A former US Marine was found not guilty on Monday in the chokehold death of a homeless man on the New York subway in a divisive case highlighting race, mental illness and public safety in America’s biggest city.
Daniel Penny, 26, who is white, was acquitted by a jury of the charge of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Black man, after a high-profile trial.
The jury, after three days of deliberations, had previously deadlocked on a more serious charge of manslaughter.
“The jury has now spoken,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement following the verdict, which was met with anger from Neely’s family in the courtroom and cheers from Penny’s supporters.
“We deeply respect the jury process and we respect their verdict,” said Bragg, whose office brought the charges.
Neely’s May 1, 2023 death on a New York subway train was caught on video by onlookers and the footage was shared widely on social media.
According to witnesses, Neely, before being restrained by Penny, had been screaming at passengers for food and drink and saying he was willing to die.
The video showed Penny pinning Neely, who had a history of mental illness, to the ground in a chokehold on the floor of the train for several minutes.
Besides the racial element, the case brought into focus two burning issues in New York: mental illness among those living on the streets, and residents’ fears for their safety on public transit.
Protests erupted in New York after Neely’s death, resulting in several arrests, as some decried Penny’s actions as an example of white “vigilantism.”
Black Lives Matter protestors demonstrated daily outside the downtown courthouse where Penny’s trial was held.
While many on social media condemned the level of force used by Penny, some voiced fears for their safety on New York’s subway.
The city’s medical examiner said Neely was killed by compression of the neck, and ruled the death a homicide.
His cause of death was a subject of dispute during the trial, with Penny’s lawyers attributing it to drug use and a genetic condition.
In his statement, Bragg, the district attorney, also said that prosecutors and their family members had been “besieged with hate and threats -– on social media, by phone and over email” during the trial.
“Simply put, this is unacceptable, and everyone, no matter your opinion on this case, should condemn it,” Bragg said.