Opinion
October 21, 1999
Brian O'Donoghue for Respondent.
Paul Wiener for Defendant-Appellant.
SULLIVAN, J.P., NARDELLI, WILLIAMS, RUBIN, ANDRIAS, JJ.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Dorothy Cropper, J.), rendered November 4, 1996, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of robbery in the first degree (2 counts), robbery in the second degree (2 counts) and resisting arrest, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to two concurrent terms of 12+ to 25 years concurrent with two concurrent terms of 7+ to 15 years and 1 year, respectively, unanimously affirmed.
The court properly denied defendant's Batson challenge (see,People v. Payne, 88 N.Y.2d 172, 183-184). The record clearly reveals that the prosecutor had a race-neutral, nonpretextual reason for challenging a prospective juror who believed that his brother had been wrongly convicted of a crime (see, People v. Roberts, 208 A.D.2d 410). Since the record is sufficient to establish that defendant's Batson claim was patently lacking in substance, we find that defendant was not prejudiced by the abbreviated manner in which the court conducted the Batson proceeding (see, People v. Billini, ___ A.D.2d ___, 682 N.Y.S.2d 591,lv denied N.Y.2d [May 5, 1999], 1999 N.Y. LEXIS 1611).
We have considered and rejected defendant's remaining claims, including those contained in his pro se supplemental brief.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.