The Judge dismissed one charge, and the jury found Daniel Penny not guilty of the other.
A Manhattan jury on Dec. 9 acquitted Daniel Penny of criminally negligent homicide over the death of Jordan Neely, a mentally ill homeless man whom Penny put in a chokehold and wrestled to the ground on a subway in May of last year.
On Friday, Judge Maxwell Wiley had agreed to dismiss the top charge of manslaughter in the second degree when the jury could not reach a unanimous decision after three days of deliberation.
Homeless man Jordan Neely got on a subway train and began threatening the passengers. Things degraded to the point that Penny felt that Neely needed to be restrained in the interest of public safety. Neely died while in his “custody,” and being that this is New York City, they charged him with multiple counts of manslaughter.
Unlike Geroge Floyd, Neely did not have a massive dose of fentanyl in his system, but there was evidence of drug use in the toxicology report.
[Defense expert witness Dr. Satish] Chundru said he believed Neely died from “the combined effects of sickle cell crisis, the schizophrenia, the struggle and restraint and the synthetic marijuana” that was in his system. He said he had reviewed Neely’s autopsy report, two toxicology reports, genetic studies, photographs from the autopsy, “a couple of videos of the incident,” psychiatric records, witness statements and transcripts of police body camera video, among other things.
I can’t speak to that, but I can suggest that the prosecution of Penny fits the left-wing anti-self-defense profile. Criminals have more rights, and if you are defending yourself or someone else, expect to get charged with a crime.
Penny’s life has been a circus for the past two years, and while being found innocent is a relief, it may not be the end of the story. We do know that no one will have to ask President Trump to pardon him.
