NEW YORK — Daniel Penny has been found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway car in 2023.
Penny, 26, pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
The judge dismissed the second-degree manslaughter charge against Penny on Friday after jurors said they could not come to a unanimous decision. The jury could only consider the negligent homicide charge if Penny was cleared of manslaughter, which is what the dismissal did.
Word of the verdict comes after jurors deliberated for more than 20 hours.
Penny faced a maximum possible sentence of 15 years in prison on the manslaughter charge, or four years on the negligent homicide charge. There is no minimum sentence.
About the charges
In order to have been convicted of manslaughter, prosecutors had to prove:
Penny caused Neely’s deathThat he did so recklesslyThat he was not justified
In order to be convicted of criminally negligent homicide, prosecutors had to prove:
Penny caused Neely’s deathThat he did so with criminal negligenceThat he was not justifiedThe death of Jordan Neely
Police and witnesses say Neely, 30, boarded an F train in SoHo on May 1, 2023 and began shouting, throwing things and making threats. Penny, a passenger on the train, approached Neely from behind and tried to restrain him.
Video shows Penny holding Neely in a chokehold on the floor of the train for several minutes until Neely stopped moving. After police arrived, officers administered Narcan to Neely, performed CPR and used an AED, but were unable to revive him. Neely was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police say Neely did not have any weapons on him.
A medical examiner ruled Neely’s death a homicide three days later, with the cause as compression of the neck. Toxicology reports showed Neely had synthetic marijuana in his system when he died.
Neely was a street performer and Michael Jackson impersonator who was experiencing homelessness and had struggled with mental illness after his mother was murdered in 2007.
Video of Penny holding Neely in the chokehold was widely circulated online. Neely’s death sparked protests across New York City, with many raising concerns about the need for better mental health care in the city, and Neely’s family called for Penny’s arrest.
Penny turned himself in on May 12, 2023, and was initially charged with second-degree manslaughter and released on $100,000 bail. He was arraigned in June and pleaded not guilty to criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter.
Penny, a Marine veteran, defended his actions, saying he was trying to protect other passengers on the train by restraining Neely.
NYC subway chokehold death trial
In late October 2024, a 12-person jury and four alternates were selected and sworn in. They included seven women and five men, with at least seven White people, one Hispanic person, one Filipino person, one Black person and one person of Middle Eastern descent.
The trial began Nov. 1.
The prosecution argued in their opening statements that Penny, though he had good intentions, recklessly used excessive force without trying any other means of deescalating the situation. The defense, meanwhile, argued Penny was protecting other passengers and there was no other way to deescalate due to Neely’s behavior.
Jurors heard testimony from multiple witnesses, including police officers, MTA employees, passengers on the train and a bystander who helped Penny restrain Neely. Penny’s Marine Corps martial arts instructor and the medical examiner who performed Neely’s autopsy also took the stand. The defense called Penny’s mother and platoon sergeants as character witnesses, along with a forensic pathologist who said he disagreed with the medical examiner’s cause of death.
Jurors began their deliberations Tuesday. They sent two notes back to the judge. The first requested a readback of part of the judge’s instructions. The second note asked the judge if they could return for deliberations Wednesday, which is a day they would normally have had off. The judge approved that request.
Wednesday morning, jurors sent another note, asking to see a video compilation of police bodycams from the incident, as well as footage of Penny’s police station interview. Jurors also asked for readback of the medical examiner’s cross-examination.
Friday morning, on the fourth day of deliberations, they sent a note to the judge indicating they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict on his manslaughter charge.
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