UPDATE
Jun 28, 2023 4:30 PM CDT
Daniel Penny, who used a fatal chokehold on a fellow subway passenger, was arraigned in a four-minute hearing Wednesday in New York City. The Marine veteran pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges in the death of Jordan Neely, 30, WNBC reports. Neely's father, Andre Zachery, was in court. "Daniel Penny did not have the courage to look Jordan's father Andre in the eyes," Donte Mills, a lawyer for the family, said afterward. A lawyer for Penny said jurors will feel empathy for a subway passenger who faced someone acting erratically. "Danny isn't the only one on trial," Steven Raiser said. "The rights of people to defend one another will be on a trial too." Penny is next due in court on Oct. 25, per CBS News.
Jun 14, 2023 7:25 PM CDT
A man charged with manslaughter for putting an agitated New York City subway rider in a fatal chokehold has been indicted by a grand jury, an expected procedural step that will allow the criminal case to move toward trial. Daniel Penny was charged by Manhattan prosecutors last month in the May 1 death of Jordan Neely, a former Michael Jackson impersonator who struggled in recent years with homelessness and mental illness. Grand jury proceedings are secret, and spokespeople for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg declined to comment Wednesday, but the indictment was confirmed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, the AP reports.
"Like I said when the DA first brought charges, I have the utmost faith in the judicial process, and now that the Grand Jury has indicted Daniel Penny, a trial and justice can move forward," Adams said in a statement. Penny's lawyers, Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff, said in a statement that Penny had not intended to kill Neely, just hold him until police arrived. "While we respect the decision of the grand jury to move this case forward to trial, it should be noted that the standard of proof in a grand jury is very low and there has been no finding of wrongdoing," Raiser said. "We're confident that when a trial jury is tasked with weighing the evidence, they will find Daniel Penny's actions on that train were fully justified."
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Penny, 24, was released on $100,000 bond following his May 12 arraignment and will need to return to court to be arraigned on the new indictment. A fund set up to pay for Penny's legal defense has raised more than $2.8 million, his lawyers said. Under New York law, prosecutors needed a grand jury indictment to proceed with the case. Attorneys for Neely's family said in a statement Wednesday that the indictment of Penny "is the right result for the wrong he committed," per ABC News.
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