Daniel Penny's New York City subway chokehold trial begins today with opening statements

NEW YORK – The Trial of Daniel Penny begins today with opening statements. The 26-year-old Marine veteran is charged with murder by chokehold Jordan Neely30, on a New York subway in 2023.

As of May 2023, court documents state: Neely boarded an F train, allegedly screaming, throwing things and acting erratically. penny told police that Neely threatened to kill everyone on the train. He pushed Neely to the ground and held him in a chokehold for several minutes. Neely died at the scene and His death was ruled a homicide.

Penny has pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter.

Opening statements are expected to begin at 10 a.m. Friday. The process is expected to take about six weeks.

The jury is seated in the trial against Daniel Penny

It took eight days To elect 12 jurors and four alternates. It is an anonymous jury consisting of seven women and five men. Everyone takes the subway, some more than others. Most said they had witnessed outbursts on the train, while others said they had personally been harassed or threatened.

Neely struggled with homelessness, mental illness and drug addiction.

As they questioned and spoke to potential jurors this week, prosecutors told them that while they believed Penny's intentions were good, he wanted to protect the people on the subway from what he saw as a threat but that Penny had “gone way too far”. was reckless and took another life unnecessarily.

Defense attorneys, who referred to their client as Danny, told potential jurors that just because the medical examiner ruled Neely's death a homicide, it didn't mean Penny was responsible. During jury selection, Penny's lawyers said Neely may have had drugs in his system and suggested they plan to talk about the drug K2 and sickle cell anemia during the trial.

The defense hired a jury consultant for the selection process. Previous high-profile cases she has worked on include OJ Simpson, Scott Peterson and, more recently, Kyle Rittenhouse.

Defense attorneys sought to prevent police from searching Neely's body as evidence because officers did not find a weapon on Neely, but on Thursday a judge ruled that the weapon was permitted.

Christina Fan contributed to this report.