Daniel Penny has been acquitted in the chokehold death of a homeless man aboard a New York City subway car last year.
The 26-year-old former Marine had been charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in connection with the May 2023 death of 30-year-old Jordan Neely.
A jury found Penny not guilty of criminally negligent homicide Monday — three days after a Manhattan judge dismissed a manslaughter charge when the 12-member panel said it could not come to a unanimous decision on the first and more serious of the two charges.
The second-degree manslaughter charge carried a maximum 15-year prison sentence; criminally negligent homicide carried a maximum sentence of four years. There was no minimum sentence for either charge. Judge Maxwell Wiley had ordered the jury to return Monday to consider the second, lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide. It deliberated for less than two hours before delivering its verdict.
According to the Associated Press, Penny “briefly smiled” as the verdict was read while some inside the courtroom applauded and others reacted with anger. Neely’s father was told by Wiley to leave after audibly reacting to the applause, per AP.
How the incident unfolded
Penny, an architecture student, was on his way to the gym when he encountered Neely on an uptown F train in Manhattan on the afternoon of May 1, 2023.
Witnesses say Neely, a former Michael Jackson impersonator, was acting erratically after boarding the train before Penny placed him in a chokehold. Some witnesses told police that Neely shouted at other passengers, threw his jacket on the ground, complained of being hungry and thirsty and threatened to hurt people on the train. Others did not report hearing those threats.
Video taken by a fellow passenger shows Penny on the ground restraining Neely with a chokehold while two other men are standing over them. Penny then lets go of Neely, who is seen lying motionless on the floor of the train.
When police arrived, Neely was unresponsive and first responders were unable to revive him. He was then taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Footage of the chokehold was shared widely online and sparked protests around the city.
Penny later told police that he “just put [Neely] in a chokehold” and “put him out” to ensure he wouldn’t hurt anyone.
What happened during the trial
Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office argued that Penny’s chokehold — which lasted approximately six minutes — became reckless when he held on too long, beyond the point when Neely represented any kind of threat to fellow passengers.
Attorneys for Penny argued that he saw “a genuine threat and took action to protect the lives of others” and that he had restrained Neely with a “variation of a nonlethal chokehold” borrowed from martial arts training he had been taught as a Marine. In doing so, they suggested that Neely’s death could have been caused by something else.
But Dr. Cynthia Harris, the medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Neely, testified that “there are no alternative reasonable explanations” for Neely’s death other than Penny’s chokehold.
Harris had ruled the cause of death was compression of the neck, or asphyxia.
Jurors were shown a video of an interview Penny gave to police in which he demonstrated the chokehold on Neely.
“He had his back turned to me and I got him in a hold, got him to the ground, and he’s still squirming around and going crazy,” Penny is heard saying in the video.
The defense also argued that Neely had prior arrests, a history of mental illness and drugs in his system at the time of his death.
Reactions to the verdict
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office secured charges against Penny, said in a statement that the jury “has now spoken.”
“We deeply respect the jury process and we respect their verdict,” he said.
In his statement, Bragg also noted that prosecutors and their families were “besieged with hate and threats — on social media, by phone and over email.”
“Simply put, this is unacceptable, and everyone, no matter your opinion on this case, should condemn it,” he said.
There was no immediate comment from Penny’s lawyers on the verdict. Penny was quickly escorted out of the courthouse to a waiting car and did not comment.
The case stirred a national debate about mental illness, homelessness, public safety, the use of force and race. Neely was Black. Penny is white.
Outside the courthouse, at least one demonstrator was detained.
Speaking to reporters, Dante Mills, a lawyer for Neely’s family, criticized the jury.
“We’re devastated, upset, angry, hurt,” Mills said, flanked by Neely’s father, Andre Zachery. “Jordan Neely was choked to death by someone who didn’t care people was telling him to stop. Last week the jury was — they couldn’t decide on the top charge but they come back his week and they give up on us.”
“The district attorney did a good job,” Mills added. “The jury in this case let us down.”
Last week, Zachery filed a civil suit against Penny, accusing him of negligent contact, assault and battery in Neely’s death.
“I miss my son,” Zachery said. “My son didn’t have to go through this. I didn’t have to go through this either.
“It really, really hurts,” Zachery added. “I had enough of this. The system is rigged.”
