Disturbing posters of Daniel Penney plastered on New York subway car ahead of sentencing

Alarming posters have been plastered on a New York subway car as the verdict in the Daniel Penney case approaches.

Early Thursday morning, “an autonomous group of New Yorkers reclaimed the F train,” the same subway line on which Jordan Neely was killed by a Marine veteran on May 1, 2023.

The black-and-white signs read “A MAN HAS BEEN LYNCHED HERE” along with Neely’s name as they replaced earlier announcements on the train.

According to Talia Jane, who recorded the unfurling of the posters, the choice of anonymous word group “pays homage to the original ‘Man Was Lynched Yesterday’ flag that was raised outside the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). ) Manhattan office in 1920-1938 as part of the campaign against lynching.

The group, made up of “black, brown, Asian, white and Jewish New Yorkers,” also affixed flag-shaped stickers to subway maps along hundreds of platforms across the city, marking the Broadway/Lafayette stop where Neely died.

Penny, 26, choked 30-year-old Neely for almost six minutes after the homeless man started shouting aggressively at the train passengers.

He now faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide as prosecutors accuse him of unjustified use of deadly force.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and could face up to 19 years behind bars if convicted.

One participant who helped put up the posters told Jane: “New York must ensure that its public spaces are free from the racist state violence and racist interpersonal violence that so deeply affects the lives of black and brown people in this city.

“Jordan Neely was lynched on the F train. Regardless of what a grand jury says about it, we took action today to mark that car as a place of mourning, a place of grief and a place of anger against a city and a country that values ​​certain lives more than others “, added the resident of Brooklyn.

Another supporter told Jane: “Jordan Neely died at the hands of a state that insists that the black and dark-skinned, the poor and the disabled – all but the elite few – cannot be bypassed. Jordan deserved to be cared for. New Yorkers deserve to be cared for.”

Video of the incident shows Neely struggling to get out of the hold before eventually relenting, despite passengers telling the ex-soldier to let go.

In the criminal trial, defense attorneys argued that Penny was only trying to protect others on the subway car.

In his closing argument, Penny’s attorney, Steven Reiser, described commuters on the subway that day as “frozen with fear” and argued that the obvious reason there was no recording of Neely’s outburst was because they were too afraid to move.

He then cited experts and witnesses who testified during the trial and reminded the jury that Neely was described as having “severe psychotic episodes.”

Neal had a long rap record and a history of mental illness. When a Michael Jackson impersonator boarded the F train that day, he began threatening passengers and said he wasn’t afraid to go back to jail.

The jury, tasked with determining whether Penny committed manslaughter that day, focused on testimony about the homeless man’s death.

The jury of seven women and five men sent a memo to Judge Maxwell Wiley around 3 p.m. Wednesday asking to hear part of the city medical examiner’s testimony about issuing a death certificate without toxicology results for the 30-year-old victim.

Dr. Cynthia Harris testified that the video of Penny’s encounter with Neely aboard the F train in Manhattan, as well as the results of the investigation, gave her all the information she needed to state that Neely died of neck compression. This is reported by NBC 4.

“No toxicology result imaginable is going to change my mind,” Harris said, even if it did show “enough fentanyl to kill an elephant.”

Jurors were also asked to see a six-minute video that a Mexican journalist shot of the chokehold, as well as body camera footage of when New York Police Department officers arrived on the scene as paramedics tried to revive Neely, and footage of Penny’s interrogation at the police station afterward.

Defense attorneys argued that Neely died not simply of strangulation, but of a combination of schizophrenia, use of synthetic marijuana, a genetic disease and his fight with Penny on the subway.

They noted that first responders chose to use Narcan to reverse the effects of opioids before performing CPR, and in his closing arguments, Reiser noted that no expert witness at trial could prove key elements beyond a reasonable doubt.

But Assistant District Attorney Daphne Yoran warned jurors Tuesday that their verdict should not depend on whether they themselves are grateful for Penny’s intervention or weigh the testimony of those close to him that he is a “good man.”

“The tragic thing about this case is that even though the defendant started to do the right thing … the person died,” she said.

He was given all the signs to stop. He ignored them. He should be responsible for this.”

She continued: “You’re not here to decide if you want to ride alone on the train with Jordan Neely.

“This case is not about that. The only thing you need to determine here is whether the evidence here shows that the defendant killed Jordan Neely.

Yafna also noted that Penny is a Marine Corps veteran, arguing that he should have had a better understanding of the risks of his actions given his military experience.

During the trial, Neely’s parents filed suit against Penny for negligent contact, assault and battery causing bodily injury and ultimately death. The Independent reported

Debates continued into Thursday, as protesters continued to gather outside the Manhattan courthouse to condemn Penny and announce their support for the manslaughter charge.

But some of the protesters became aggressive, defense attorney Thomas Canniff said Wednesday, describing how one man followed Penny to a car waiting for him after court and began banging on the door.

The same man, he said, “repeatedly berated Mr Penny in violent and homophobic terms” when he appeared in court on Wednesday.