Jury selection begins Monday in the lightning rod trial of Daniel Penny, the former Marine accused of suffocating homeless subway busker Jordan Neely in a crowded Manhattan car.
A group of New Yorkers faced a series of questions and were enraged about their own experiences riding the city's subways, and ultimately 12 Manhattan residents were chosen to decide the fate of Penny, 25. It will be. Penny is arrested and charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Murder in front of the camera.
The tragedy unfolded on May 1, 2023, when an unarmed homeless man (according to some witnesses) yelled an “insane and threatening” tirade on a northbound F train approaching the Broadway-Lafayette station. There was a huge uproar over whether Penny's actions were justified when she confronted him. Platform after 2pm
Penny was cut up by police the night Neely died, but was arrested two weeks later after cellphone video of Neely's fatal strangulation was leaked online, sparking outrage.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office accused Penny of “recklessly” causing Neely's death by strangling her for more than six minutes. Neely was well past the point where he stopped “purposeful movement.”
Prosecutors said the strangulation continued after the subway car door opened, terrified passengers fled the scene and two more men began restraining Neely.
Penny's lawyers claim that Penny is being “persecuted”, claiming that she defended a fellow straphanger from an enraged Neely, who yelled, “Someone is going to die today!”
But Neely was unarmed at the time and had only a muffin in his pocket, video from the scene showed. And other witnesses reported they didn't feel Neely really intended to hurt anyone.
“It was just like any other day in New York for me,” one bystander told the grand jury.
Penny has pleaded not guilty to the two charges, which carry a combined maximum sentence of 19 years in prison if convicted.
Witnesses in the trial, which is expected to last six weeks, will include the detective who questioned Penny the night she died, as well as bystanders who were on the subway at the time.
It is not yet clear whether Penny, who is free on $100,000 bail, will testify in his own defense.
Penny's lead attorney, Thomas Kenniff, ran as a Republican against Manhattan DA Bragg in the November 2021 election. Democrat Bragg won with 83% of the vote.
