Opinion
July 14, 1992
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Wyoming County, Dadd, J.
Present — Callahan, J.P., Pine, Boehm, Fallon and Davis, JJ.
Judgment unanimously reversed on the law and new trial granted. Memorandum: We previously held this appeal in abeyance and remitted the matter to Erie County Court for a hearing on the propriety of the prosecutor's exercise of peremptory challenges to exclude prospective black jurors from the jury (see, People v Lincoln, 145 A.D.2d 924). County Court conducted the hearing and issued a written decision finding that the prosecutor had failed to come forward with racially neutral explanations for his exercise of those peremptory challenges and that the prosecutor had exercised those challenges for discriminatory purposes (see, Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79). The record supports those findings.
Defendant's contention that the trial court's Sandoval ruling was an abuse of discretion is without merit.