Daniel Penny “acted to save” subway passengers from a “desperate” Jordan Neely, his defense attorney argued Monday, telling jurors at the Manhattan lightning rod trial, “Who's on the next train?” Do you want me to ride with you?” he asked.
“Danny acted when others did not,” defense attorney Steven Reiser said in his closing statement in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“He put his life in danger. He did that to a stranger,” said the man charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in the May 2023 fatal crash. said about 26-year-old Penny.
Reiser asked jurors how Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with a history of mental illness and substance abuse, would have felt if he had been in the F train car where Penny was threatening a straphanger before he strangled him. He encouraged jurors to imagine what it would be like.
“Who would you like to be on the next train ride with?” Riser asked near the end of the hours-long summary.
“Do you know who is going to help you if something happens to that guy on the train with his earphones on and minding his own business?'' the lawyer continued. “Or, especially when you're alone, you just hope someone like Neely never walks in.”
But Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran said the Marine Corps veteran “went too far” by strangling an unarmed, mentally ill, homeless man for six minutes, long before he was considered a deadly threat. ”, he argued.
“We are here today because the defendant used too much force for too long and in too reckless a manner,” Yoran said.
“As a society, we cannot tolerate the unjust deaths of our fellow citizens,” she added.
Prosecutors told jurors that “no one had to die” during the encounter on May 1, 2023, on an Uptown F train approaching the Broadway-Lafayette station.
Prosecutors acknowledged that Penny was justified in initially confronting Neely, who was threatening bystanders with what the witness described as a “slutty” rant.
However, Penny's actions became criminal. Penny maintains that he continued to hold Neely's neck even after the frightened slings exited the vehicle, and for 51 seconds after Neely lost consciousness, which turned into a criminal act.
“Under the law and human decency, there is no conceivable justification for strangling an unconscious man,” Yolan said as he showed jurors a bystander still image of Neely. said.
“Was the defendant justified in using deadly physical violence against Mr. Neely? Absolutely not,” she added.
Penny, a Long Island resident, sat at the defense table wearing a brown suit and maroon tie during closing statements. He did not appear to make eye contact with the jury and was staring straight at the judge.
His attorney said Monday morning that Penny “acted to protect” other train passengers because acting to save others is something he learned while in the U.S. Marine Corps. insisted.
“He had something that no one else had, something that was unique to him: his training,” Riser told jurors. “Danny acted to save those people.”
Yolan countered that Penny should have known from her Marine Corps training that there were many ways to restrain Neely other than holding her in a fatal chokehold.
“You could have easily restrained Jordan Neely without suffocating him,” Penny told jurors.
Earlier in the day, Ms. Penny's attorney sought to cast doubt on the city medical examiner's finding that strangulation was the cause of Mr. Neely's death.
The lawyer also tried to highlight Penny's “kinder side”, saying he was an avid surfer and was studying architecture at the time of the confrontation.
“Danny is more than just a former Marine,” Riser told jurors.
Riser also used the term “civilian restraint” rather than strangulation to describe Penny's actions.
“He will be restrained until the police arrive. Do not attempt to knock him unconscious or harm him in any way,” the lawyer said.
Penny was greeted with cries of “Guilty!” He was on his way to Manhattan Supreme Court Monday morning.
A group of about a dozen protesters chanted “Guilty!” Guilty! Guilty! “He got out of a black SUV outside the courthouse at 100 Center Street.
“What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” the demonstrators shouted.
