People v. Hechavarria

Judgment, Supreme Court, Bronx County (Joseph Teresi, J.), rendered May 6, 2013, convicting defendant, after a jury trial, of robbery in the first and second degrees and criminal possession of stolen property in the fifth degree, and sentencing him to an aggregate term of 15 years, unanimously reversed, on the law, and the matter remanded for a new trial.

The court erred in granting the prosecution’s reverse-Batson challenge to defense counsel’s exercise of two peremptory challenges. “[A]lthough appellate courts accord great deference to trial judges’ step three determinations, we conclude…