Daniel Penny trial: Marine veteran on trial for manslaughter in New York subway death of Jordan Neely

CNN
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Opening statements are set to begin Friday for the U.S. military veteran accused of choking to death a homeless black man on the New York subway last year in a case that touches on the hot-button issues of subway crime, mental illness , race relations and justice justice.

Daniel Penny, a 26-year-old former Marine, faces charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the May 2023 suffocation death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely. Penny pleaded not guilty and claimed she was acting to protect others.

Neely had boarded a crowded Manhattan subway and was acting erratically and shouting loudly, according to witnesses. Penny, who is White, then grabbed Neely from behind and put him in a choke hold, and he maintained that hold for about six minutes, including after Neely stopped moving, according to prosecutors.

Neely was later pronounced dead at a hospital. A medical examiner ruled his death a homicide.

Several minutes of the choking were caught on video by onlookers, leading to protests and calls for Penny to be arrested. Others defended Penny’s actions and donated more than $3 million to his legal defense fund.

Penny handed over to the police on a manslaughter charge nearly two weeks after Neely’s death and The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office announced an indictment at the end of the following month.

“Daniel Penny is charged with manslaughter after allegedly holding Jordan Neely in a fatal chokehold for several minutes until he stopped moving,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg Jr. last year.

The crime polarized the city’s residents, many of whom have personal experiences with the subway disorder, and raised larger questions about the racial dynamics at play and how the city treats people with mental health problems. Former President Donald Trump said in an interview with Fox News last week that it was “a terribly difficult case.”

In jury selection over the past two weeks, most jurors said they ride the subway frequently and have witnessed outbursts of people acting erratically on trains. Some said these outbursts made them feel “personally threatened,” while others said they did not.

Penny said Neely was acting in a threatening manner to him as well the lawyers said they are confident the jury will find his actions were “fully justified.” Penny, who is out of jail on $100,000 bond, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter and up to 4 years if convicted of manslaughter.

Jeremy Saland, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, said the case touches on a lot of major issues and emotions.

“That’s something that resonates with so many people and that’s why it has infuriated passion on both sides, from ‘Leave Penny alone, all he was doing was protecting the lives of fellow subway riders’ and on the other , “He needs to be held accountable for taking another person’s life.”

Evidence is likely to focus on the testimony of witnesses on board the train that day, as well as experts on medicine and restraint tactics. The defense said it has not decided whether Penny will testify.

The fatal encounter occurred on the afternoon of May 1, 2023, on a northbound F train at Second Avenue Station in Manhattan.

Neely, a Michael Jackson impersonator, shouted to passengers that he was hungry, thirsty and tired of having nothing and threw his jacket on the floor of the train, according to Juan Alberto Vazquez, a the witness who filmed the incident.

“I don’t care if I die. I don’t care if I go to jail,” Neely said, according to Vazquez.

Penny then came up behind Neely and put him in a choke and the two fell to the ground and stayed there for several minutes. When police arrived at the Lower Manhattan subway station before 2:30 p.m., they administered first aid to an unconscious Neely.

One file in courtprosecutors said witness accounts differed on Neely’s exact words and actions before the suffocation. While several witnesses said they were afraid of Neely, others felt differently, including one person who described the moment as “just like any other day in New York.”

None of the witnesses said Neely had physical contact with anyone before Penny came up behind him, according to the prosecution’s filing.

“Many witnesses said Mr. Neely said he was homeless, hungry and thirsty. The majority says Mr. Neely has expressed a desire to go to jail or prison,” the prosecutor wrote in the filing.

Penny told police that Neely was “angry” and “threatening everyone” and that others on the train were scared, according to court filings filed last June. “I just got him out. I just choked him,” Penny said.

Penny told him too New York Post was “deeply saddened by the loss of life” and the incident “had nothing to do with race”.

Penny is a veteran who served in the U.S. Navy, according to law enforcement and military records. He was a sergeant and served from 2017 to 2021, and his last assignment was at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, military records show.

Thomas Kenniff, Penny’s attorney, said his client was trying to help others in the metro who were afraid of Neely. He also challenged the medical examiner’s determination that suffocation caused Neely’s death.

“Our client was coming to the aid of others. He did not cause the death of Mr. Neely, he did not intend the death of Mr. Neely, he did not foresee the death of Mr. Neely,” Kenniff said in an Oct. 21 news conference.

“His actions are what any of us who, if we were riding the subway and saw someone behaving the way Mr. Neely is behaving — threatening the lives of men, women and children on the subway — that we would we all want someone to do that for us,” he added.

Neely was known for his smooth dance moves by Michael Jackson who entertained many – yet struggled after the trauma of his mother’s murder in 2007 when he was 14. Neely was on a New York City Department of Homeless Services list of the city’s homeless with acute needs, sometimes referred to internally as the “Top 50” list, a source told CNN last year.

Donte Mills, the attorney representing Neely’s family, said the street artist’s loved ones have not given up on the subway killing and never will.

“The truth of the matter is this: somebody got on the train and was screaming, and somebody choked that person to death,” Mills said in an Oct. 21 news conference. “These things will never balance, and there is no justification that can balance these things.”

Mills said up to 20 family members will attend the trial.

Saland, the former prosecutor, said a huge factor in the case will be those eyewitness accounts of the interaction and whether the use of force was justified.

“Was the threat real and imminent? We’re relying on the reasonable person standard here,” Saland said. “That’s why it’s not just going to be based on what Penny says, but what other people have said in terms of their observations of what happened.”