Opinion
Submitted October 3, 2000
October 30, 2000.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (F. Rivera, J.), rendered November 12, 1997, convicting him of robbery in the first degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
M. Sue Wycoff, New York, N.Y. (Steven J. Miraglia of counsel), for appellant.
Charles J. Hynes, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove, Victor Barall, and Morgan J. Dennehy of counsel), for respondent.
Before: THOMAS R. SULLIVAN, J.P., SONDRA MILLER, HOWARD MILLER, NANCY E. SMITH, JJ.
DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
In support of his motion pursuant to Batson v. Kentucky, ( 476 U.S. 79), the defendant alleged sufficient facts to raise an inference that the prosecutor was engaging in race-based discrimination. In response, the prosecutor offered two race-neutral justifications for the exercise of her peremptory challenge of the prospective juror (see, People v. Allen, 86 N.Y.2d 101). Since the record supports the conclusion that the defendant "failed to prove that the reason[s] given by the prosecutor [were] pretextual" (People v. Rose, 258 A.D.2d 483, 484), the trial court properly sustained the peremptory challenge (see, People v. Rodriguez, 259 A.D.2d 713).
Upon the exercise of our factual review power, we are satisfied that the verdict of guilt was not against the weight of the evidence (see, CPL 470.15).