Opinion
December 27, 1994
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Franklin Weissberg, J.).
Defendant, an Hispanic, was convicted for his role in the theft of men's suits from a trailer. There is no merit to defendant's contention that he was deprived of a fair trial when the prosecutor peremptorily challenged four prospective jurors alleged to be Hispanic. Defendant only specifically objected to one challenged juror and failed to establish, on the record, the race or ethnicity of the remaining challenged jurors. Thus, the People had no burden to come forth with race-neutral reasons for their exercise of their peremptory challenges (see, People v Hernandez, 75 N.Y.2d 350, 355, affd 500 U.S. 352).
While we do not approve of the court's volunteering of a race-neutral reason for the specifically challenged juror, who was employed in the garment trade, as it is the prosecutor's burden and not the court's to provide a neutral reason, no purpose would be served by a remand in this case (cf., People v Chapman, 185 A.D.2d 102, lv denied 81 N.Y.2d 786) to allow the prosecutor to provide a race-neutral reason.
Concur — Murphy, P.J., Rosenberger, Ellerin, Rubin and Nardelli, JJ.