Subway chokehold trial: Jurors begin deliberations in case against LI native Daniel Penny

A Manhattan jury began deliberating Tuesday afternoon in the case against Long Island native Daniel Penny, who is on trial for the chokehold death of Jordan Neely last year in the city subway system.

After seven weeks of trial, a panel of seven women and five men will decide whether Penny, 26, is guilty of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for killing Neely.

The jury deliberated for nearly two hours and then asked Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley to read back his instructions on self-defense.

The panel must determine if the prosecution proved Penny did not reasonably believe that Neely posed a deadly threat to him and other passengers, according to the judge. The jury will return Wednesday morning to continue deliberations.

According to trial testimony, Penny put Neely, a homeless man, in a chokehold on the Queens-bound F train around 2:30 p.m. on May 1, 2023, to keep him from harming other passengers.

The case made national headlines, echoing many culture war issues of race, crime, economic inequality and criminal justice reform.

Organizers with Black Lives Matter and the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network protested when Penny was not immediately arrested. It took more than a week for a grand jury to indict him.

In response, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman shuttled supporters to a rally outside the Manhattan courthouse to protest the charges against Penny at his arraignment.

Penny, who is white, grew up in West Islip, played lacrosse and joined the Marine Corps after graduating from West Islip High School. Neely, who was Black, was raised by his mother between Newark and New York City until her boyfriend murdered her in the family’s apartment. Neely became known in the subway system for his Michael Jackson impressions and his struggles with mental illness. Hospital records introduced at trial show he was admitted a dozen times for severe mental health issues in six years.

Several people on the train told the jury that Neely, 30, a former subway busker, burst onto the train screaming about being hungry and telling the other commuters that he didn’t care if he went to prison for the rest of his life.

One woman, Caedryn Schrunk, a Nike marketing executive, said she thought she would die that day.

Manhattan prosecutor Dafna Yoran acknowledged Penny’s reaction to step in and subdue Neely was "laudable," but she argued the highly trained Marine Corps veteran held his grip for far too long.

During her closing arguments, the assistant district attorney said Penny did not see Neely’s humanity.

"You obviously cannot kill someone because they are crazy and ranting and looking menacing, no matter what it is they are saying," she told jurors.

Yoran once again showed jurors a photo of the veins popping out on Neely’s forehead while Penny held him in the chokehold.

"These obvious physical changes to Mr. Neely’s face prove that his jugular was being compressed," she said.

Defense lawyer Steven Raiser said during his closing arguments that it wasn’t the chokehold that killed Neely, but a combination of factors — chronic synthetic marijuana use, physical decline brought on by schizophrenia and a blood ailment called sickle-cell trait.

Defense witness Dr. Satish Chundru, a forensic pathologist from Texas, testified the struggle between Neely and Penny was also a factor in the homeless man's death.

Yoran went frame by frame through a cellphone video taken at the scene telling the jury that even as Neely’s body was in its death throes, Penny held on for nearly a minute longer.

"Continuing to keep Mr. Neely in any kind of a chokehold after he lost consciousness showed a complete reckless disregard for his life," Yoran said.

Although Penny was trained in the military in nonlethal restraints, the defense characterized Penny as an architectural student, a surfer and a musician.

"And that softer side that informed him to apply something less than a textbook Marine blood choke, by choosing not to render Mr. Neely unconscious," Raiser said, referring to the chokehold as a "simple civilian restraint."

Yoran acknowledged Penny’s intentions were not to kill Neely, but said he knew he could have hurt the homeless man with his restraint and did not stop.

"What’s so tragic about this case is that even though the defendant started out trying to do the right thing, as the chokehold progressed, the defendant knew that Jordan Neely was in great distress and dying, and he needlessly continued," the prosecutor said. "The defendant was given all the signs that he needed to stop. He ignored them and kept going until a man died."

Penny faces a maximum of 15 years if found guilty of second-degree manslaughter and up to 4 years for a criminally negligent homicide charge.