PEOPLE v. VEGA

The People established a prima facie case of purposeful racial discrimination in the use of peremptory challenges when they established that the defense used 7 of its 8 challenges to exclude all but one of the white persons on the panel of 16 (People v Kern, 75 N.Y.2d 638, cert denied 498 U.S. 824). Thereafter, defendant failed to give a legitimate, race-neutral reason for his challenge to a white male juror (People v Jenkins, 75 N.Y.2d 550, 556), where the two criteria he claimed were the basis for his challenge, were not raised as an objection against the seating of the Hispanic female juror he found acceptable.

Concur — Rosenberger, J.P., Wallach, Kupferman, Asch and Kassal, JJ.