Majority
—Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Meyerson, J.), rendered January 11, 1991, convicting him of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
The defendant’s contention that the People exercised their peremptory challenges in a racially discriminatory manner is baseless (see, Batson v Kentucky, 476 US 79 ). The Supreme Court properly concluded that the defendant failed to make out a prima facie showing that the prosecution purposefully excluded prospective jurors on the basis of their ethnic identities (see, People v Childress, 81 NY2d 263 ; People v Steele, 79 NY2d 317 , 325; People v Simmons, 79 NY2d 1013 ; cf., People v Bolling, 79 NY2d 317 , 324-325; People v Jenkins, 75 NY2d 550 , 556-557).
Furthermore, the Court of Appeals has rejected the defendant’s argument "that, regardless of race, 'minorities’ in general constitute a cognizable racial group” (People v Smith, 81 NY2d 875 , 876). Thompson, J. P., Sullivan, Ritter and Joy, JJ., concur.
Cases cited
- Batson v. Kentucky 476 US 79 p. 551
- People v. Childress 81 NY2d 263 p. 551
- People v. Bolling 79 NY2d 317 at 325, at 324-325 p. 551
- People v. Simmons 79 NY2d 1013 p. 551
- People v. Jenkins 75 NY2d 550 at 556-557 p. 551
- People v. Smith 81 NY2d 875 at 876 p. 551