PEOPLE v. JONES

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed.

Defendant Lionel Jones failed to meet his burden of establishing a prima facie case of discrimination pursuant to Batson v Kentucky ( 476 US 79). While the party making a Batson challenge need not establish a pattern of discrimination to satisfy the step-one burden ( see People v Smocum, 99 NY2d 418, 421-422), "sketchy assertions" and declarations that the prospective juror "indicated no reason why [the juror] could not serve fairly" are, standing alone, generally insufficient to establish a prima facie case of discrimination ( People v Childress, 81 NY2d 263, 267-268 [internal quotation marks omitted]). Defense counsel's contentions that the prosecutor's peremptory challenge of an African-American prospective juror must have been based on her race because the challenged juror's answers were "neutral" and "would not give [the prosecutor] any reason to believe that she could [not] be impartial" are exactly the kind of vague and conclusory assertions this Court rejected in Childress.

Finally, the hearing court's determination that the police possessed founded suspicion of criminality justifying a commonlaw inquiry, a mixed question of law and fact, is supported by the record ( People v Battaglia, 86 NY2d 755, 756). Accordingly, this Court's review process is exhausted.

Order affirmed in a memorandum.