Opinion
1573, 1574
September 16, 2003.
Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Richard Carruthers, J.), rendered August 30, 1999, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first and second degrees, and sentencing him to concurrent terms of 15 years to life and 3 years to life, respectively, unanimously affirmed.
Willa Concannon, for respondent.
Joseph A. Bondy, for defendant-appellant.
Before: Ellerin, J.P., Williams, Lerner, Friedman, Gonzalez, JJ.
The court properly denied defendant's application pursuant to Batson v. Kentucky ( 476 U.S. 79). The record supports the court's finding that the nondiscriminatory reasons provided by the prosecutor for the challenges in question were not pretextual. This finding is entitled to great deference ( see People v. Hernandez, 75 N.Y.2d 350, affd 500 U.S. 352), and we do not find any disparate treatment by the prosecutor of similarly situated panelists.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE DIVISION, FIRST DEPARTMENT.