DECISION ORDER
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
Contrary to the defendant's contention, the trial court properly denied his Batson challenge (see, Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79). The prosecutor advanced sufficient race-neutral reasons for exercising a peremptory challenge against the subject juror, and the burden then shifted to the defendant to prove that the peremptory challenge was used in a racially-discriminatory fashion (see, People v. Payne, 88 N.Y.2d 172). The defendant failed to satisfy his burden of proving that the explanations given by the prosecutor were pretextual (see, People v. Payne, supra; People v. Rose, 258 A.D.2d 483; People v. Craig, 194 A.D.2d 687; see generally, Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352, 364-365).
O'BRIEN, J.P., FLORIO, SCHMIDT and SMITH, JJ., concur.