Most serious charge dismissed in NYC subway chokehold death trial of Daniel Penny

Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The most serious charge facing Daniel Penny, whose use of a chokehold aboard a New York City subway train resulted in another man's death, was dismissed Friday after jurors in his trial deadlocked twice.

Prosecutors petitioned Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley to dismiss a manslaughter charge against Penny after jurors were twice unable to reach a verdict on the count, and the judge agreed, according to multiple reports.

Jury deliberations will now resume on Monday with Penny, 26, facing only a less serious charge criminally negligent homicide.

Prosecutors conceded they could not prove the manslaughter charge against Penney and thus avoided the declaration of a mistrial in the death of Jordan Neely aboard an uptown Metropolitan Transit Authority F train in May 2023.

Penny, an ex-Marine, held Neely in a 6-minute chokehold until he died.

Lawyers for Penny argued he was acting in self-defense after hearing Neely make verbal threats, scaring passengers.

Prosecutors say Neely, a 30-year-old street performer who was homeless at the time, was carrying no weapons and did not physically attack anyone on board the train at the Broadway-Lafayette Street station.

Penny, a native of Long Island, faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison on the manslaughter charge, with no minimum sentence. The judge also gave the jury the option of convicting Penny of the lesser count of criminally negligent homicide.

The trial opened at the start of November, with prosecutors arguing Penny a disproportionate amount of force and for too long in reaction to Neely's verbal threats.

Defense lawyers drew the court's attention to Neely audibly saying "I will kill" aboard the train, which was heard by passengers.

Witnesses who were aboard the train at the time took the stand during the trial. ​​

"I truly believed that I was going to die in that moment," passenger Caedryn Schrunk told the court.

Another, Johnny Grima, testified he was "concerned about the man (Neely) because he was not moving."

Closing arguments in the trial were submitted Monday and the jury began deliberations on Wednesday.