The defense attorney for a Brooklyn man accused in the fatal shooting of NYPD Detective Peter Figoski challenged every white person in the jury pool yesterday — earning a rebuke from the judge, who cited the lawyer’s “chutzpah” and put two white people on the jury.
Prosecutors objected after attorney Harold Baker challenged all seven white people out of the 30-person jury pool for the trial of Kevin Santos.
Santos, 32, faces felony-murder charges for his alleged role in the 2011 shooting death of Figoski.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Alan Marrus ordered Baker to explain his challenges. Baker gave nonracial reasons for the challenges, but Marrus overruled two of them, and those two people joined the jury.
“It was so blatant, I couldn’t believe you had the chutzpah to do it,” Marrus told Baker.