People v. Alomar

236 A.D.2d 326, 655 N.Y.S.2d 337, 1997 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1684

• Court: Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
• Decided: February 27, 1997
• Status: Published

Opinion

—Judgment, Supreme Court, New York County (Bonnie Wittner, J.), rendered October 6, 1994, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree, and sentencing him, as a second felony offender, to concurrent prison terms of 41/2 to 9 years, 41/2 to 9 years, 1 year and 1 year, respectively, unanimously affirmed.

Defendant’s peremptory challenges were properly disallowed. Once defense counsel offered race neutral explanations for the challenges and the court ruled on the ultimate question of intentional discrimination, the issue of whether the prosecutor made a prima facie showing became moot (see, People v Payne, 88 NY2d 172, 182). Furthermore, the court properly followed the steps required for a Batson determination when it promptly and directly found defendant’s race neutral explanations to be pretextual (supra, at 184-185). Concur—Murphy, P. J., Wallach, Rubin and Williams, JJ.