Daniel Penny, the former Marine charged in the alleged chokehold death of Jordan Neely, has reportedly been indicted.
The exact charges in the indictment are currently unknown, ABC News reported Wednesday, citing unnamed law enforcement sources. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office charged Penny with second-degree manslaughter in mid-May after he allegedly held Neely in a chokehold after Neely purportedly acted erratically on a New York City subway train.
Before the alleged chokehold occurred, Neely had allegedly screamed “in an aggressive manner” and told passengers he does not care if he goes to jail, before purportedly taking off his jacket and throwing it on the ground. When Penny reportedly interfered, Neely was allegedly able to move his arms before becoming unresponsive.
Several witnesses jumped to Penny’s defense over the May 1 incident. One unidentified woman in her 60s, who described herself as a “woman of color,” reportedly called Penny a “hero.”
“I’m sitting on a train reading my book, and, all of a sudden, I hear someone spewing this rhetoric. He said, ‘I don’t care if I have to kill an F, I will. I’ll go to jail, I’ll take a bullet,’” the woman told Fox News.
BREAKING: Grand jury indicts U.S. Marine Daniel Penny in connection with the chokehold death of Jordan Neely aboard a New York City subway, law enforcement sources tell ABC News. https://t.co/RFgIyq4wF2
— ABC News (@ABC) June 14, 2023
A Manhattan medical examiner ruled Neely’s death a homicide May 3. (RELATED” ‘Our City Is Going Down The Drain’: Protesters Clash With NYPD, Block Subway Over Chokehold Death)
New York law allows for the use of “reasonable” physical force if a person believes they have a “justifiable” need to defend themselves from someone else. A legal expert told the Daily Caller News Foundation Penny could avoid a conviction based on the longstanding law.
Penny’s lawyers extended “condolences to those close to Mr. Neely” and argued Neely “began aggressively threatening Daniel,” ABC News reported.
“Mr. Neely had a documented history of violent and erratic behavior, the apparent result of ongoing and untreated mental illness,” a statement from the law firm Raiser and Kenniff reads, according to ABC News. “When Mr. Neely began aggressively threatening Daniel Penny and the other passengers, Daniel, with the help of others, acted to protect themselves, until help arrived. Daniel never intended to harm Mr. Neely and could not have foreseen his untimely death.”
Neely’s family called the lawyers’ statement a “character assassination” and claimed Penny knew “nothing about Jordan’s history” when he “intentionally” held him, ABC reported. Neely had previously been arrested numerous times and struggled with mental health problems, per the New York Post.
“It is clear he is the one who acted with indifference, both at the time he killed Jordan and now in his first public message. He never attempted to help him at all. In short, his actions on the train, and now his words, show why he needs to be in prison,” said the attorneys of Neely’s family, Donte Mills and Lennon Edwards.