The trial of Daniel Penny is nearing its conclusion as the jury has been sent to deliberate the case.
Deliberations are set to begin on Tuesday in the case against Penny, the Marine veteran who bravely protected fellow customers during an incident on the New York City subway in 2023.
The trial, which began in November and has involved 40 separate witnesses, relates to charges brought by New York prosecutors claiming that Penny committed manslaughter and reckless homicide in the death of Jordan Neely.
Neely, a homeless man and convicted criminal, was threatening other passengers on the subway when Penny stepped in and placed him in a chokehold in order to subdue him. Neely later died as a result of the incident.
A career criminal, Neely had previously been arrested 42 times and had a reputation as a serious troublemaker.
On one occasion, he even pleaded guilty to attempted kidnapping after dragging a seven-year-old girl down a road.
In closing arguments, Penny’s lawyer, Steven Raiser, Mr Penny’s attorney, asked jurors to imagine they had been on that train.
“Danny acted to save those people,” Mr Raiser said. “Who would you want on the next train ride with you?”
Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran, meanwhile, argued that Penny had used “way too much force for way too long, in way too reckless a manner.”
“Our society cannot allow citizens, or the police, for that matter, to use deadly force based on what could be empty threats,” she declared.
Daniel Penny left court today after his lawyer argued during his closing statement that the Marine veteran “acted to save” subway riders from a “desperate” Jordan Neely https://t.co/HwtizoSQr5 pic.twitter.com/TXX7v6l1YI
— New York Post (@nypost) December 2, 2024
If convicted of both charges, Penny could face up to 15 years in prison.
Pray for Daniel Penny as jury deliberations are underway in New York.
A reminder that Penny is a 26 y/o, former Marine, who is facing up to 15 years in prison for protecting New Yorkers from a man with 42 prior arrests, who had assaulted women on the subway 3 times prior pic.twitter.com/bFLedbB8vh
— Savanah Hernandez (@sav_says_) December 3, 2024
This trial is as significant as that of Kyle Rittenhouse, who killed two people in self-defense during Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, back in 2020.
Rittenhouse was eventually acquitted of all charges. Let’s pray that Penny’s trial has the same outcome.
