Jury views key videos in NYC subway chokehold death trial

NEW YORK — Jurors asked Wednesday to review police and bystander video at the heart of the chokehold manslaughter case against Daniel Penny as his lawyers complained that an aggressive protester was harassing the Marine veteran outside the New York City courthouse.

Within about an hour of starting a second day of deliberations, the anonymous jury wrote a note asking for a second look at videos captured by the body cameras of officers who responded to the subway car where Penny grabbed hold of Jordan Neely, an agitated man whose behavior and words were frightening passengers.

Jurors also wanted to revisit video of the roughly six-minute restraint, shot by a Mexican journalist who was on the train, and police video of Penny's station house interview with detectives.

Penny has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. His defense maintains he was justified in acting to protect fellow subway riders from Neely, believing that the man might be about to hurt someone.

Prosecutors say Penny acted recklessly, squeezing Neely's neck too hard and for too long. City medical examiners determined that the chokehold killed Neely, though the defense maintains that he died from a mix of schizophrenia, drug use, a genetic condition and his struggle with Penny.

The case has stirred debate about public safety, societal responses to mental illness and homelessness, the line between self-defense and aggression, and the role of race in all of it. Penny is white, while Neely was Black.

A few protesters have routinely gathered outside the courthouse to decry Penny as he comes and goes. A Penny supporter also often appears, holding a flag.

Defense lawyer Thomas Kenniff said in court Wednesday that at one point during the trial, a protester followed Penny to a waiting car and banged on the doors. The same man hurled slurs at Penny when he arrived Wednesday, the attorney said.

Saying that the man had sometimes been in the courtroom audience, Kenniff asked Judge Maxwell Wiley to bar him.

Wiley — who said he'd seen the car incident from his office window — declined, noting the public's right to access court proceedings. He said court officers had occasionally “limited people's access” because of their conduct, which he didn't detail, but only because it happened inside the courtroom.

Witnesses said Neely boarded a train in Manhattan on May 1, 2023, started moving erratically, yelling about his hunger and thirst and proclaiming that he was ready to die, to go to jail or — as Penny and some other passengers recalled — to kill.

Penny came up behind Neely, grabbed his neck and head, and took him to the floor. The veteran later told police he “just put him in a chokehold” and “put him out” to ensure he wouldn’t hurt anyone.