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Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A Manhattan jury on Monday returned a not guilty verdict in the case of Daniel Penny, who was on trial for the chokehold death of Jordan Neely aboard a New York City subway last year. Penny was found not guilty of the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide in the death of Neely in on May 1, 2023.
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The 26-year-old had the more serious charge of second-degree manslaughter dismissed last week, after a jury twice deadlocked during deliberations.
In asking Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Maxwell Wiley to dismiss it, prosecutors admitted they could no longer prove the manslaughter charge.
Penny, a former U.S. Marine, had pleaded not guilty to all charges stemming from the incident, after he held Neely, a 30-year-old street performer who was homeless at the time, in a chokehold for six minutes on the floor of an MTA F train at the Broadway-Lafayette Street station.
Neely went unconscious and was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Penny argued he acted in self-defense and to protect other passengers on the subway after Neely acted erratically and issued verbal threats, including saying "I will kill."
Penny was facing a maximum of 15 years in prison for the manslaughter charge and up to four years if convicted of criminally negligent homicide.
Prosecutors argued Neely never posed a physical threat and Penny's use of force was disproportionate and too long.
Jurors began deliberating last Wednesday, spending more than a collective 20 hours doing so and not reaching consensus several times. The trial got underway at the start of November and lawyers for both sides rested their cases early last week.
Reaction to Monday's verdict was mixed.
Penny smiled and nodded at the jury upon hearing the result.
Neely's father was audibly upset and left the courtroom.
More than a dozen protesters lined up outside the courtroom chanting, "Justice for Jordan," following the verdict.
"I miss my son. My son didn't have to go through this. I didn't have to go through this either," Neely's father, Andre Zachary, told reporters outside after the verdict was read.
"It hurts, it really, really hurts. What are we going to do, people? What's going to happen to us now? I've had enough of this. The system is rigged."
