People v. Caston

• Decision Date: 05 May 1997
• Citation: 657 N.Y.S.2d 979,239 A.D.2d 355
• Parties: The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. James CASTON, Appellant.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Division

Page 979

657 N.Y.S.2d 979

239 A.D.2d 355

The PEOPLE, etc., Respondent, v. James CASTON, Appellant.

Supreme Court of New York, Appellate Division Second Department.

May 5, 1997.

Lynn W.L. Fahey, New York City (William A. Loeb, of counsel), for appellant.

Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens (John M. Castellano, Robin A. Forshaw, N. Lisa Pinto, and Adriana Vieco, of counsel), for respondent.

Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County (Dunlop, J.), rendered October 17, 1995, convicting him of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed.

As the defendant did not promptly object when the court required the People to offer race-neutral explanations for only two of the five black venirepersons stricken by their peremptory challenges, his contention that the court should have requested explanations for the exclusion of all five black jurors is unpreserved for appellate review (see, People v. Font, 223 A.D.2d 600, 637 N.Y.S.2d 16).

Although the trial court erred in failing to provide the requested readback of relevant cross-examination testimony of the undercover officer, such failure is not reversible error as it did not seriously prejudice the defendant (see, People v. Lourido, 70 N.Y.2d 428, ...