Daniel Penny trial deliberations wrap up for a third day as Jordan Neely's father files lawsuit
NEW YORK - Jurors have wrapped up a third day of deliberations in the trial of Daniel Penny.
Penny, a Marine veteran, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges related to the chokehold death of Jordan Neely on board the subway last year. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison. There is no minimum sentence.
So far, jurors have deliberated for more than 16 hours.
Thursday morning, the jury finished listening to readback of the defense's cross examination of New York City Medical Examiner Dr. Cynthia Harris, who performed Neely's autopsy, and ruled his cause of death compression of the neck.
Just before noon Thursday, jurors sent out another note, this time asking for additional witness videos of the incident. And just after noon, jurors requested the judge provide them again with the definitions of "recklessness" and "negligence." Jurors then took a break from deliberations for lunch.
The jury has sent several notes since they began deliberations Tuesday. Wednesday, they requested cellphone video of the incident, as well as police bodycam video and the police station interview with Penny.
Prosecutors argue Penny's intentions were good in restraining Neely, who passengers testified was acting erratically and threatening on board an F train, but they say Penny had him in a chokehold for too long.
Penny's defense said he wasn't using pressure, and just had him in a hold. They called an expert witness who disagreed with the ME's cause of death determination, and argued a combination of factors including drugs and sickle cell crisis were to blame.
The trial, to date, has drawn several rows of members of the public to observe, and even more lined up waiting to get inside the courtroom. For the first time Thursday, fewer than 10 members of the public were in the courtroom.
Neely's father sues Penny
Separately, Neely's father Andre Zachary filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Penny in New York Supreme Court. In the lawsuit, Zachary accuses Penny of negligence, assault and battery. The lawsuit seeks damages "in an amount that exceeds the jurisdictional limits of all lower courts in the State of New York which would otherwise have jurisdiction over this matter."
Penny's attorney called the lawsuit a distraction, the Associated Press reported.