BREAKING: Daniel Penny’s Verdict Is Revealed

Daniel Penny, the young veteran whose actions around the death of a disturbed homeless man put him in the crosshairs of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, was found not guilty on criminally negligent homicide charges in a unanimous verdict by the jury on Monday.

Judge Wiley and Assistant District Attorney Dafna Yoran sat dumbfounded at the New York jurists announced their agreement that Penny, 26, did not contribute to the death of Jordan Neely, a mentally ill man who physically threatened subway passengers during a manic episode in 2023. After intervening to prevent Neely from striking a passenger, Penny placed Neely in a chokehold while the train came to a stop and fellow riders evacuated. Neely stopped breathing and was later pronounced dead, and multiple toxicologists testified that a slew of drugs found in his system were more likely responsible for his death.

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🚨 #BREAKING: DANIEL PENNY ACQUITTED IN NEW YORK CITY TRIAL – NOT GUILTY pic.twitter.com/Je6VsdWdSs

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) December 9, 2024

The decision comes one business day after the 12-member jury failed for hours to reach a decision on the first count of manslaughter. After the foreman told Judge Wiley that the body was at an impasse, Wiley instructed jurors to continue deliberating. They did so for the remainder of Friday afternoon but emerged at the end of the day without a verdict, leading Wiley to instruct jurors to move on to the second count, criminally negligent homicide.

On Monday, sporadic applause burst through in the courtroom as not-guilty pleas were read off.

Jury entering!
Clerk: How do you find on Daniel Penny on Count 2?
Foreperson: Not guilty.
From Penny said, applause
Judge: Be quiet.
From Neely side: … gonna be killed..
Judge: Out.
From Nelly side: It's a small world, buddy.. It's a racist country!

— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) December 9, 2024

Among the testimony heard by jurors was that of Dr. Cynthia Harris, who testified that the amount of illicit drugs in Neely’s system at the time of his death was a greater contributing factor than Penny’s instinctual action to protect fellow passengers from the fist-wielding homeless man. “No toxicological result imaginable was going to change my opinion,” Harris said, even if they showed “enough fentanyl to put down an elephant.” Other toxicology experts have testified about results showing Neely had also ingested K2, a powerful synthetic marijuana that can cause hallucinations, before his death. Their testimony was at odds with arguments by prosecutors within District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, who said it was primarily Penny’s chokehold that killed Neely.

Bodycam footage was also played in court, showing multiple eyewitnesses testifying that it was Penny’s actions that saved them from harm rather than contributed to Neely’s death. One woman told a responding officer that Penny, in fact, moved to only apply as much force as was necessary and that riders feared Neely, a Michael Jackson impersonator, of carrying a knife after he began behaving erratically and shaking his fist at several passengers. “Danny acted when others didn’t,” defense attorney Steven Raiser said in the hours-long closing arguments on Friday. “He put his life on the line. He did that for perfect strangers. Who would you want on the next train ride with you?”

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