The medical examiner who ruled Jordan Neely's death a homicide by strangulation of Daniel Penny said Friday that even though the homeless man had an amount of drugs in his system “enough to bring down an elephant,” he said He insisted that even if it somehow turned out, he would uphold the verdict.
The video of the fatal subway crash made it so convincingly clear that Neely died as a result of the maneuver that he said, “The toxicology results couldn't change my opinion.” Dr. Cynthia Harris told jurors in Penny's lightning rod Manhattan manslaughter trial.
Footage of the fatal accident shows the former Marine holding Neely in the hold for more than six minutes, including 51 seconds after he went limp, before the homeless man suspected he had overdosed. Mr. Harris testified that he made it clear that there was no such thing.
Ms. Harris' testimony came during cross-examination by Ms. Penny's attorney, who questioned her about initially stating on Mr. Neely's death certificate that the cause of death was “inconclusive.”
Doctors said after reviewing a journalist's video of Neely “dying” with Penny's arm around her neck, they determined Neely's death was caused by “asphyxiation” consistent with asphyxiation. Ta.
“After seeing that, I asked no further questions about how he died,” she testified.
Harris said he reached his conclusion before receiving Neely's toxicology report.
The report ultimately found that Mr Neely had a history of abusing the synthetic cannabis drug K2, which the jury heard was in his system at the time of his death.
But Harris said that even if Neely was found to have had “enough fentanyl in his system to knock down an elephant,” strangulation would have been found to be the cause of Neely's death. Ta.
Mr Harris said footage of the strangulation, which showed Mr Neely's face turning “purple” as Mr Penny compressed the veins in his neck, showed there was “no alternative reasonable explanation” for Mr Neely's death. She testified that it shows.
Mr Harris also pinpointed to the jury the exact moment Mr Neely passed out while being strangled by Penny in the subway car.
She noted what she called one last “purposeful movement” before Neely's body stopped moving on its own, a final struggle to break free from the stranglehold.
At that point, Penny had been grabbed by the neck for more than five minutes, and Penny continued to grab her by the neck for 51 seconds, according to video evidence.
As jurors watched the footage from journalist Juan Alberto Vasquez, Harris also noticed, seconds later, when Neely's toes slowly relaxed and turned upwards.
They were some of the dying man's last involuntary movements, she testified.
“Watch your step,” she told jurors.
“It looks to me like the convulsions you see near death.”
The doctor also described another moment seconds after Penny let go of Neely, in which Neely appeared to be lying on the floor of the Uptown F train at the Broadway-Lafayette station, his back arched.
When questioned by prosecutors, she testified, “That wasn't breathing.''
“It's not voluntary. It's a sign of brain death.”
Harris also explained why arriving officers first detected a faint pulse in Neely, but the pulse quickly disappeared.
She testified that Neely was effectively “brain dead” at the time, and that a person's brain “dies” before the heart faints.
“It makes perfect sense,” she told jurors. “It’s not at all surprising that he has a pulse.
“The brain dies first. The brain is the most oxygen-sensitive organ in the body,” she continued.
“If you don't have enough oxygen for a long period of time, your brain will die.”
“Even though he was dying, his heart was still functioning,” Harris said.
Mr Harris' testimony could convict Mr Neely, 30, of “recklessly” killing Mr Penny, 26, for threatening train passengers before the May 1, 2023, collision. This could become an important factor in the jury's decision.
Jurors on Friday also saw images of Neely's body, which Harris said showed bruising and blood vessels on her neck caused by “a significant amount of constriction and compressive force.” It was said that it had collapsed.
“It is my medical opinion that there is no alternative reasonable explanation for Mr. Neely's death,” she told jurors.
Penny's lawyers say Neely's “unabashed” and “belligerent” verbal abuse was so frightening that Neely was justified in moving the stroller in front of the 5-year-old to protect her. claimed to have been done.
Penny, a military veteran who was living on the Lower East Side and studying architecture at Brooklyn's City College of Technology at the time of the incident, told detectives on the night Neely died that he was trying to protect the woman and child Neely was believed to be in. He said he intervened. risk.
“I didn't try to kill the man. I just tried to de-escalate the situation,” Penny said during videotaped questioning shown to jurors.
Prosecutors have praised Penny's original intention to detain Neely, but say Penny kept Neely in the hold after nearly all the passengers exited the vehicle and the homeless man passed out. He claims the crime occurred because he went “too far.”
Penny is charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
If convicted of the top charges, he could face up to 15 years in prison, but prosecutors are not sure how severe a sentence they will seek if Penny is convicted. has not been made clear.
The trial resumes on Monday.
