- Daniel Penny was found not guilty of negligent homicide of Jordan Neely by a Manhattan jury.
- Previously, a second-degree manslaughter charge against Penny was dismissed after the jury was deadlocked.
- During the trial, Neely’s father sued Penny for negligence, assault and battery.
On Monday, a Manhattan jury found Daniel Penny not guilty in the negligent homicide of Jordan Neely, the verdict coming just days after a more serious charge of manslaughter against Penny had been dismissed.
The second-degree manslaughter charge against the 26-year-old former Marine was dismissed last week after the jury was deadlocked on that count, according to CNN.
For a criminally negligent homicide conviction, Penny could have faced up to four years in prison, and for a manslaughter conviction he would have faced up to 15 years.
The not guilty verdict was declared after the jury deliberated on the criminally negligent homicide charge for just over an hour, per CNN.
After 16 hours of deliberation on the manslaughter charge, jury members said they were deadlocked. After another three hours of deliberation, they were deadlocked again.
According to CNN, after the deadlock, Judge Maxwell Wiley dismissed the charge at the prosecutors’ request.
How did Jordan Neely die?
On May 1, 2023, 30-year-old street artist Neely entered a subway car and “began acting erratically, as he threw down his jacket and yelled at passengers that he was hungry and thirsty and didn’t care whether he died, witnesses said,” per CNN.
Neely struggled with homelessness, drugs and mental illness.
Penny, then 24, was a passenger on the subway and grabbed Neely in a chokehold from behind, he forced him to the floor and kept him restrained for several minutes, per The Associated Press.
Neely was unresponsive when Penny let go, and was later declared dead at the hospital.
The incident was captured on video by a bystander, and the video spread widely on the internet.
11 days after Neely was killed, Penny turned himself in, per The Washington Post.
“Penny’s attorneys had said he was protecting himself and other subway passengers from a volatile, mentally ill man who was making alarming remarks and gestures,” according to per the AP.
What happened at the trial?
Penny’s trial began in late October, and “the jury heard testimony from subway riders, responding police officers, pathologists, a psychiatric expert and Penny’s friends, relatives and a former Marine Corps instructor,” per CNN.
The trial also featured video and 911 calls from the incident.
There were more than 30 witnesses called to the stand by the prosecution.
During the trial, multiple subway passengers testified that they were terrified of Neely and that he was going to attack; they were relieved that Penny restrained him and held him in a chokehold, per CNN.
Civil suit against Daniel Penny
Last Wednesday, Andre Zachary, Neely’s father, sued Penny while the jury was deliberating the manslaughter charge against him, per the AP.
The lawsuit accuses Penny of negligence, assault and battery, leading to Neely’s death.
According to the AP, the lawsuit is seeking damages, “in a sum which exceeds the jurisdictional limits of all lower Courts which would otherwise have jurisdiction.”
Neely’s uncle, Christopher Neely said, “what gave Daniel Penny the right to choke Jordan nearly for six minutes? He had an option to go to another car. He had the option to say something and not do nothing,” according to the AP.