PEOPLE v. FIGUEROA

Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.

The defendant's contention that the People exercised their peremptory challenges in a racially discriminatory manner is baseless (see, Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79). The Supreme Court properly concluded that the defendant failed to make out a prima facie showing that the prosecution purposefully excluded prospective jurors on the basis of their ethnic identities (see, People v. Childress, 81 N.Y.2d 263; People v. Steele, 79 N.Y.2d 317, 325; People v. Simmons, 79 N.Y.2d 1013; cf., People v. Bolling, 79 N.Y.2d 317, 324-325; People v. Jenkins, 75 N.Y.2d 550, 556-557).

Furthermore, the Court of Appeals has rejected the defendant's argument "that, regardless of race, `minorities' in general constitute a cognizable racial group" (People v. Smith, 81 N.Y.2d 875, 876). Thompson, J.P., Sullivan, Ritter and Joy, JJ., concur.