PEOPLE v. WELCH

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.