Man who strangled troublemaker in New York subway acquitted

In May 2023, Marine Daniel Penny used a chokehold to kill a homeless man on a New York City subway train. He was found not guilty in the death of Jordan Neely, according to NBC.

Penny pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminal negligence. The manslaughter charge was dropped on December 6.

The jury has reached a verdict in Penny's case, finding the Marine veteran not guilty of negligent homicide.

The long-awaited verdict was delivered on the fifth day of deliberations.

Last week, a judge dismissed the main charge of manslaughter. murder.

Jurors twice said they could not reach a unanimous verdict. They could not consider the lesser charge of manslaughter until the main count was decided.

Both charges were serious and carried the possibility of imprisonment.
Before the incident, Penny served four years in the Marine Corps and continued to study architecture.

Tragedy in the subway

Witnesses reported that Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old black man, was yelling at other subway passengers and asking for money. Penny, who was riding in the same car, pinned him to the ground for several minutes. Neely died after being put in a chokehold.

The Marine claimed he acted in self-defense.

Penny's lawyers argued at trial that he was defending himself and other subway passengers from an unstable, mentally ill person.

The city medical examiner classified the victim's death as nothing less than homicide caused by neck compression. But the defense challenged the city medical examiner's conclusion.

Prosecutors said Penny overreacted to a man he viewed as a threat rather than a human being.

The case has intensified many American divisions, including race, politics, crime, urban life, mental illness and homelessness. Neely was black. Penny was white.

Some praised Penny as a hero. Critics, including civil rights activists, said he acted like a real killer.

The tragic fate of a homeless man

Nili, 30, has a tragic life story: his mother was murdered and stuffed into a suitcase when he was a teenager.

Neely was a Michael Jackson impersonator who often performed in Times Square. He was quite famous throughout the city. Neely also struggled with mental illness after losing his mother. The woman's boyfriend was found guilty of her murder.

Neely was hospitalized for depression at age 14. He was later diagnosed with schizophrenia, which at times caused him to hallucinate and become paranoid. Neely also used the synthetic cannabinoid K2. The drug was found in his system at the time of his death.

In 2017, Neely told a doctor that homelessness, living in poverty and having to "scavenge" for food made him feel so worthless and hopeless that he sometimes thought about suicide.

About six years later, the boy boarded the Manhattan subway on May 1, 2023, threw his jacket on the floor, and said he was hungry, thirsty, and didn’t care if he died or went to jail. Several people called 911 operators. They said Neely was trying to attack people and hinted that he would harm passengers. Several people testified that they were nervous and openly afraid for their lives in his presence.

Self-defense or murder

At the time of the tragic incident, Neely was unarmed and had only a cupcake in his pocket. He did not touch any passengers on the train. Several witnesses testified that he did not even approach anyone. But one woman said the man made sudden movements that scared her so much that she shielded her 5-year-old child from him.

Penny, who was walking to the gym after college classes, approached Neely from behind, grabbed him by the neck, threw him to the floor and "knocked him out," he told police at the scene. Penny applied a chokehold and held Neely's neck for about six minutes.

"He's dying," one passenger warned in a video from inside a subway car. "Let him go!"

Penny told detectives that Neely had threatened to kill people and that the chokehold was an attempt to "de-escalate" the situation until police arrived. The veteran said he held the homeless man after the train stopped because he wasn't sure if the doors were open. Neely squirmed at times, Penny said.

"I didn't mean to hurt him, I was just trying to keep him from hurting anyone else. He was threatening people. That's what we learn in the Marine Corps," Penny told detectives who read him his rights.

However, the Marine Corps combat instructor who trained Penny testified that the veteran improperly applied the choke technique he was taught.

Prosecutors say the need to protect passengers quickly ended. The train doors opened at the next stop, seconds after Penny acted.

Penny himself told police he used a "choke" or "choke hold." Defense attorneys argued that Penny did not use enough pressure to kill Neely: They brought their own forensic pathologist into court to back up their case.

Contrary to the city medical examiner's ruling, the defense pathologist said Neely did not die from a chokehold. He said the homeless man died from the combined effects of K2, schizophrenia, his struggles, and a blood condition that can cause fatal complications during exertion.

Penny chose not to testify. But several of his relatives, friends and fellow Marines did. They described him as an honest, patriotic and sensitive man.

"He was always a very quiet, gentle man," Jacqueline's sister Penny told jurors.

Prosecutors never charged Penny with intentionally killing Neely. The ultimately dismissed manslaughter charge required proof that a defendant recklessly caused the death of another person. Reckless homicide requires engaging in serious “reprehensible conduct” without awareness of the risk.

While the criminal trial was ongoing, Neely's father filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Penny.

As NewyorkForumDaily previously wrote:

• 1 May 2023 years Marine Daniel Penny chokes subway troublemaker Jordan Neely: witnesses told how scared they were. Who is A penny?
• May 8th in the evening Manhattan protests over Neely's death: arrests eleven people.
• May 12 Penny was charged of second-degree manslaughter for the fatal strangulation of 30-year-old Neely on the subway. He did not admit his guilt in murder.
• Meanwhile, people raised $2 million for a lawyer for Nili.