After a year of waiting to see what would happen to the white man who put a Black man in a fatal chokehold on the New York subway, the jury finally came back with a verdict but, not the one folks were expecting.
A Manhattan jury deadlocked not once but twice on how to decide on the second-degree manslaughter charge against Daniel Penny in the death of street artist Jordan Neely, who was also unhoused. According to CNN’s report, the October trial finally claim to a close Tuesday and after 16 hours of deliberation, the jury was still undecided.
In response, Judge Maxwell Wiley denied the defenses’ motion to declare a mistrial but agreed to move forward with the prosecution’s motion to dismiss the charge. Though, Penny isn’t home free. He still faces a charge of criminally negligent homicide.
The charges stem from a horrifying incident from May 1, 2023. In a bystander video, 30-year-old Neely is seen visibly distressed, yelling to the train car passengers that he was hungry. The video shows Penny, a Marine Corps veteran, grabbing Neely and placing him in a chokehold on the subway car floor. He held him in the restraint for several minutes until the police showed up. However, by the time the cops got there, authorities say Neely was unresponsive.
Penny maintained throughout the case that his motive was to protect other riders from what he considered threatening and erratic behavior. However, prosecutors slammed him for acting recklessly and exerting an unjustified use of force.
If convicted on the lesser charge, Penny faces up to four years in prison as opposed to the 15 years in prison he faced on the more serious manslaughter charge. Jury deliberations on the lesser count will continue Monday, the report says.