NEW YORK — Daniel Penny has been discovered not responsible of criminally negligent murder within the chokehold dying of Jordan Neely on a New York Metropolis subway automobile in 2023.
Penny, a 26-year-old Marine veteran, pleaded not responsible to costs of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent murder.
The decide dismissed the manslaughter cost Friday after jurors stated they may not come to a unanimous determination. The jury may solely take into account the negligent murder cost if Penny was cleared of manslaughter.
About 15 protesters lined up outdoors the courthouse Monday, chanting “justice for Jordan Neely.” Inside, Penny’s protection crew requested for a mistrial and as soon as once more was denied.
Phrase of the decision got here after jurors deliberated for greater than 20 hours. Penny appeared to smile, as his attorneys hugged one another.
CBS Information New York’s Alice Gainer was contained in the courtroom, the place she reported chaos unfolded after the decision was introduced. Some cheered in help of Penny, whereas Neely’s father needed to depart the room as a result of he stood up and was swearing.
“Our name to motion is to care for one another. We won’t depend on outdoors individuals. If we see somebody asking for meals, now we have to take the duty to present it to them. If we see somebody chilly, to present them a coat. If we see somebody going via one thing, to ask them in the event that they’re OK,” Donte Mills, legal professional for the Neely household, stated in a information convention outdoors the courthouse. “That is how we assist one another, as a result of we won’t depend on the system to do it for us.”
Eric Garner’s mom, Gwen Carr, additionally spoke outdoors the courthouse, saying, “nobody deserves to be choked to dying.”
Penny confronted a most doable sentence of 15 years in jail on the manslaughter cost, or 4 years on the negligent murder cost. There was no minimal sentence.
Manhattan district legal professional responds with assertion
Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg launched a press release following the decision, saying partially, “the jury has now spoken.”
As with each case, we adopted the details and the proof from starting to finish. A Grand Jury voted to indict, and the Workplace rigorously offered this case to a trial jury.
Over the course of the trial, we launched medical information, movies, bodycam footage, and testimony from over 30 witnesses, together with from the Metropolis’s Workplace of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The jury rigorously deliberated for 4 days. They requested readbacks of testimony and requested for video footage to re-watch, in addition to written definitions of the legislation. Their prolonged deliberation – and the totality of the details and the proof – underscored why this case was put in entrance of a jury of Mr. Penny’s friends.
The jury has now spoken. On the Manhattan D.A.’s Workplace we deeply respect the jury course of and we respect their verdict.
Sadly, over the length of this trial, gifted profession prosecutors and their members of the family had been besieged with hate and threats – on social media, by cellphone and over e-mail. Merely put, that is unacceptable, and everybody, irrespective of your opinion on this case, ought to condemn it. These are prosecutors who’ve devoted a long time of their lives to public service and to the protection of Manhattan. I’m grateful to them, in addition to to the NYPD for his or her onerous work and dedication on not solely this matter, however for all they do on behalf of New Yorkers. I additionally need to thank Choose Wiley for presiding over this case. Lastly, I need to thank the members of the jury who took day trip of their lives to diligently consider the proof.
Concerning the costs
With a purpose to be convicted of manslaughter, prosecutors needed to show:
With a purpose to be convicted of criminally negligent murder, prosecutors needed to show:
The dying of Jordan Neely
Police and witnesses stated Neely, 30, boarded an F practice in SoHo on Could 1, 2023 and started shouting, throwing issues and making threats. Penny, a passenger on the practice, approached Neely from behind and tried to restrain him.
Video reveals Penny holding Neely in a chokehold on the ground of the practice for a number of minutes till Neely stopped transferring. After police arrived, officers administered Narcan to Neely, carried out CPR and used an AED, however had been unable to revive him. Neely was pronounced lifeless on the scene.
Police stated Neely didn’t have any weapons on him.
A health worker dominated Neely’s dying a murder three days later, with the trigger as compression of the neck. Toxicology reviews confirmed Neely had artificial marijuana in his system when he died.
Neely was a road performer and Michael Jackson impersonator who was experiencing homelessness and had struggled with psychological sickness after his mom was murdered in 2007.
Video of Penny holding Neely within the chokehold was extensively circulated on-line. Neely’s dying sparked protests throughout New York Metropolis, with many elevating considerations in regards to the want for higher psychological well being care within the metropolis, and Neely’s household known as for Penny’s arrest.
Penny turned himself in on Could 12, 2023, and was initially charged with second-degree manslaughter and launched on $100,000 bail. He was arraigned in June and pleaded not responsible to criminally negligent murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Penny defended his actions, saying he was making an attempt to guard different passengers on the practice by restraining Neely.
NYC subway chokehold dying trial
In late October 2024, a 12-person jury and 4 alternates had been chosen and sworn in. They included seven ladies and 5 males, with at the very least seven White individuals, one Hispanic particular person, one Filipino particular person, one Black particular person and one particular person of Center Jap descent.
The trial started Nov. 1.
The prosecution argued of their opening statements that Penny, although he had good intentions, recklessly used extreme pressure with out making an attempt every other technique of deescalating the state of affairs. The protection, in the meantime, argued Penny was defending different passengers and there was no different strategy to deescalate as a result of Neely’s conduct.
Jurors heard testimony from a number of witnesses, together with cops, MTA workers, passengers on the practice and a bystander who helped Penny restrain Neely. Penny’s Marine Corps martial arts teacher and the health worker who carried out Neely’s post-mortem additionally took the stand. The protection known as Penny’s mom and platoon sergeants as character witnesses, together with a forensic pathologist who stated he disagreed with the health worker’s reason for dying.
Jurors started their deliberations final Tuesday. They despatched two notes again to the decide. The primary requested a readback of a part of the decide’s directions. The second notice requested the decide if they may return for deliberations Wednesday, which is a day they’d usually have had off. The decide accepted that request.
Wednesday morning, jurors despatched one other notice, asking to see a video compilation of police bodycams from the incident, in addition to footage of Penny’s police station interview. Jurors additionally requested for readback of the health worker’s cross-examination.
Friday morning, on the fourth day of deliberations, they despatched a notice to the decide indicating they could not attain a unanimous verdict on his manslaughter cost.
