Opinion
February 16, 2000
Appeal from Judgment of Supreme Court, Erie County, Buscaglia, J. — Assault, 1st Degree.
PRESENT: GREEN, A. P. J., HAYES, PIGOTT, JR., AND BALIO, JJ.
Judgment unanimously affirmed.
Memorandum:
We reject the contention of defendant that Supreme Court erred in denying his objection, pursuant to Batson v. Kentucky ( 476 U.S. 79), to the prosecutor's peremptory challenges of two black prospective jurors. The prosecutor offered race-neutral explanations for those challenges, and "the trial court was in the best position to observe the prosecutor's demeanor and determine whether his explanations were credible or merely pretexts for racial discrimination" ( People v. Adams, 247 A.D.2d 625, lv denied 92 N.Y.2d 847; see, People v. Virgil, 266 A.D.2d 847 [decided Nov. 12, 1999]). Defendant's contention that the court erred in making an incomplete and equivocal Sandoval ruling is not preserved for our review ( see, CPL 470.05; People v. Bartell, 234 A.D.2d 956, lv denied 89 N.Y.2d 983), and we decline to exercise our power to review that contention as a matter of discretion in the interest of justice (see, CPL 470.15 [a]). The sentence is neither unduly harsh nor severe.