Lynn W.L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (Kathleen Whooley of counsel), for appellant. Kenneth P. Thompson, District Attorney, Brooklyn, N.Y. (Leonard Joblove and Victor Barall of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Kings County (Garnett, J.), rendered July 18, 2011, convicting him of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the second degree, and failure to signal, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.
The Supreme Court properly denied the defendant's Batson challenge ( see Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69) to the prosecutor's exercise of a peremptory challenge to exclude a certain black male prospective juror. The Supreme Court's determination that the facially neutral explanation provided by the prosecutor for excluding this prospective juror was not pretextual, which is entitled to great deference on appeal, is supported by the record ( see People v. Hecker, 15 N.Y.3d 625, 656, 663–665, 917 N.Y.S.2d 39, 942 N.E.2d 248;People v. Smith, 98 A.D.3d 533, 534, 949 N.Y.S.2d 190;People v. Waters, 81 A.D.3d 673, 673–674, 916 N.Y.S.2d 791).
MASTRO, J.P., ROMAN, HINDS–RADIX and LASALLE, JJ., concur.