The jury in Daniel Penny’s high-profile New York trial has returned with a unanimous decision and found the Marine veteran not guilty in the death of Jordan Neely.
The verdict comes after Judge Maxwell Wiley dismissed the manslaughter charge against Penny, who is accused of killing Neely.
The judge’s ruling on Friday left the jury to consider a lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide against Penny.
Wiley gave the jurors the Allen charge earlier on Friday, which are instructions reminding the jurors of how much time and money has gone into the case and how imperative it is that they reach a decision.
The jury cleared Penny of criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death.
A more serious manslaughter charge was dismissed earlier in deliberations because the jury deadlocked on that count.
Both charges were felonies and carried the possibility of prison time.
The trial, which began in October, centered on whether Penny, an architecture student and Marine Corps veteran, was justified in using potentially lethal force on Neely during the May 1, 2023 incident.
Penny pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
Prosecutors say he recklessly squeezed Neely’s neck too hard and for too long.
Penny’s defense maintains he was justified in acting to protect fellow subway riders from Neely.
Witnesses testified that Neely’s erratic behavior and ominous words were frightening passengers.
Jurors sought a second look at a bystander’s video that captured much of the restraint; responding officers’ body camera videos; and police video of Penny’s subsequent station house interview with detectives.
A major aspect of Penny’s defense entails contesting the city medical examiner’s office’s determination that the chokehold killed Neely.
In part of the testimony jurors reheard on Wednesday, city medical examiner Dr. Cynthia Harris said Neely’s autopsy, the bystander’s video, and investigative findings gave her all the information she needed.
During the trial, Harris admitted that she ruled on Neely’s cause of death after only viewing a video of the incident and before she carried out an autopsy or toxicology tests.
“No toxicological result imaginable was going to change my opinion,” she said, even if they showed “enough fentanyl to put down an elephant.”
Fentanyl is a powerful opioid that caused an estimated 75,000 overdose deaths in the U.S. last year.
Neely was ultimately found to have a different drug — synthetic marijuana, often known by the street name K2 — in his system when he died.
Harris testified that a K2 overdose didn’t kill Neely’s death, despite ruling on the cause of death before receiving a toxicology report.
A pathologist hired by the defense testified that Neely died from a mix of schizophrenia, K2 use, a genetic condition, and his struggle with Penny.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Satish Chundru told the court that the “chokehold did not cause the death.”
Witnesses said Neely boarded a train in Manhattan on May 1, 2023, and started moving erratically.
He started yelling death threats at passengers and proclaiming that he was ready to die, go to jail, or kill, as Penny and some other witnesses recalled.
Penny later told police he “just put him in a chokehold” and “put him out” to ensure he wouldn’t hurt anyone.
The case has stirred debate about public safety, self-defense, and societal responses.
A few protesters have routinely gathered outside the courthouse to decry Penny as he comes and goes.
Some Penny supporters also have appeared, sometimes holding a flag.
