Opinion
October 24, 1996.
Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Joseph A. Mazur, J.), rendered April 23, 1993, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to an indeterminate term of from 5 to 10 years imprisonment, reversed, on the law, and the matter remanded for a new trial.
Before: Rosenberger, J. P., Rubin and Mazzarelli, JJ.
Although not raised on appeal, defendant's counsel raised the Batson issue after the first round of jury selection in the joint trial of defendant and his co-defendant Aniel Rodriguez. This Court reversed Rodriguez's conviction, holding that the People exercised peremptory challenges in a discriminatory manner in striking three Hispanic prospective jurors and thus "fatally impaired" the jury selection process ( People v Rodriguez, 211 AD2d 275, 281, appeal dismissed 88 NY2d 917). Inasmuch as defendant is similarly situated, we reverse and remand for a new trial.
Kupferman, J., concurs on constraint of People v Rodriguez ( 211 AD2d 275, 281, appeal dismissed 88 NY2d 917).