Daniel Penny faces up to 15 years on 2nd-degree manslaughter charge in chokehold death of Jordan Neely
Sources told The Post that a grand jury indicted ex-Marine Daniel Penny in the chokehold death of homeless man Jordan Neely in a subway encounter last month. Penny’s lawyers vowed “aggressively” to defend their client in court.
The decision, made Wednesday by a Manhattan jury, comes weeks after Neely’s death caught on camera sparked national outrage over Penny’s actions. It also brought intense scrutiny to the ailing mental health system which failed his victim.
Penny, now 24, faces one charge for second-degree murder and another charge for criminally negligent homicide.
The first could land him in prison for 15 years, and the second four.
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Penny’s lawyers said that they are committed to clearing Penny of all charges.
Steven Raiser of Raiser & Kenniff said that while they respected the decision by the grand jury, the standard of proof is low in a grand juries and no wrongdoing has been found.
We’re confident that a jury will weigh the evidence and find that Daniel Penny’s conduct on that train was fully justified.
Currently, the former leader of an infantry squad is out on bail for $100,000.
He surrendered to police on 12 May, nearly two weeks after he wrapped his arms around Neely’s neck in a chaotic encounter on the F train in Manhattan.
Eyewitnesses report that Neely, who has a history of mental illness as well as a number of run-ins and confrontations with New York’s Finest, was shouting at other straphangers and threatening them. He also threw trash around.
Penny, in a series released on Sunday, said that he felt obligated to intervene.
Penny stated that “if [Neely] would have carried out his threat, he’d have killed someone.”
Penny grabbed him from behind using a grappling technique known as rear naked choke and fell to the floor while he and the other two men attempted to restrain the 30-year-old.
The footage was released by a freelance journalist who happened upon the encounter while on the subway. It immediately sparked outrage.
Penny claimed he didn’t mean to kill Neely, but he could not sit by and listen to Neely’s rant.
There’s a misconception that Marines aren’t afraid. He said that we are taught courage as one of our core value. “Courage is not the absence or presence of fear, but how you deal with it,” he explained.
“I was afraid for myself, but when I looked around me there were women and children. He was screaming in their faces, saying these threats. “I just couldn’t stay still.”
The city’s medical examiner ruled Neely’s death as a homicide and stated that the troubled ex-street performer died of “compression to the neck.”
Neely’s family has blamed the authorities for failing to provide him with the medical care he required. They’ve also called for Penny be charged with murder.
In a fiery eulogy delivered last month, Rev. Al Sharpton said to a church packed with people that “when Jordan was choked, they wrapped their arms around us all.”
Sharpton criticized the initial decision of authorities to release Penny after the murder, asking “Who thought that it was okay for this man to choke his brother to death, and then go home to visit his family?”
Sharpton issued a second statement after the indictment saying that the grand jury had “seen right through Penny’s false narrative” by voting to advance the case.
Sharpton stated, “This was an obvious case of vigilantism which has no place within our society. That is why I spoke out against it at Jordan’s funeral.”
Sharpton said that while the grand jury should be commended for their righteous action, they wished that the charges would have been more accurate and reflected what it was really: murder. He added his National Action Network will “continue to watch this case” to “ensure this killer is brought to justice, as well as Jordan Jordan.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office declined comment.
The Post spoke to the cousin of the former Marine and learned that his attorneys had instructed the family not make further statements about the case.
Justine Baldwin replied, “We will let them take care of it for now. Thank you.”
Penny has yet to be arraigned.
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