A Manhattan jury acquitted Daniel Penny Monday of criminal charges in the choking death of homeless subway performer Jordan Neely back in May 2023.
The jury rendered its not-guilty verdict on a criminally negligent homicide charge on Dec. 9 after nearly a week of deliberation in the case. The panel had deadlocked on the manslaughter charge, which had prevented the jury from considering the lesser criminally negligent homicide charge. On Friday, Judge Maxwell Wiley dismissed that count following the prosecution’s motion to drop the charge.
In the end, the jury — made up of seven women and five men — found that Penny, a Marine veteran, was not criminally culpable for the death of homeless subway performer Neely.
Viral video captured Penny choking Neely on board an F train at the Broadway-Lafayette Street station in NoHo on May 1, 2023. Penny contended that he had acted in defense after Neely became disruptive and threatened other passengers on board the train. Neely died of his injuries.
The trial centered on the debate of the events leading up to the deadly choking. Witnesses claimed Neely had been screaming and acting erratically, and Penny — while he didn’t testify in his own defense at trial — said he acted to protect himself and others on board the train.
Even the exact cause of Neely’s death was a focal point of argument during the trial. The city’s Medical Examiner’s office autopsy found that Neely died of neck compression from Penny’s chokehold, but the defense — using a pathologist’s testimony — alleged that other health factors played a bigger role in the fatality.
Tensions ran high outside a Manhattan court throughout the morning as deliberations wound down. Demonstrators on both sides of the argument almost came to blows outside 100 Centre St. mere minutes before Penny himself arrived.
Though Penny did not publicly comment at the courthouse after his acquittal, many of those who sought Penny’s conviction expressed disappointment in the outcome outside the courthouse midday Monday.
“I am sorry America has failed you,” said Hawk Newsome of Black Lives Matter New York. “Let the marchers march and let the steppers step.”
Neely’s father, Andre Zachery, was left outraged and pained by the verdict outside the court Monday morning.
“I just want to say I miss my son. My son didn’t have to go through this. I didn’t have to go through this either. It hurts. It really, really hurts,” he said (h/t ABC News). “I had enough of this, the system is rigged.”
Protesters who were against Penny chanted, “No justice, no peace!” while demonstrating outside the courthouse following the acquittal Monday. Police arrested at least one individual for allegedly being disruptive.
In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the prosecution “followed the facts and the evidence from beginning to end,” but “we deeply respect the jury process and we respect their verdict.” He also lamented that during the trial, the prosecutors assigned to the case and their family members “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,” Bragg said. “These are prosecutors who have dedicated decades of their lives to public service and to the safety of Manhattan.”
With reporting by Lloyd Mitchell
This is a developing story; check with amNY.com later for further updates.
