Jurors in New York City will explore a lesser charge against Daniel Penny for the choking death of Jordan Neely, a subway singer, after they were unable to reach a verdict of manslaughter.
According to the Associated Press, jurors declared themselves deadlocked, and Judge Maxwell Wiley granted the prosecution’s motion to have the second-degree manslaughter case dismissed on Friday. Next week, the jury will reconvene to consider the charge of criminally negligent homicide.
A 26-year-old White guy named Penny became a conservative figure for citizen crime-fighting after he was charged with choking 30-year-old Black man Neely aboard a New York City train in May 2023. After being declared dead at a hospital, Neely’s death was determined to be a homicide due to compression of the neck.
For the homicide charge, Penny could spend up to four years behind bars. If found guilty of manslaughter, he could have been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison. To both, he entered a not guilty plea.
Discussions concerning race relations, public safety, and the state’s policies for homelessness and mental health have all been stoked by the case. His claim that he was attempting to shield other subway passengers from Neely was the foundation of Penny’s defense. He has been praised by some as a Good Samaritan, while prosecutors depicted him as a White vigilante who killed a man who needed help with his mental health.
Penny, a veteran of the Marine Corps, was not charged right away in Neely’s death. Neely had been dealing with homelessness, mental illness, and drug use. After a video depicting him choking Neely for many minutes went viral, protesters and lawmakers demanded that he be arrested.
Neely kicked and flailed his legs in an attempt to escape the chokehold on the footage.
According to the Associated Press, Penny’s friends, family, a former Marine Corps instructor, pathologists, responding police officers, subway passengers, and a mental specialist all testified before the 12-member jury during the month-long trial.
Although Penny did not testify, his version of events was captured on police body cameras and presented to the jury. In the video, he referred to Neely as “a crackhead” who was “behaving like a lunatic,” saying he want to prevent him from “getting to people.”
Shortly after his passing, The Washington Post reported that witnesses claimed Neely, who was well-known for his Michael Jackson impersonations, had been acting strangely on the F train in Manhattan. He had yelled that he was hungry, made demands for money, and acted in a way that observers perceived as menacing.
Neely needed assistance, according to his supporters. After he testified in the murder trial of his mother’s boyfriend, who was found guilty of strangling her and dumping her body in a suitcase in the Bronx, they said his mental condition had gotten worse, according to the New York Daily News.
According to a defense witness, Neely’s death might have been caused by a number of causes, including the synthetic narcotic K2, which was found in his toxicology report. According to the AP, the defense claimed that Penny’s chokehold did not apply enough pressure to incapacitate Neely or cause his death.
Several prominent Republicans, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Fox News hosts, and conservatives on Elon Musk’s social media site, Twitter (now known as X), hailed Penny as a hero in the weeks following Neely’s passing.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) tweeted, “The Marine who stepped in to protect others is a hero.” Greene also called Neely “a violent criminal who should have been behind bars.”
On GiveSendGo, a Christian crowdsourcing website, Penny’s story also assisted in raising funds for her legal defense fund. The day he was charged, the campaign raised roughly $600,000, and by Tuesday morning, it had surpassed $3.2 million, with more donations flowing in.
According to the AP, prosecutors claimed that Penny used excessive force to restrain Neely despite his intention to protect onlookers. They observed that even after the train stopped and passengers were able to safely off, Penny kept Neely in a chokehold for far longer than was necessary.
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