FAILURE TO CONTEST PROSECUTOR’S RACE-NEUTRAL REASONS FOR STRIKING JURORS RENDERED THE ISSUE UNPRESERVED FOR APPEAL.

The Third Department, over a two justice dissent, determined defense counsel’s failure to contest the prosecutor’s race-neutral reasons for striking jurors rendered the issue unpreserved for appeal:

Following the People’s step-two proffer, County Court denied the Batson challenge, without any attempt to respond or protestation registered by defendant. Now, on appeal, defendant contends for the first time that County Court erred in failing to conduct a step-three inquiry. However, “[b]y accepting the People’s explanation without any additional objection at a time [when] it could have been addressed, defendant failed to preserve” this contention for our review … , and we decline to exercise our interest of justice jurisdiction … . In reaching this conclusion, we reaffirm the importance of both the trial court’s attention to each articulated, sequential step of the Batson inquiry, and counsel’s “attention to placing their objections on the record so they may be addressed by the court” … . Indeed, “whatever procedural problems may exist in a Batson inquiry, the overriding concern is that a properly preserved question regarding the ultimate issue of discrimination is meaningfully addressed” … . People v Acevedo, 2016 NY Slip Op 05517, 3rd Dept 7-14-16

CRIMINAL LAW (FAILURE TO CONTEST PROSECUTOR’S RACE-NEUTRAL REASONS FOR STRIKING JUROR RENDERED THE ISSUE UNPRESERVED FOR APPEAL)/JURORS (BATSON CHALLENGE, FAILURE TO CONTEST PROSECUTOR’S RACE-NEUTRAL REASONS FOR STRIKING JUROR RENDERED THE ISSUE UNPRESERVED FOR APPEAL)/APPEALS (BATSON CHALLENGE, FAILURE TO CONTEST PROSECUTOR’S RACE-NEUTRAL REASONS FOR STRIKING JUROR RENDERED THE ISSUE UNPRESERVED FOR APPEAL)/BATSON CHALLENGE (FAILURE TO CONTEST PROSECUTOR’S RACE-NEUTRAL REASONS FOR STRIKING JUROR RENDERED THE ISSUE UNPRESERVED FOR APPEAL)