NEW YORK – Daniel Penny has been found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide in the subway chokehold death of Jordan Neely.
It comes after jurors told the court Friday morning they couldn't reach an agreement on the top charge, second-degree manslaughter, and prosecutors moved to dismiss it, prompting the judge to controversially allow them to only deliberate the second charge.
Penny, a 26-year-old Marine veteran and architecture student, was charged with manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide for the subway chokehold death of Neely, a 30-year-old homeless man with schizophrenia who barged onto the train shouting death threats while high on a type of synthetic marijuana known as K2.
Penny's side of the courtroom erupted in cheers, prompting an angry response from Neely's side, including his father, Andre Zachary, who was escorted out of the courthouse along with several Black Lives Matter leaders after allegedly snapping.
DANIEL PENNY RETURNS TO COURT FOR CLOSING ARGUMENTS IN SUBWAY CHOKEHOLD TRIAL
Someone clapped, and Zachary turned and glared, "Are you trying to f---ing get killed?" The man who clapped later told Fox News he did not take the comment as a threat.
Hawk Newsome, a leader of BLM's New York chapter, commented that "It's a small world." Others on Neely's side of the courtroom were seen weeping at the verdict.
In a statement, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, whose office secured charges against Penny with a grand jury indictment after police had questioned and released him in connection with the incident, said he would respect the jury's decision. However, he also condemned "unacceptable" behavior that he said had targeted his prosecutors.
"Unfortunately, over the duration of this trial, talented career prosecutors and their family members were besieged with hate and threats – on social media, by phone and over email," he said. "Simply put, this is unacceptable, and everyone, no matter your opinion on this case, should condemn it."
Maud Maron, a former public defender and parents' rights advocate who is running to unseat Bragg, condemned her opponent for bringing the case to begin with.
"The NYPD Officers who initially interviewed Daniel Penny and declined to arrest him got it right," she told Fox News Digital. :The Manhattan jury who heard all the evidence, deliberated and returned a verdict of not guilty got it right. The New Yorkers and their fellow Americans who were rooting for Daniel Penny as a hero and understood he should never have been charged in the first place got it right. The only person who got this wrong was Alvin Bragg. DA Bragg has pursued a reckless ideological agenda since his first day in office. Manhattan deserves a district attorney who will defend all New Yorkers, apply the law fairly and make Daniel Penny's heroism unnecessary by cleaning up the subways and streets of New York City."
The incident happened on May 1, 2023. Neely barged onto an F train in Manhattan screaming death threats. Witnesses testified that Neely's threats scared them more than a typical subway outburst would. They were thankful for Penny's intervention.
Neely had a lengthy criminal record, an active arrest warrant, a history of psychosis and was high on K2, a synthetic form of marijuana that pathologists described as a stimulant. He also had the sickle cell trait genetic disorder.
Just three days earlier, a straphanger had been stabbed with an ice pick on a J train, according to reports from the time. It was about a month after a PBS reporter got sucker punched on a No. 4 train. There was a shove a week before that, and the victim hit the side of a moving R train and survived.
In that climate of fear, witnesses said they were terrified by Neely, who shouted death threats at them.
Witness Ivette Rosario, a 19-year-old student, testified that Neely shouted someone would "die that day."
"I got scared by the tone that he was saying it," she said. "I have seen situations, but not like that.
Penny, in a voluntary interview with police after the incident, raised concerns about a series of subway shoving incidents involving mentally ill people on the city's transit system.
"He was talking gibberish...but these guys are pushing people in front of trains and stuff," he told detectives. There were more than 20 subway shoves in the year before Penny's encounter with Neely. He was released without charges after the interview.
Kyle Rittenhouse, who was also acquitted at trial after shooting three men in self-defense at a 2020 Black Lives Matter protest, congratulated Penny in a post on X.
But Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office secured a grand jury indictment days later, and Penny was arrested on May 12.
Jurors deliberated for a little less than four hours Tuesday and all day Wednesday, sending several notes to the judge. Among the items they asked for were videos of the chokehold and of Penny's interview with police, as well as the judge's instructions regarding justification for physical force and the definitions of recklessness and negligence.
Penny would have faced a maximum sentence of four years in prison if convicted of the lesser charge.
"We couldn’t be more pleased that a jury of Danny’s peers acquitted him of any wrongdoing," his attorneys, Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff, said in a joint statement. "And now New Yorkers can take some comfort in knowing that we can continue to stand up for one another without sacrificing our rights or our freedoms."
This is a breaking news story. Stick with Fox News Digital for updates.
