Penny Acquitted of Charges From Deadly Subway Encounter

A Manhattan jury Monday acquitted Daniel Penny, a former marine, of any criminal wrongdoing in the trial surrounding the death of Jordan Neely. 

Penny had placed Neely in a chokehold on a New York Subway in May 2023, after Neely had had an outburst threatening to passengers. Penny’s defense argued that he had done so as to protect bystanders and subdue Neely until police could arrive. They also had argued that it was unclear whether Penny’s chokehold was indeed the cause of Neely’s death. Prosecutors did not dispute that Neely’s behavior was threatening to others on the train, and that Neely was high on synthetic cannabinoids.

Penny originally faced charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. The manslaughter charge was dropped by the prosecution on Friday after jurors could not come to a unanimous verdict on it.

The prosecution attempted to make race a salient factor in the trial, with the prosecutor, Dafna Yoran, referring to Penny as “the white man” and “murderer” throughout the trial. Yoran is also known as a proponent of “Restorative Justice,” having earlier reduced the charges against a man caught on camera killing an elderly college professor from felony murder to manslaughter.

Last Wednesday, Neely’s father, Andre Zachary, also launched a lawsuit against Penny, which was described as a distraction by Penny’s lawyers. “We will not be distracted by this attempt to attack Danny while he is under such tremendous stress,” defense attorney Steve Raiser stated on Thursday.