respondent.
DAVID S. RITTER, J.P., WILLIAM D. FRIEDMANN, SANDRA J. FEUERSTEIN, ROBERT W. SCHMIDT, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
Following a peremptory challenge exercised by the prosecutor against a black female venireperson who was a corrections officer, defense counsel raised a challenge pursuant to Batson v. Kentucky ( 476 U.S. 79). The prosecutor provided an explanation for the peremptory challenge, and although defense counsel argued that the explanation was pretexutal, the court accepted the prosecutor's explanation as race-neutral and dismissed the venireperson. On appeal, the defendant claims that this was erroneous. We disagree.
Where, as here, the prosecutor offers a facially race-neutral reason for his or her challenge, the burden shifts to the defendant to show that the explanation offered was pretextual (see, Purkett v. Elem, 514 U.S. 765 ; People v. Allen, 86 N.Y.2d 101, 104 ; People v. Moore, 231 A.D.2d 532 ; People v. Rudd, 225 A.D.2d 710 ;People v. Richie, 217 A.D.2d 84 ). Here, the defendant failed to demonstrate that the peremptory challenge was racially-motivated. Accordingly, the Supreme Court's ruling was proper.
The defendant's remaining contentions are without merit.
RITTER, J.P., FRIEDMANN, FEUERSTEIN, and SCHMIDT, JJ., concur.