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UPDATED: 6:30 p.m. ET, Nov. 18

The prosecution on Monday began wrapping up its case in the manslaughter trial for a white former Marine who choked an unarmed Black man to death on a New York City subway last year.

Daniel Penny stands accused of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges for his deadly response to Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old unhoused street performer who was in the throes of a mental health crisis during a reported aggressive diatribe to passengers on the northbound F train.

Testimony from the medical examiner who performed Neely’s autopsy continued days after the doctor told the jury there were “no alternative reasonable explanations” for the death other than the sprawling chokehold Penny employed.

On Monday, Dr. Cynthia Harris also ruled out the possibility of any drugs found in Neely’s system contributing to his death, according to Fox News.

Also last week, the jury was shown previously unseen video footage of Penny referring to Neely as “just a crackhead,” potentially providing insight into his state of mind and how much he valued the life of his fellow subway passenger when he launched his attack.

The defense was expected to begin presenting its case on Monday after the prosecution rested its case.

Penny faces nearly 20 years in prison if found guilty.

UPDATED: 8 a.m. ET, Nov. 13

Man Who Helped Daniel Penny On Subway Admits Lying That Neely Hit Him

One of the two men shown on video helping Daniel Penny restrain and ultimately kill Jordan Neely testified that he initially lied to prosecutors and falsely claimed he was the victim of an assault by the unarmed Black man choked to death on a New York City subway train last year.

Eric Gonzales testified on Tuesday as a witness for the prosecution in the manslaughter trial’s fourth week and explained his role in the preventable death of the unhoused street performer. Neely was reportedly in the throes of a mental health crisis when Penny, a former Marine trained to kill, came up behind him and placed him in a sprawling chokehold for as many as six consecutive minutes on May 1, 2023.

Shortly afterward, Gonzalez testified, he noticed the men struggling on the subway train car floor and “immediately” stepped in to help Penny, the New York Times reported.

Gonzalez testified he helped hold down Neely until Neely’s body went limp. After Neely showed no resigns of response to alleged efforts to revive him, Gonzalez testified that he simply “walked away.”

Gonzalez testified that he was “scared” he would be criminally charged, particularly as video footage from inside the subway car showed him helping Penny.

More from the New York Times:

After the police found Mr. Gonzalez, he said, he hired a lawyer and went to the Manhattan district attorney’s office for an interview. At first, worried that he might be charged with murder, he lied to prosecutors and said “that Neely had struck me first, and, immediately after, Daniel Penny had come after him,” he told the jurors.

But after prosecutors showed him images of him entering the subway and chancing on the struggle, he corrected his account, he said.

Gonzalez was just one of two men who helped Penny. Another man is shown on the fateful video footage standing over them as Neely struggles, prompting the chokehold to appear to get even tighter. That’s when the man standing over them reached to push down Neely’s right shoulder, making it more conducive for the chokehold Neely was trying to escape.

After it became apparent that Neely was no longer moving, the third man who held down Neely finally stood up.

But Gonzalez, who had been holding down Neely all along, appeared to continue to apply pressure to what was likely already a lifeless body. Penny similarly did not let up.

And that’s where the video, and presumably Neely’s life, ended.

Penny faces nearly 20 years in prison if found guilty.

UPDATED: 12:30 p.m. ET, Oct. 31, 2024

Attorneys Argued Over Race Of Jurors Seated For Daniel Penny Subway Killing Trial

A 12-person jury with four alternate jurors has been seated in the manslaughter trial against a former Marine who was shown on video choking an unarmed Black man to death on a New York City subway train last year.

The panel of New Yorkers charged with deciding what justice looks like for Daniel Penny killing Jordan Neely was assembled in a little less than two weeks.

Because a judge ruled that the jury would remain anonymous, all that is known about each member is that they all call Manhattan home.

Opening arguments are scheduled to begin on Monday in a case that has in many respects centered on the topic of race.

ABC News reported that the “Manhattan district attorney’s office filed a motion accusing the defense of eliminating certain potential jurors based on race. At the time, the defense used their challenges to strike at least 10 people of color.”

For example, “Prosecutors cited a Black woman with purple hair that defense attorneys struck after pointing out the hair color as among the reasons they wanted her off the jury.”

The trial is expected to last up to six weeks and protesters demanding justice for Neely have sworn to maintain a steady presence outside of Manhattan criminal court.

UPDATED: 11 a.m. ET, Oct. 30, 2024

Acquitting Daniel ‘Subway Strangler’ Penny Would Encourage Killing Black People, Protesters Say

Protesters who have pledged to be a steady presence outside of Manhattan criminal court during a manslaughter trial in the chokehold killing of an unarmed Black subway passenger say that anything other than a successful prosecution would effectively encourage more deadly vigilantism against Black people.

Hawk Newsome, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Greater New York and co-founder of Black Opportunities, referred to Penny as “the subway strangler” during a press conference and rally on Tuesday.

Newsome also expressed outrage at Penny’s defense team hiring a jury consultant “who specializes in defending white supremacists.”

Noting that Neely’s death has been widely reported as the result of a sprawling chokehold, Newsome said he preferred to refer to Penny as a “strangler” because “strangulation results in death, and he strangled a man to death on the New York City subway and he is using a legal team — an expert who specializes in defending white supremacists.”

Newsome said take in totality, “it sends a message to everyone across the world that if Black people are too loud – if black people scare you, then you can kill them.”

Newsome said of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office: “If this case is not prosecuted successfully, it will tell people that our Black skin is a weapon and you can defend yourself with fatal force against our Blackness.”

Neely was in the throes of a mental health crisis when Penny came up behind him and placed him in a sprawling chokehold for as long as six uninterrupted minutes.

“Average New Yorkers see mentally ill people on the train … every single day and we don’t jump up and kill them,” Newsome emphasized.

Newsome and other activists were joined by Neely’s uncle, Christopher Neely. He suggested it’s obvious why the defense team hired Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, who has been a jury consultant for cases involving race and violence including the Rodney King trial, Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial and OJ Simpson’s trial. Each of those cases ended in controversial acquittals.

But Christopher Neely said he was remaining optimistic.

“People will see what [Penny] did was not right and exact,” Christopher Neely said, pointing to how New York subway riders are typically able to refrain from vigilante violence.

“We all ride the train” and are exposed to adverse elements, Christopher Neely said of subway passengers before adding later, “but something made us not act in a way where we harm someone just because we didn’t like the sound that was traveling from one person to another.

“I want justice for Jordan Neely,” Christopher Neely concluded.

Jurors In Daniel Penny Manslaughter Trial Had Their Own Harrowing Subway Experiences

UPDATED: 8 a.m. ET, Oct. 29, 2024

Half of the six jurors selected Monday to serve on the manslaughter trial in which a white former Marine choked to death an unarmed Black man on a New York City subway last year have had their own harrowing experiences aboard the Big Apple’s public train system, according to a new report.

Daniel Penny faces nearly 20 years in prison if found guilty of manslaughter for placing Jordan Neely in a sprawling fatal chokehold more than a year ago in Manhattan.

The three jurors were picked despite — or because — of the harassment they claim they or a loved one experienced while riding on the subway as a passenger; a similar context to the scenario that Penny claims left him no choice but to act as a vigilante and attack Neely in a purported effort to protect his fellow passengers.

The New York Post reported:

The panelists chosen so far include a Yorkville insurance attorney who recalled being randomly “rammed” by a woman with a cart during her morning commute eight years ago.

“She just rammed the cart into me, called me a name and I just backed off,” the woman said during jury selection in Manhattan Supreme Court. “It kind of ended there.”

Another juror, an Upper East Side retiree, said that a “homeless gentleman” once harassed him for “no particular reason” while he was on the Q train at 96th Street.

A third juror is a retired public librarian living in Morningside Heights who said her daughter was assaulted by a mentally ill or homeless man in the middle of Times Square about seven years ago.

“This man walked up behind her… and he punched her in the back of the head,” she said.

Jury selection is expected to continue on Tuesday. A total of 12 jurors and four alternates must be chosen before the trial begins.

Daniel Penny’s Defense Team Includes Expert From Kyle Rittenhouse, OJ Trials

UPDATED: 11 a.m. ET, Oct. 28

The legal team charged with defending a white man who choked an unarmed Black man to death on a New York City subway train includes an expert whose role in previous cases that centered on race and violence led to acquittals.

Jo-Ellan Dimitrius is a jury consultant for Penny’s attorneys, and her involvement can’t be understated as lawyers select New Yorkers to decide the fate of the former Marine. The New York Times reported that Dimitrius has about 40 years of experience as a jury consultant in high-profile cases involving race and violence.

More from the New York Times:

Ms. Dimitrius, whose clients have spanned the spectrum from celebrities to corporations to the president of Brazil, worked with lawyers for Kyle Rittenhouse, who in 2021 was acquitted of killing two people and wounding another at a Black Lives Matter rally in Wisconsin. In 1994, O.J. Simpson’s team hired her to help select a favorable jury. Before that, she worked with defense lawyers in three cases that arose from the beating of Rodney G. King by Los Angeles police officers in 1991, an episode that set off rioting.

While Dimitrius enjoys an impressive track record, she may have her work cut out for her while selecting a jury of New Yorkers who may have strong feelings toward the city’s subway system.

On Friday, jurors were asked about their own subway use, NBC New York reported:

Most of the roughly 20 potential panelists who underwent questioning Friday were at least occasional subway riders, and many said they’d seen people have outbursts. Some said the episodes hadn’t left them feeling personally threatened or harassed, but several said they had.

One recalled an unsettling subway-riding moment years ago when he and a woman sitting near him were approach by a disheveled man who was upset that she was ignoring him. The prospective juror got off the train, he said, as another man stood up as if poised to intervene.

Another potential jury member said he’d seen things on the subway that made him nervous in recent years. A third said he hadn’t ridden the subway throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and while he wasn’t afraid of the underground, he’d “heard of some criminal violence” there.

And after a prosecutor explained that Penny isn’t charged with an intentional killing and asserts he was protecting himself and other subway riders, a fourth prospective juror had had enough.

“This all seems incredibly complicated,” he said, and soon after asked to be excused. His request hadn’t been decided by the time court broke for the day.

Jury selection is expected to resume on Monday.

The trial is expected to last up to eight weeks.

Prosecutors Don’t Want Daniel Penny Called A ‘Hero’ In Front Of The Jury

UPDATED: 8 p.m. ET, Oct. 25

The first week of a manslaughter trial in the New York City subway chokehold death of an unarmed Black man concluded on Friday as prospective jurors learned more about their possible roles while defense attorneys and prosecutors dueled to set parameters for the case.

Daniel Penny faces nearly 20 years in prison if found guilty of manslaughter for choking to death Jordan Neely more than a year ago in Manhattan.

MORE: The Killing Of Jordan Neely And Why Police Should Also Be Held To Account

Emails exchanged between prosecutors and defense attorneys reported on by the Gothamist revealed that prosecutors don’t want the judge to allow witnesses to refer to Penny, a former Marine, as a “hero” or “good Samaritan” — terms that his supporters have assigned to the man who came up behind Neely and placed him in a sprawling chokehold for more than six straight minutes.

Meanwhile, the judge in the case ruled that the jury would remain anonymous, according to Newsweek, which cited “threats” being made to both defense attorneys and prosecutors.

More from Newsweek:

On Thursday, New York Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley ruled in favor of the prosecution’s request to conceal the identities of the 12 jurors who will be selected to hear the case.

Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran made the request “based on prior threats that have been received in this case by all sides.”

She added that anonymity could help ensure a “fairer” outcome in the case.

“I believe that’s wise,” Wiley said.

He said he is aware of the various threats that have been made over the past several months.

“There’s not just opinions, but very, very strong opinions,” Wiley said. “There’s been people who have not been afraid to make threats.”

Penny’s attorney, Thomas Kenniff, did not object to the request.

According to research published by the Cornell Law Review, “one mock jury experiment found that anonymous jurors returned approximately 15% more guilty verdicts than their non-anonymous counterparts.”

Original story published on Oct. 21

Daniel Penny’s Vigilante Subway Chokehold Killing Trial Begins

The criminal trial for a white vigilante charged with choking an unarmed Black man to death on a New York City subway is set to begin nearly a year and a half after the fateful confrontation exploded during a train ride in Manhattan.

Daniel Penny, a former Marine, stands accused of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges for his deadly response to Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old unhoused street performer who was in the throes of a mental health crisis during a reported aggressive diatribe to passengers on the northbound F train.

It was in that context that jury selection was scheduled to get underway Monday morning to convene a panel of New Yorkers who will either convict or acquit Penny of crimes that carry a prison sentence of up to 19 years. The maximum prison sentence for a manslaughter conviction is 15 years, while criminally negligent homicide is punishable by up to four years.

Penny, 24, has pleaded not guilty to the charges that took nearly two weeks for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to bring after police initially declined any. His defense attorneys have suggested Penny was simply performing a civic duty by acting out of self-defense to protect subway passengers from the perceived threat of Neely, who witnesses claim was acting erratically but not violently.

Conversely, Jordan’s family had been pushing for murder charges to no avail.

The incident was recorded by bystanders in video footage that went viral, making it nearly impossible to select jurors who either are unfamiliar with chokehold death or haven’t already formed an opinion about it.

Earlier this month, prosecutors and defense attorneys sparred during a pre-trial hearing about whether to admit evidence from Penny’s interview with forgiving NYPD detectives.

Activists have planned to stage protests outside of Criminal Court in Manhattan each day the trial lasts.

What happened between Jordan Neely and Daniel Penny?

Eyewitnesses aboard the F-line train that fateful day on May 1, 2023, claim Neely was yelling that he was hungry and didn’t care if he went to jail. After Neely reportedly took off his jacket and threw it to the ground of the subway car, video footage shows Penny employing a sprawling chokehold on Neely while two other men help hold him down. Penny, who was trained to kill by the military, is accused of coming up behind Neely and placing him in a chokehold that lasted for as long as 15 minutes, police told reporters.

Penny and his helpers were able to keep Neely restrained via the chokehold until there was no more life in his body.

First responders couldn’t revive Neely and he was pronounced dead at a local hospital a short time later.

Penny was arrested on the scene but later released without any criminal charges, sparking an uproar over the lack of accountability for employing deadly force over a perceived physical threat from Neely.

Nearly two full weeks later, Penny and his lawyers were allowed by law enforcement to orchestrate his surrender.

A grand jury formally indicted Neely more than a month after he killed Neely.

Penny has maintained that he never intended to kill Neely and doubled down on his claims that race was not a factor when he decided to take the law into his own hands.

In an interview with Law & Crime, Penny predictably explained that Neely’s alleged verbal threats justified the physical force that ultimately killed him. Penny also downplayed the severity of the chokehold — which caused Neely to die by “compression of the neck,” according to a medical examiner — claiming it wasn’t applied for the amount of time “some people” are saying it was

Donations poured in for Daniel Penny

Online contributions to Penny’s legal defense fund soared in the immediate aftermath of him choking Neely to death as donors seemingly rushed to thank him for taking the law into his own hands and committing homicide.

In the days after Penny surrendered, the online fundraiser exceeded $2 million from more than 41,000 donors. Most of the donations were attached to “thank you” notes in grateful appreciation from people who described Penny as a “hero” and “good Samaritan” despite the violent nature of his alleged crime committed against someone who, again, witnesses report was not being violent.

As of Monday morning, Penny’s legal define fund has generated more than $3.1 million in donations, $10,000 of which purportedly coming from Vivek Ramaswamy, a failed Republican candidate for president who has aligned himself with Donald Trump. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another Trump supporter, has tweeted the link to the online crowdfunding site and politicized the prosecution with calls to “stop the Left’s pro-criminal agenda, and take back the streets for law abiding citizens … like Daniel Penny. Let’s show this Marine… America’s got his back.”

Similar fundraising efforts for Neely have attracted a small fraction of Penny’s legal defense fund.

Daniel Penny has insisted he’s not racist

During an interview with the New York Post, Penny told the publication that he wasn’t a racist and that race had nothing to do with the incident that ended in Neely’s death.

“I mean, it’s, it’s a little bit comical,” said Penny. “Everybody who’s ever met me can tell you, I love all people, I love all cultures. You can tell by my past and all my travels and adventures around the world. I was actually planning a road trip through Africa before this happened.”

Also during Penny’s interview with the New York Post, when given the chance to apologize to Neely’s family, Penny only responded that he was “deeply saddened by the loss of life” and that “It’s tragic what happened to him.”

Donte Mills, an attorney for the Neely family, also responded to Penny’s interview, calling it “an advertisement to soften the public’s view of Daniel Penny who choked Jordan Neely to death.”

“We never called him a white supremacist, we called him a killer,” said Mills. “We don’t care how many vacations he’s been on. We want to know why he didn’t let go of that chokehold until Jordan was dead.”

Penny has doubled down on downplaying the factor of Neely’s race.

“I didn’t see a Black man threatening passengers. I saw a man threatening passengers–a lot of whom were people of color. A man who helped restrain Mr. Neely was a person of color,” Penny said.

Jordan Neely’s tumultuous past revealed

Neely’s death came more than a decade after his mother suffered a similar homicidal fate at the hands of his stepfather in 2007.

Slightly more than 16 years earlier, 14-year-old Neely was an eyewitness to the domestic violence that ultimately contributed to the murder of his own mother.

Christine Neely was 36 years old when her boyfriend choked her to death, stuffed her body in a suitcase and dumped it on the side of a highway in the Bronx.

More than four years later, an 18-year-old Jordan Neely testified during Shawn Southerland’s murder trial how he saw the couple “fight every day,” NJ.com reported at the time.

That marked a turning point for Jordan Neely, his aunt told the New York Post.

Carolyn Neely said her nephew was “a complete mess” after his mother’s murder, adding that “he has never been the same” since.

Carolyn Neely continued: “It had a big impact on him. He developed depression and it grew and became more serious. He was schizophrenic, PTSD. Doctors knew his condition and he needed to be treated for that.”

She added: “The whole system just failed him. He fell through the cracks of the system.”

New York City Mayor Eric Adams defended Daniel Penny

New York City’s mayor spoke of Daniel Penny in sympathetic and benevolent terms in his initial reaction to Jordan Neely’s death.

Mayor Eric Adams — who has since been indicted by federal prosecutors on sweeping corruption allegations — refused to say whether a former Marine trained to kill who took it upon himself to place an unarmed Black man in a protracted chokehold committed a murder despite medical examiners ruling the death a homicide. Adams also suggested that those referring to Neely’s death as murder were irresponsible and jumping to conclusions even though that conclusion had already been definitively reached by medical officials.

Adams specifically referred to New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — who called the incident “a public murder” — and state City Comptroller Brad Lander — who tweeted the definition of “vigilantism” in response to the killing.

“Both the congresswoman and the comptroller, the comptroller’s a citywide leader and I don’t think that’s very responsible at the time where we are still investigating the situation,” Adams told Abby Phillip on CNN Primetime.

Neely’s family responded by calling out Adams and imploring him to “please give us a call,” emphasizing that the “family wants you to know that Jordan matters.”

“You seem to think others are more important than him,” Neely’s family said in a statement before accurately concluding with: “You cannot ‘assist’ someone with a chokehold.”

Neely’s family has also had some choice words for Penny and his legal team, which previously released a statement claiming the chokehold was “never intended to harm Mr. Neely.”

The statement also criminalized Neely in death and said he was “aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers,” directly contradicting claims from eyewitnesses.

In response, Neely’s family pointed out that Penny’s statement “was not an apology nor an expression of regret.”

Calling the statement “character assassination” of Neely, Penny was accused of feeling “entitled to take Jordan’s life.”

Neely’s family said Penny “never intended to help [Jordan] at all. In short, his actions on the train, and now his words, show why he needs to be in prison.”

SEE ALSO:

Jordan Neely’s Killer Had Help: Will The People Who Aided And Abetted Daniel Penny Be Charged Too?

‘No Sympathy’: Candace Owens’ Heartless Comments About Jordan Neely’s Death Are A New Low