A former Marine whose chokehold of a manic homeless man preceded the vagrant’s death on a New York City subway train was acquitted of a homicide charge Monday in a case that divided onlookers over whether the defendant was a racially fueled vigilante or a good Samaritan.
A New York City jury found Daniel Penny, 26, not guilty of negligent homicide in the death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely in May 2023.
Last week, the trial judge allowed prosecutors to drop the more serious charge of manslaughter. After four days of deliberation, jurors said they were deadlocked on the charge.
The acquittal spared Mr. Penny, who is White, from any prison time for subduing Neely, who was Black.
Neely boarded a subway car and began acting in a way that some passengers testified was “satanic” and others said “scared the daylights” out of them.
The verdict flew in the face of the city’s medical examiner, who ruled that the former Marine’s chokehold caused Neely’s death, and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office pursued charges against Mr. Penny despite the New York Police Department’s decision not to arrest him at the scene.
“Their lengthy deliberation — and the totality of the facts and the evidence — underscored why this case was put in front of a jury of Mr. Penny’s peers,” Mr. Bragg said in a statement. “The jury has now spoken. At the Manhattan D.A.’s Office we deeply respect the jury process and we respect their verdict.”
The reading of the verdict evoked applause and anger throughout the courtroom.
Mr. Penny was rushed to a waiting van. His defense team could not be reached for comment, but photos on social media showed Mr. Penny and his two lead attorneys having a celebratory drink at Stone Street Tavern in lower Manhattan.
Neely’s father, Andre Zachary, snapped at some members of the gallery who cheered the verdict, according to the New York Post. The judge ordered him to leave the courtroom after his outburst.
“I miss my son. My son didn’t have to go through this. I didn’t have to go through this either,” Mr. Zachary told reporters outside the courthouse. “It hurts, it really, really hurts. What are we going to do, people? What’s going to happen to us now? I’ve had enough of this. The system is rigged.”
Last week, Mr. Zachary filed a civil lawsuit accusing Mr. Penny of causing his son’s death. It’s not clear what amount of money the family seeks in the lawsuit.
Outside the courthouse a group of demonstrators issued public threats against Mr. Penny.
“You’re not welcome in New York. You’re not allowed to walk these streets. We patrol them — not the NYPD; not your security. This is our town. You’re not safe here, homie,” one man bellowed through a megaphone.
Republicans in New York City and nationwide were quick to cheer the verdict after it was announced late Monday morning.
“Justice has prevailed,” said New York City Council member Joann Ariola, Queens Republican.
Council member Inna Vernikov, Brooklyn Republican, said the verdict indicated that “the woke mob is no longer the arbiter of right and wrong.”
On Capitol Hill, Rep. Andrew Clyde, Georgia Republican, said, “Praise God that justice prevailed.
In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis — an early supporter of Mr. Penny’s — said he was “skeptical that a jury in New York City would reach a unanimous not guilty verdict, and the jury deserves credit for doing the right thing.”
“Meanwhile, is there a worse prosecutor in America than Alvin Bragg?” Mr. DeSantis said.
Left-wing billionaire George Soros partly supported the 2021 campaign of Mr. Bragg, who is up for reelection next fall.
The New York City Council Progressive Caucus said Neely had been “failed by the city’s social service system for years.”
The caucus, which is co-chaired by Sandy Nurse and Shahana Hanif, both Brooklyn Democrats, said Neely “was failed by our city when Daniel Penny put him in a chokehold on the subway. And today, Jordan was failed once again, this time by the city’s justice system, following the jury’s decision to acquit Penny of criminally negligent homicide.”
The more than monthlong trial featured testimony from subway passengers, police officers, medical experts, the defendant’s family and fellow Corps members about what happened aboard the subway car on May 1, 2023.
Trial testimony revealed that Neely boarded the F train in Manhattan, whipped off his jacket and launched into a rant about how he was hungry and willing to spend the rest of his life in prison.
Passengers testified that Neely made jerky, lunging movements as he moved about the car before Mr. Penny subdued him with a surprise chokehold.
Prosecutors said Mr. Penny had laudable intentions when he stepped in to restrain Neely, but the former Marine took it too far by choking the vagrant for nearly six minutes. Neely went limp in the final minute of Mr. Penny’s hold.
Dr. Cynthia Harris, the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy, testified that “there are no alternative reasonable explanations for Mr. Neely’s death.”
She ruled that Neely died from compression of the neck because of the defendant’s chokehold. Dr. Harris said Mr. Penny’s actions would have killed the vagrant even if Neely had enough drugs in his system “to put down an elephant.”
Steven Raiser, Mr. Penny’s defense attorney, argued that Neely died from a high amount of synthetic cannabinoid K2 in his system and complications arising from schizophrenia and a sickle cell trait.
The defense said Mr. Penny intended to restrain the “violent and desperate” Neely and not kill him. The former Marine’s police interrogation just hours after the incident supports that perspective. Mr. Raiser said Neely never tried to pull Mr. Penny’s arm from around his neck because he wasn’t choking him.
“This was not a chokehold death,” Mr. Raiser said during closing arguments last week. “They failed to prove their case, period.”
Neely had impersonated Michael Jackson in street performances, and his family said he struggled with drug addiction. The vagrant had been arrested more than 40 times in a decade. Charges included the assault of a woman and the kidnapping of a 7-year-old girl.
Mr. Penny served four years in the Marines before he was discharged in 2021. The Long Island native was looking for work as a bartender when the incident happened.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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