Opinion
KA 01-01677
October 1, 2002.
Appeal from a judgment of Onondaga County Court (Fahey, J.), entered June 14, 2001, convicting defendant after a jury trial of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree.
FRANK H. HISCOCK LEGAL AID SOCIETY, SYRACUSE (SHIRLEY K. DUFFY OF COUNSEL), FOR DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.
WILLIAM J. FITZPATRICK, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SYRACUSE (JAMES P. MAXWELL OF COUNSEL), FOR PLAINTIFF-RESPONDENT.
PRESENT: GREEN, J.P., HAYES, HURLBUTT, GORSKI, AND LAWTON, JJ.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
It is hereby ORDERED that the judgment so appealed from be and the same hereby is unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum:
Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him after a jury trial of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree (Penal Law § 265.02 [former (4)]). County Court properly denied defendant's Batson challenge with respect to a black female prospective juror. The court properly determined that the prosecutor's explanation for exercising a peremptory challenge with respect to that juror was race-neutral and that defendant failed to meet his ultimate burden of establishing that the explanation was a pretext for racial discrimination ( see People v. Simmons, 171 A.D.2d 1053, affd 79 N.Y.2d 1013; People v. Diaz, 269 A.D.2d 766, lv denied 95 N.Y.2d 852; see generally People v. Payne, 88 N.Y.2d 172, 181). The verdict is not against the weight of the evidence ( see People v. Bleakley, 69 N.Y.2d 490, 495), and the sentence is not unduly harsh or severe.