Daniel Penny acquitted for chokehold death of Jordan Neely on New York City subway

A New York City jury has acquitted 26-year-old Daniel Penny for the 2023 death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man with mental health issues who Penny put into a chokehold for nearly six minutes during a tense encounter on the subway.

The jury cleared Penny of criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death. A more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed earlier in deliberations because the jury deadlocked on that count. Both charges were felonies and carried the possibility of prison time.

Both applause and anger broke out in the courtroom as the not-guilty verdict came in. Neely’s father was escorted out of the courtroom after an “audible outburst with expletives,” according to CNN.

Another person also left, wailing with tears.

Penny, who had shown little expression during the trial, briefly smiled as the verdict was read.

The not-guilty verdict was praised by Republican New York City councilwoman Joann Ariola, who said “justice has prevailed.”

“Daniel Penny is a hero, and I’m happy to see that a good man was not punished for doing the right thing and defending his fellow New Yorkers from a mentally ill criminal who fell between the cracks,” Ariola said.

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“Good news for NYC: Daniel Penny has been acquitted,” Democratic council member Robert Holden said in a statement on X. “Justice has been served for a U.S. Marine who bravely stepped up to protect fellow New Yorkers during a moment of danger.

“This outcome highlights the need to focus on real solutions, like addressing untreated mental illness, to prevent future tragedies like this from happening again.”

City councilman Yusef Salaam, a member of the Central Park Five who was wrongfully convicted, said the verdict represented “a searing indictment” of “systemic failures.”

“His killing underscores the urgent and overdue need for a complete overhaul in how we address mental health crises and homelessness,” Salaam said.

Speaking outside of court, Neely’s father said his son “didn’t have to go through this” in an emotional statement.

“It hurts. really really hurts. What are we gonna do, people? What’s gonna happen to us now? I’ve had enough of this. The system is rigged. Let’s do something about this.”

The trial, which began in October, centered on whether Penny, an architecture student and Marine Corps veteran, was justified in using potentially lethal force on Neely during the May 1, 2023, incident.

Witnesses described Neely, a street performer, entering the subway car and yelling threateningly to passengers that he didn’t have food and water and didn’t care if he went to back to jail. Penny, as well as some of his fellow passengers, claimed Neely also said he was willing to kill.

Prosecutors argued Penny’s initial attempt to defend his fellow passengers was understandable and “even laudable,” but that the student went too far and used lethal force unnecessarily. They argued he continued to choke Neely after some passengers exited the train and Neely stopped moving for nearly a minute.

“You obviously cannot kill someone because they are crazy and ranting and looking menacing, no matter what it is that they are saying,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran told jurors during closing arguments.

The defense, meanwhile, argued Penny’s actions were justified by the perceived threat to the passengers on the train.

“Daniel Penny was the one who moved to protect them,” defense attorney Steven Raiser said during closing arguments. “Why? Because he had something the others didn’t. Something unique to him.”

The defense called a pathologist who testified other oustide factors could have contributed to Neely’s death, like the man’s use of synthetic marijuana, his schizophrenia, and his genetic predisposition to sickle cell ailments.

City medical examiner Dr. Cynthia Harris maintained during her testimony in the trial that Neely died from “compression of the neck,” and that “no toxicological result imaginable was going to change my opinion.”

The court also heard from a Marine Corps instructor who spoke about Penny’s training using chokehold techniques.

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The defense claims Penny sought to put Neely in a “civilian” hold and wait for police.

During the trial, jurors watched video of Penny speaking with police after the incident, where he described Neely as a “crackhead” who was “acting like a lunatic.”

“I just wanted to keep him from getting to people,” Penny told police, adding, “I’m not trying to kill the guy.”

Elsewhere, bystanders testified both that they were relieved when Penny detained Neely, and that the Marine Corps vet ignored pleas to let the homeless man go.

Penny himself did not take the stand during the trial, with his defense lawyers saying their client’s statements to police adequately described the encounter.

Jury deliberation began on Tuesday, December 2.

The 12-personal panel struggled for days to reach a required unanimous verdict.

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The judge overseeing the case allowed prosecutors on Friday (December 6) to drop the top charge against Penny, second-degree manslaughter, clearing the way for the panel to consider the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide.

In the face of the continued deliberations, Penny’s defense moved for a mistrial, a request that could’ve prompted a new trial with a new jury, but was denied.

Outside of the criminal trial, Neely’s father filed a lawsuit against Penny on Wednesday (December 4) over the subway choking, accusing the student of negligent contact, assault, and battery that caused Neely’s injuries and death.

The subway incident, in which a white man choked a Black man for minutes, quickly became embroiled in ongoing national debates about racism, policing, and public safety.

It came in the wake of nationwide protests after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd, a Black man, in somewhat similar circumstances, by kneeling on his neck and back for minutes as a crowd urged them to stop.

The debate around the subway killing also touched a nerve about New York’s more local issues.

The city has struggled with fears about crime on the subway, criticisms of Mayor Eric Adams for a mandate to involuntarily hospitalize mentall ill homeless people, and continued systematic failures to provide adequate housing and care to unhoused people.

Millions of dollars were raised for Penny’s legal defense through GiveSendGo, a crowdfunding platform popular for right-wing causes, and conservative media influencers and politicians hailed Penny as a veritable “Subway Superman,” an ordinary citizen taking back the streets in an unsafe, Democrat-led city.

Others saw the killing as an example of white vigilantism, and New York City’s failure to care for vulnerable people like Neely. His mother previously died in a violent crime, and Neely himself bounced in and out of prison and homeless shelters as he struggled with drugs and mental health challenges like depression and schizophrenia.

New York City public advocate Juamaane Williams previously toldThe Independent the public attention around the case had created a “narrative that devalues the life of a Black, homeless man with mental health challenges and encourages an attitude of dehumanization of New Yorkers in greatest need.”

After Neely’s death, demonstrators jumped on New York City subway tracks in protest immediately after the death. They reprised their protest during the deliberations, replacing subway ads with signs reading ‘A Man Was Lynched Here,’ a reference to historic anti-lynching campaigns during the Civil Rights movement.

The Associated Press contributed reporting