| People v Bridgeforth |
| 2014 NY Slip Op 04955 [119 AD3d 600] |
| July 2, 2014 |
| Appellate Division, Second Department |
[*1]
| 1 The People of the State of New York,Respondent, v Joseph Bridgeforth, Appellant. |
Lynn W.L. Fahey, New York, N.Y. (Tammy Linn of counsel), for appellant.
Richard A. Brown, District Attorney, Kew Gardens, N.Y. (John M. Castellano,Nicoletta J. Caferri, and Merri Turk Lasky of counsel), for respondent.
Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the Supreme Court, Queens County(Blumenfeld, J.), rendered July 31, 2012, convicting him of robbery in the first degreeand robbery in the second degree, upon a jury verdict, and imposing sentence.
Ordered that the judgment is affirmed.
The defendant failed to satisfy his burden of coming forward with substantialevidence to rebut the presumption of regularity that attaches to all criminal proceedingswith respect to his claim that he was deprived of his right to be present at theSandoval hearing (see People v Sandoval, 34 NY2d 371, 374 [1974];People v Frank, 295 AD2d 535 [2002]; People v Firrira, 258 AD2d 666[1999]). Contrary to the defendant's contention, the Supreme Court providently exercisedits discretion in rendering its Sandoval ruling (see People v Marcus, 112AD3d 652, 653 [2013]; People v Filipe, 7 AD3d 539, 540 [2004]).
In the defendant's Batson application (Batson v Kentucky, 476 US 79[1986]), he argued that the prosecutor used peremptory challenges to strike all the black,Guyanese, or "dark-colored" prospective female jurors, including an Indian woman.Under the circumstances of this case, the defendant did not meet his prima facie burdenof establishing that the prosecutor exercised a peremptory challenge to remove thatprospective juror on the basis of her membership in a constitutionally cognizable classprotected under the Equal Protection Clause of the United States and New YorkConstitutions (see Hernandez v New York, 500 US 352, 358 [1991]; People v Quiles, 74 AD3d1241, 1242-1243 [2010]).
The defendant's contention that the jury charge with regard to robbery in the firstdegree was inadequate is not preserved for appellate review (see CPL 470.05[2]). In any event, the error was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of thedefendant's guilt, and there is no significant probability that the jury would haveacquitted the defendant but for the error (see People v Crimmins, 36 NY2d 230,241-242 [1975]; People vDiaz, 71 AD3d 1158 [2010]). Although defense counsel failed to object to thejury charge as given, viewing defense counsel's performance in totality, counsel providedmeaningful representation (see Strickland v Washington, 466 US 668, 687-694[1984]; [*2]People v Benevento, 91 NY2d 708,714 [1998]; People vSweeney, 84 AD3d 1123, 1124 [2011]). Skelos, J.P., Lott, Roman and LaSalle,JJ., concur.