A New York City judge has denied Marine veteran Daniel Penny’s request to dismiss the involuntary manslaughter charges against him to be dropped.
Penny, 25, is charged over the death of Jordan Neely, a mentally ill homeless man who he put in a chokehold on a New York City train last May. Neely had been threatening passengers on the train, according to Penny and others.
Twenty-four at the time and with a military background, Penny sprang into action to subdue him, holding him on the floor, until he was unconscious.
Neely was pronounced dead at the scene and the medical examiner later ruled the death a homicide, saying Neely’s neck injuries proved the chokehold was what caused it.
The incident sparked a national debate. Penny’s supporters lauded his bravery and said he should not be punished for trying to protect other passengers on the train, while others condemned him as a ruthless killer who targeted a defenseless, mentally ill black man.
Penny’s lawyers asked the judge to throw the case out in October, questioning the medical examiner’s finding and pointing to the fact Neely had synthetic drugs in his system that could have contributed to his death.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley rejected their request today, ruling that he was satisfied with the medical examiner’s findings.
Marine veteran Jordan Neely enters court with his lawyers on January 17th. Their motion to dismiss the case was denied
Penny held Neely in a chokehold for six minutes on the train while other men helped him restrain him. He says Neely had been so threatening towards other passengers that they feared for their lives
The judge has not yet set a trial date but said it was unlikely to commence before fall.
Speaking after the hearing today, an attorney for Jordan Neely’s father said he was relieved with the judge’s decision.
‘This was a win today a big win I think it’s important to note that a grand jury said that Daniel Penny should face charges for killing Jordan Neely.
‘His attorneys tried to overrule that to say that what the grand jury said didn’t matter but the judge didn’t do that and we will be back here in March.
‘Penny will face charges and our expectation is that Daniel Penny will be found guilty for killing of Jordan,’ attorney Donte Mills, of law firm Mills and Edwards, said.
With regard to the drugs found in Neely’s system, he said it was an ‘excuse’ plucked out by Penny’s attorneys.
‘Daniel Penny did not know what was in Jordan’s system when he decided to choke him to death when he was not fighting back and when he did not touch him in the first place.
‘He killed somebody when he didn’t have to there is no way to justify that.’
Penny maintains that he was only trying to protect other train passengers from Neely, who was threatening them
Penny and his attorneys, flanked by security guards, leave court on Wednesday
Police officers perform CPR on Jordan Neely on the train on May 1, 2023
Penny’s attorneys, in their motion to dismiss the case, quoted a witness on the train who described the Neely’s threats as ‘absolutely traumatizing’ and beyond anything he had experienced in six years of riding the subway.
Penny’s lawyers called Neely ‘insanely threatening’.
In the years before his death, Neely’s mental health had deteriorated while his aggression seemed to spike; the NYPD had a warrant for his arrest for punching an elderly woman on the subway, and he was also accused of pushing a woman onto the train tracks.
Witnesses at the time said Neely was screaming that he was going to kill someone and didn’t care about going to prison.
In June, Penny told his version of events in a series of videos released by his lawyers.
‘I wasn’t trying to choke him to death. The man stumbled on, he appeared to be on drugs, the doors closed, and he ripped his jacket off and threw it down at the people sitting next to me at my left,’ he added.
He said he took his headphones out from listening to music as he heard Neely yelling in what he deemed a ‘scary situation.’
‘The three main threats that he repeated over and over again were I’m going to kill you, I’m prepared to go to jail for life and I’m willing to die,’ Penny said.
At a certain point, Penny felt he couldn’t sit and do nothing any longer, echoing an interview he gave earlier this week where he cited a talk at school from author Elie Wiesel.
‘There’s a common misconception that Marines don’t get scared. We’re actually taught one of our core values is courage, and courage is not the absence of fear but how you handle fear,’ he said.
‘I was scared for myself but I looked around there was women and children, he was yelling in their faces saying these threats. I just couldn’t sit still.’
He argued the reporting that he was ‘holding on’ to Neely for 15 minutes ‘is not true.’
‘The whole interaction lasted less than 5 minutes. Some people say I was trying to choke him to death – which is also not true. I was trying to restrain him.’
He claimed the grip he used to keep Neely restrained was ‘based on the force that [Neely’s] exerting.’
Neely in 2009 before his mental health deteriorated. His family say the crime was a racist attack and similar to the death of George Floyd
The incident sparked national debate over whether Penny was a ruthless killer or a Good Samaritan trying to protect others on the train