BREAKING: Former Marine Daniel Penny Found Not Guilty In NYC Subway Chokehold Death

A Manhattan jury has acquitted former U.S. Marine Daniel Penny on charges of criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter.

In May of 2023, Penny put Jordan Neely in a chokehold after Neely was acting irate and threatening passengers.

After being placed in a chokehold for several minutes, Neely died, but Penny’s defense argued Neely was still alive when authorities arrived on the scene.

In closing remarks, Penny’s attorney, Steven Raiser, asked jurors, “Who do you want on the next train ride with you?”

BREAKING: Daniel Penny found NOT GUILTY of criminally negligent hom*cide.

Praise God.

Jordan Neely's father was reportedly removed from the courtroom for speaking out. pic.twitter.com/GDiP2SH0if

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 9, 2024

BREAKING: Daniel Penny found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide. Protests erupt outside of courthouse in reaction to the verdict. pic.twitter.com/rWMKPWfMEj

— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 9, 2024

Per The New York Post:

A Manhattan jury has cleared Daniel Penny of criminal wrongdoing in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on a crowded subway — a caught-on-video killing that sparked fierce debate over the city’s mental health system and crime underground.

ADVERTISEMENT

The panelists acquitted Penny of criminally negligent homicide — which could have put him behind bars for up to four years — in Neely’s chokehold death aboard a crowded uptown F train in May 2023.

Manslaughter, the top charge against Penny, was tossed on Friday after jurors twice said they couldn’t reach a unanimous verdict.

Jurors sided with Penny’s defense attorneys, who had argued that the Marine veteran was justified in rushing to protect his fellow subway straphangers when he subdued the erratic homeless man. The lawyers had also questioned whether there was sufficient evidence that the chokehold caused Neely’s death.

“Who do you want on the next train ride with you?” one of his lawyers, Steven Raiser, in his closing statement in Manhattan Supreme Court.

“The guy with the earbuds minding his own business who you know would be there for you if something happened? Or perhaps you just hope that someone like Jordan Neely does not enter that train when you are all alone, all alone in a crowd of others frozen with fear?”

Daniel Penny's acquittal marks the end of the BLM era. Pop that champagne. pic.twitter.com/zQaX8bnWP5

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) December 9, 2024

Per CNN:

A Manhattan jury found Daniel Penny not guilty of criminally negligent homicide Monday in the death of Jordan Neely on a New York City subway last year.

Penny also previously faced a more serious second-degree manslaughter charge, but Judge Maxwell Wiley dismissed it Friday at the request of prosecutors after jurors twice told the court they could not come to a verdict on the count.

Penny, a 26-year-old former Marine, would have faced up to four years in prison for a criminally negligent homicide conviction and up to 15 years for a manslaughter conviction.

ADVERTISEMENT

There was applause in the courtroom as the not-guilty verdict was read aloud. Penny locked eyes with members of the jury that acquitted him, nodding in thanks. A smile was visible on his face.

Neely’s father, who was present in the courtroom for the verdict, was escorted out of the courtroom after an audible outburst with expletives.

The jury deliberated for just over an hour on the criminally negligent homicide charge. On the second-degree manslaughter charge, they deliberated for 16 hours before telling the judge they were deadlocked, and another three hours before saying they were deadlocked again.