People v. Thomas

Rose, J. (concurring in part and dissenting in part).

We disagree with the majority’s conclusion that defendant did not preserve his challenge to the exclusion of jurors from the first panel and, therefore, we respectfully dissent from that part of the majority’s decision. The record reflects that, after the People exercised a peremptory challenge to an African-American member of the second panel, defendant’s counsel made a Batson challenge (see Batson v Kentucky, 476 US 79 [1986]) with respect to that juror and “two black females on the first panel to which the prosecution exercised…