Jurors began deliberating on Tuesday in the case of Daniel Penny, who is accused of manslaughter and negligent homicide related to the killing of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway car last May.
Penny, 26, held Neely in a chokehold until authorities arrived, and Neely ended up dying, though his exact cause of death was disputed at trial. Jurors went into deliberations Tuesday afternoon and quickly sent back a question for the judge, asking for a second read of what is considered justifiable in the case, the Daily Mail reported.
The question came just over an hour after deliberations began. The jury wanted to know the specifics of justification defenses from the judge’s instructions. To convict Penny, jurors need to agree that Penny’s chokehold on Neely was unjustifiable and that he acted recklessly.
The jurors deliberated for another hour and a half before heading home. Deliberations will continue on Wednesday.
Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran maintained that Penny’s chokehold caused Neely’s death, which the medical examiner determined after watching video of Penny holding Neely. A forensic pathologist called by the defense, however, testified that Neely died due to a combination of drugs, his sickle cell trait, and the struggle with Penny and other passengers who held him down.
The defense called its final witness on November 22, a man who works for the court clerk’s office, Brian Kemef. Kemef testified that Neely had an active warrant for his arrest relating to an alleged assault in 2021. Neely also had a history of violence, including other assaults on the subway, Fox News reported.
This information has led many to wonder why Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg brought the case against Penny in the first place. ADA Yoran has implied that race was a factor in Penny’s decision to place Neely in a chokehold. Penny has not been charged with a hate crime.
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In a recently uncovered video, ADA Yoran discusses how she secured a lighter sentence for a black man who killed an elderly college professor at an ATM, Fox News reported. Yoran discusses “restorative justice” in the video, referring to the killer Matthew Lee. Yoran used a policy introduced by former Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. – it was the first time the policy was used in a homicide case, Fox reported.
Lee ended up being charged with manslaughter instead of felony murder, which reduced his sentence to 10 years from a potential 25.
While Lee received 10 years in prison for robbing and killing the professor, Penny faces up to 15 years if convicted of manslaughter or up to 4 years if he’s convicted on the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide.
Even New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, defended Penny and blasted the media for its treatment of the Marine veteran, The Daily Wire reported.
“We’re now on the subway where we’re hearing someone talking about hurting people, killing people,” Adams said, referring to reports that Neely was threatening passengers. “You have someone [Penny] on that subway who was responding, doing what we should have done as a city.”
