Daniel Penny Found Not Guilty in Jordan Neely Killing
Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran who killed Jordan Neely, a homeless man known as a Michael Jackson impersonator around New York City, was found not guilty on a charge of criminally negligent homicide.
The verdict was reached after four days of deliberations, during which the more serious charge against Penny, second-degree manslaughter, was dismissed. Last Friday morning, Dec. 6, after three days of deliberations, the jury sent Judge Maxwell Wiley a note saying they were deadlocked on the manslaughter charge. While Wiley encouraged the jury to keep deliberating, that afternoon they sent a second note saying they still could not reach an unanimous decision.
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Penny’s lawyers argued the impasse called for a mistrial. But Wiley instead granted a motion from the prosecution to dismiss the manslaughter charge and allow deliberations to continue on the criminally negligent homicide charge.
The verdict delivered Monday, Dec. 9, found that Penny’s actions were not criminal when he held Neely in a chokehold for several minutes on the floor of a subway car on May 1, 2023. After the verdict was read, per The New York Times, Penny’s lawyer, Thomas A. Kenniff, reportedly hugged Penny. Neely’s father, Andre Zachery, reportedly started yelling at Penny’s supporters, and the judge had to ask him to leave the room.
Penny was accused of killing Neely, who was unhoused and had a history of mental health issues, on May 1, 2023. Neely boarded an uptown F train in Manhattan and reportedly started yelling and acting erratically. Some witnesses said he screamed that he was hungry, that he wanted to go back to jail, and that he did not care if he lived or died. Some on the subway car claimed Neely threatened to hurt others on the train. Others said they didn’t hear Neely make any threats.
Penny came up behind Neely and put him in a chokehold that lasted about six minutes. According to reports, Neely stopped moving about five minutes into Penny’s restraint. When police arrived on the scene at the next subway station, Neely reportedly had a faint pulse but was not breathing. Police tried CPR but were unsuccessful. Neely was pronounced dead at a hospital about an hour later.
While Penny was taken into custody and questioned, he was ultimately released. On May 4, the medical examiner ruled Neely’s death a homicide, saying he died of compression to his neck caused by the chokehold. Prosecutors finally brought charges against Penny on May 12, 11 days after Neely’s death. Neely pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
For their case, prosecutors did not try to argue that Penny intentionally killed Neely. In fact, during opening arguments, Assistant District Attorney Dana Yoran said Penny’s initial efforts to restrain Neely may have been “even laudable” (via The New York Times).
But prosecutors said Penny acted carelessly and should’ve known his actions could have resulted in Neely’s death. They pointed to his Marine training, that he continued to hold Neely in a chokehold even after Neely had stopped moving, and even cited others on the train who warned Penny that he might kill Neely if he did not let go.
“Under the law, deadly physical force such as a chokehold is permitted only when it is absolutely necessary, and only for as long as it is absolutely necessary,” Yoran said in her opening statement. “And here, the defendant went way too far.”
For his defense, Penny’s lawyers claimed their client’s actions were a justified use of force to defend himself or others on the train. They also tried to contend that despite the medical examiner’s ruling, it was not Penny’s chokehold that killed Neely, but rather Neely’s schizophrenia, marijuana use, and sickle cell trait that led to his death.
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