Trial of Daniel Penny: Navy veteran in court for manslaughter in New York subway in Jordan Neely's chokehold

CNN
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Opening statements are scheduled to begin Friday for the U.S. military veteran accused of fatally choking a homeless black man on the New York City subway last year, in a case that touches on contemporary issues of subway crime, mental illness, Race relations, etc. touches on vigilantism.

Daniel Penny, a 26-year-old former Marine, is charged with second-degree manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter in the May 2023 chokehold death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely. Penny pleaded not guilty, arguing he acted to protect others.

According to witnesses, Neely had boarded a crowded subway in Manhattan and was behaving erratically and screaming loudly. Penny, a white man, then grabbed Neely from behind and held him in a chokehold, and he maintained that hold for about six minutes, even after Neely stopped moving, prosecutors said.

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

Several minutes of the chokehold were captured on video by bystanders, leading to protests and calls for Penny's arrest. Others have defended Penny's actions and donated over $3 million to his legal defense fund.

Penny turned herself in to police on involuntary manslaughter charges nearly two weeks after Neely's death, and the Manhattan district attorney's office announced charges late the following month.

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

The killing has polarized city residents, many of whom have personal experience with subway unrest, and raised broader questions about the racial dynamics at play and how the city deals with people with mental health issues. Former President Donald Trump said it was “a terribly difficult case” in an interview with Fox News last week.

During jury selection over the past two weeks, most jurors said they frequently took the subway and witnessed outbursts from people behaving erratically on the trains. Some said these outbreaks made them feel “personally threatened,” while others said the outbreaks did not.

Penny said Neely acted threateningly and his lawyers said they were confident a jury would find his actions “entirely justified.” Penny, who was released from prison on a $100,000 bond, faces up to 15 years if convicted of manslaughter and up to four years if convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Jeremy Saland, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, said the case touches on many important themes and emotions.

“This is something that is relatable to so many people and that's why it has enraged passions on both sides, from 'Leave Penny alone, he was just protecting the lives of other subway riders' and on the other side: 'He needs to be held accountable for taking another person's life.'”

Witness describes incident with chokehold deaths in New York subway (2023)

The evidence is likely to focus on statements from witnesses who were aboard the train that day, as well as statements from medical and restraint experts. The defense said it had not yet decided whether Penny would testify.

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

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

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

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

In a court filing, prosecutors said witness accounts differed about Neely's exact words and actions before the chokehold. While some witnesses said they were afraid of Neely, others felt differently, including one person who described the moment as “like a normal day in New York.”

According to prosecutors' files, none of the witnesses said Neely had physical contact with anyone before Penny came up behind him.

“Many witnesses reported that Mr. Neely expressed that he was homeless, hungry and thirsty. Most report that Mr. Neely indicated his willingness 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 afraid, according to court documents filed last June. “I just threw him out. I just put him in a chokehold,” Penny said.

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

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

Thomas Kenniff, Penny's attorney, said his client tried to help others on the subway who were afraid of Neely. He also disputed the medical examiner's finding that the chokehold was responsible for Neely's death.

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

“His actions are what every one of us who rides the subway and sees someone behaving the way Mr. Neely did – threatening the lives of men, women and children on the subway – is what we all do “Someone to do it for us,” he added.

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

Donte Mills, the attorney for Neely's family, said the street performer's relatives have not put the subway murder behind them and never will.

“The facts of the case are this: someone got on the train and screamed, and someone suffocated that person,” Mills said in an Oct. 21 news conference. “These things will never balance out, and there is no justification for them.” Make sure these things balance out.

Mills said up to 20 family members would attend the hearing.

Saland, the former prosecutor, said an important factor in the case was the eyewitness accounts of the interaction and whether the use of force was justified.

“Was this threat real and immediate? We rely on the standard of a reasonable person here,” Saland said. “So it's going to matter not just what Penny says, but what these other people have said in terms of their observations of what happened.”