The Manhattan jury considering criminal charges against Daniel Penny in the strangulation death of subway Jordan Nelly began deliberating the lightning rod case on Tuesday.
The 12-person jury, seven women and five men, assembled around 1:15 p.m. to find Penny guilty of killing Neely, a troubled homeless man, on a crowded subway F train in May 2023. He is tasked with deciding whether to convict.
Through four weeks of testimony, the panel identified 40 people, including a straphanger, who witnessed Neely's outburst on the crowded F train that day, when Penny, a Marine Corps veteran from Long Island, strangled him to death. I heard from the above witnesses.
Penny, 26, nodded in the direction of the jurors as they were led into Manhattan Supreme Court to deliberate. He pleaded not guilty.
Here's what's at issue:
What crime is Daniel Penny facing?
Penny is charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
- Second-degree manslaughter is when a person “recklessly” causes the death of another person by “creating or contributing to a serious and unreasonable risk” of causing the death of another person. The charge, a Class C felony, also states the person was “aware of and consciously disregarded” the risk of his or her actions.
- Criminally negligent homicide is a Class E felony in which a person commits an act that involves “criminal negligence” by not realizing the danger of his or her act and still going through with it.
Why was Daniel Penny found guilty?
If Penny is found guilty of manslaughter, a jury will find that he “recklessly” caused Neely's death.
If the jury finds Penny not guilty of manslaughter, it will consider whether Penny is guilty of manslaughter.
Penny cannot be convicted of both charges.
If Daniel Penny is found guilty, how long will he spend in prison?
If Penny is convicted of second-degree manslaughter, he could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.
Although the jury found Penny not guilty of manslaughter, he faces up to four years in prison if convicted of manslaughter.
There is no minimum sentence for either crime, so there is a possibility that he will be sentenced to probation.
Why was Daniel Penny found not guilty?
Penny could avoid both charges if a jury finds his actions “justifiable” and acquits him of manslaughter.
The jury will decide whether Penny used deadly physical force, and if so, whether it was necessary to use that force to protect herself or others on the subway, and whether a “reasonable person” wearing Penny's shoes ” then you would need to decide whether you would have the same reaction. .
The case could also be acquitted if prosecutors do not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Penny's strangulation caused Neely's death.
What are the prosecutors alleging?
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office argued that Penny was “criminally reckless” and went “excessively” while pinning Neely, 30, for nearly six minutes — his actions were fatal. Even though he knew there was a possibility of it happening, Penny said, “Because he was not aware of any criminal activity.” [Neely’s] Humanity. “
“What is so tragic about this case is that although the defendant initially tried to do the right thing, as the chokehold progressed, the defendant realized that Jordan Neely was in severe pain and was on the verge of death. It continued unnecessarily,” said prosecutor Dafna Yoran. jurors said in closing statements Tuesday.
“The defendant was given every indication that he needed to stop,” she added. “He ignored them and kept running until one died. He must take responsibility for that.”
What about Daniel Penny's defense?
Penny's lawyers have argued that her actions were “totally justified” to protect subway passengers from Neely, and witnesses said that before she let Neely off, Penny said he was threatening and threatening passengers.
“Who's the next person to get on the train with you?” his attorney, Stephen Reiser, said in his closing statement.
“Do you know that a guy with earbuds on and minding his own business who you know will be there for you if something happens? Or when you’re alone in a crowd of people frozen in fear and Jordan? “Are we just hoping that people like Neely don't board the train?” the lawyer added.
What evidence was presented at trial?
Two videos taken by witnesses, one by a high school student and the other by a freelance journalist, are the only direct footage of the strangulation at the heart of the case.
Jurors were shown the infamous six-minute video, filmed by journalist Juan Alberto Vasquez, of Penny restraining Neely in a chokehold for several minutes, which included Neely stopping himself. Looks like it was also included. The shocking footage was played more than a dozen times in the courtroom.
A short unreleased video shot by a nervous-looking Yvette Rosario also shows Penny holding Neely in a chokehold, with onlookers begging him to let her go.
Rosario testified that after Neely attacked him at the Second Avenue stop on the F line in Uptown, he yelled that he was homeless and hungry and that he was “not going back to prison.”
Other straphangers said they had never seen an outburst like Neely's on the subway.
Alecia Gittings testified that she was “terrified” after hearing Neely's verbal abuse, and later thanked Penny for intervening.
Lori Citro, who was taking her 5-year-old son to a doctor's appointment on the subway, testified that she barricaded her son in the back of a stroller because she was afraid of Neely, who was “belligerent and free-spirited.”
“I've been riding the subway for 30 years and I've seen a lot of things. I've seen a lot of unstable people. This felt different to me,” Citro said.
Testimony at trial included conflicting medical opinions from the city medical examiner and Penny's medical experts.
Dr. Cynthia Harris, who performed Mr. Neely's autopsy, upheld her verdict that Mr. Neely's death was due to asphyxia as a result of the former Marine's strangulation.
After seeing a journalist's video of a homeless man “dying to death,” Harris said she and other doctors, including the chief physician in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said Neely's death was consistent with asphyxia. He testified that he believed this was the cause. Penny wrapped her arms around his neck.
Meanwhile, Dr. Satish Chandru, a Texas-based forensic pathologist, claimed that Neely's autopsy showed no known signs of asphyxiation, but that Neely had “sickle cell” cells. “He died from the combined effects of crisis, schizophrenia and struggle.” And self-control, and synthetic marijuana. ”
