Monday saw an exoneration for a Marine veteran who had been accused of causing a death by putting an agitated passenger in a chokehold in a subway train. Daniel Penny, the veteran in question, was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide connected with the 2023 demise of Jordan Neely. A graver charge of manslaughter was dropped earlier in the courtroom proceedings after the jurors reached a stalemate. The charges were both felonies that could have led to a prison sentence.
At the announcement of the verdict, an erstwhile stoic Penny displayed brief flashes of relief and joy. The verdict sparked mixed reactions in the courtroom, with some applauding and others expressing their discontent. In an unfortunate scene, Neely’s father along with two supporters were asked to exit the courtroom following their uncouth remarks, while another was seen leaving the courtroom in tears.
Penny’s defense focused on the claim that his actions were in response to a highly unpredictable, mentally unstable man who was causing alarm among the subway passengers with his erratic behavior. The case brought to the forefront several contentious issues in America involving race, politics, mental illness, urban existence, crime, and homelessness, offering a lens to look at these sociocultural issues.
The case took on racial overtones as Penny is of Caucasian descent while Neely was African American. The trial grabbed public attention and often saw contrasting demonstrations outside the courthouse. Penny, 26, was a Marine Corps service member for four years before pursuing a career in architecture.
Contrarily, Neely, at 30, was a sporadic performer on subway platforms and carried a tragic backstory: he lost his mother, who had been gruesomely murdered and hidden in a suitcase when Neely was only a teenager. Neely used to entertain the masses with his impressive Michael Jackson impersonation, including his version of the famous moonwalk on city streets and subway platforms.
Despite his performance persona, Neely struggled with mental illness, a problem that began spiraling after his mother was killed. He had been admitted to a mental hospital with severe depression at the young age of 14 and was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. This condition often left him paranoid and caused him to hallucinate, according to the medical records that were brought forward during the trial.
Alongside his mental health problems, Neely also used a synthetic drug known as K2 and had come to recognize its detrimental effects on his cognitive function and behavior, an effect confirmed in a 2019 hospital record. The drug was still in his system at the time of his demise.
According to hospital records, Neely communicated to a doctor in 2017 that his impoverished circumstances and homelessness, scavenging for food in the trash, left him feeling worthless and contemplating suicide. In a fateful event six years later, Neely boarded a Manhattan subway, discarded his jacket onto the floor and voiced his desperation, claiming he was both hungry and thirsty and indifferent to his fate, be it death or imprisonment.
This dramatic proclamation led several passengers to call 911, claiming that he was attacking other passengers or suggesting he might harm them. Several witnesses testified in court to their fear during that time. Despite not possessing any weapons, with nothing but a muffin to his name, he refrained from making physical contact with anyone present. One passenger however, testified that his abrupt movements were significant enough for her to protect her 5-year-old child from him.
Penny had been on his way to the gym after a college class when he encountered Neely. He approached him from behind, held him in a chokehold, wrestled him to the ground, and subdued him, as he described to the police afterwards. Video footage from the incident showed Neely tapping a bystander’s leg and motioning towards him while under the chokehold, and at one point even managed to free one arm. He eventually fell silent about a minute before Penny released him.
Following the incident, Penny informed the authorities that his actions were aimed at ‘de-escalating’ the situation created by Neely’s threats until the arrival of the police. He added, even after the subway train had come to a halt and despite Neely squirming intermittently, he continued to maintain his grip because he was unsure whether the doors were open.
However, Penny stood challenged by the testimony of a Marine Corps combat instructor, who asserted Penny had incorrectly utilized a chokehold technique taught during his training. The prosecution argued that Penny’s response to a perceived threat was exceedingly aggressive and failed to regard the person behind the perceived danger.
A major debate arose around the necessity of such force once the train had pulled into the next station which happened mere moments after Penny took action. Although Penny stated that he had applied a ‘choke’ or ‘chokehold’, his lawyer, Steven Raiser, argued it was a lawful chokehold taught during his Marine service, modified to act as a ‘simple civilian restraint’.
The defense strived to create doubt that the pressure applied by Penny was intense enough to cause Neely’s death, supported by their forensic expert. Contrary to the city medical examiner’s opinion, the defense’s pathologist suggested Neely’s death resulted from a combination of factors: his usage of K2, his struggle, his schizophrenia, his physical restraint, and an underlying blood disorder. While Penny refrained from testifying, multiple people from his life – relatives, friends, and former Marines – spoke of his high moral character.