The Daniel Penny Trial: What you need to know before opening statements

NEW YORK – Opening statements are expected today in the criminal trial of Daniel Penny, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran accused of housing homeless Jordan Neely in a fatal strangulation last year in New York underground train.

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Penny, 25, is charged with “negligently causing the death” of Neely, a 30-year-old former street performer who witnesses say was acting erratically on the train on May 1, 2023, while Penny restrained him. .

Penny, who served four years in the Marine Corps before being discharged in 2021, was released on $100,000 bail.

The trial is expected to last four to six weeks. Jurors, who were asked about their own experiences working on the subway, will hear opening statements and possibly some witness testimony today. It is not known who will be the first witness of the prosecution.

He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of second-degree manslaughter and up to four years if convicted of negligent homicide.

The case follows from a The fight is on May 1, 2023 on the F subway train in Manhattan, where witnesses said Neely was yelling and demanding money when Penny, who said she was walking from a college class to the gym, approached him.

Penny, with the help of two other passengers, pinned Neely to the ground and strangled him for more than three minutes, prosecutors said. A video of the incident shows Penny trying to subdue Neely by choking him.

Neely struggled with suffocation for several minutes before being taken to Lenox Hill Hospital and pronounced dead. The forensic medical examination recognized the death as a homicide due to compression of the neck. Penney’s attorneys said they plan to challenge the discovery.

Eleven days after the fatal incident, Penny turned herself in to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Family members say Neely was homeless and struggled with drug addiction and mental health issues.

Penney’s attorneys argued that the Long Island native did not intend to kill Neely, but simply held him back long enough for the police to arrive. Penny claimed that Neely screamed “I’m going to kill you” and that he was “ready to die” or go to prison for life.

Penny’s attorney, Steven Reiser, said the defense plans to offer other potential causes of Neely’s death, including the high levels of a synthetic cannabinoid known as K2 found in his body.

“The jury will also know that he (Neely) is high on K2, which is a very, very dangerous drug that has historically caused people to act violently, erratically, suicidally, whatever,” Penny’s attorney, Thomas Canniff, said. , said in a speech on Good afternoon, New York.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, argued in their court filings that Penny’s actions were reckless and negligent, even if he did not intend to kill Neely. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office declined to comment ahead of the trial.

“The government failed Mr. Neely,” Reiser said GDNY. “Because he had mental health issues in the subway, high on K2, because he was trying to self-medicate after a long, long history of violent crimes,” Reiser said.

The dramatic scene sparked heated debate and division between those who believed Penny had acted heroically and others who believed he had shown excessive force. Reiser said the conviction would “destroy the right and duty of every New Yorker to protect one another.”

In the past, Neely made money by impersonating Michael Jackson, but at times he was homeless.

Street performers who knew Neely described him as a kind and talented impressionist who became depressed after the death of his mother in 2007. According to reports at the time, Christy Neely was strangled. Neely, who was 14 when she died, testified against her mother’s boyfriend in a murder trial.

Neal did have a criminal record with 44 previous arrests – many of them subway-related, including disorderly conduct, disorderly conduct, assault and fare evasion.

The Associated Press electronic service contributed to this report.