People v. Cajigas

*545The court properly denied defendant’s application pursuant to Batson v Kentucky (476 US 79 [1986]), in which he asserted the prosecutor discriminated against male panelists. Defendant’s claim that the court improperly applied the step two standard of gender neutrality at step three, where the issue is pretextuality, is unpreserved (see e.g. People v Jenkins, 302 AD2d 247, 248 [2003], lv denied 100 NY2d 583 [2003]), and we decline to review it in the interest of justice. As an alternative holding, we also reject it on the merits (see People v Hameed, 88 NY2d 232, 237 [1996], cert denied 519 US…