Earlier this week, Daniel Penny was acquitted of homicide in the killing of Jordan Neely, a Black unhoused man, on the New York City subway in 2023. And Vice President-elect JD Vance has invited Penny to commingle with him and felon-elect Donald Trump at the Army-Navy football game on Saturday
“Daniel's a good guy, and New York's mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone," Vance posted on X. "I'm grateful he accepted my invitation and hope he's able to have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage.”
Penny’s case was instantly polarizing. Outcries from minority communities and their allies called for legal retribution over Neely’s death. To them, Neely’s death was both avoidable and being treated differently, given he was an unhoused Black man.
"Jordan Neely was murdered,” New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted on X shortly after the killing. And after New York City Mayor Eric Adams pushed back against her phrasing, Ocasio-Cortez elaborated in an interview with The Cut, saying, “I would like everyone to pretend [Neely] was their son. I would like anyone to look at that video [of his killing], see their son, and see if they would say the same thing.”
However, conservative painted Penny as a hero, highlighting his past as a Marine and arguing his right to self-defense. And his actions became a talking point for right-leaning outlets and politicians.
"I'll take a million court appearances and people calling me names and people hating me, just to keep one of those people from getting hurt or killed," Penny said to Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro the day after his acquittal.
And while many X users applauded Vance for inviting Penny to the football game, others called out the odd celebration of someone who, while acquitted, still had a role in the death of another man.
“Yay let’s go hang out with a killer at a football game,” tweeted one account.
Penny’s case and the public’s reaction are reminiscent of Kyle Rittenhouse’s case. Rittenhouse was found not guilty in the 2020 fatal shooting of two unarmed men and the wounding of a pistol-wielding third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
At the time, tensions were extremely high following a police officer’s murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man. Protesters were taking to the streets to express their anger and heartbreak.
Later, at his trial, Rittenhouse claimed he’d traveled to Kenosha with other armed friends to protect private property from being destroyed during the unrest.
The case sparked outrage, which Trump happily stoked.
"If he didn't pull that trigger, that guy that put the gun to his head, in one-quarter of a second he was going to pull the trigger," Trump said in a 2021 interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, who once reportedly pointed a gun at a fellow political analyst following an on-air debate.
Trump invited Rittenhouse to Mar-a-Lago, telling Hannity that Rittenhouse was a “really nice young man.”
Making a jab at the dead and wounded, Trump added, “[Rittenhouse] was a fan, unlike the other guy.”
