Daniel Penny speaks out after being found not guilty in NYC subway chokehold death
NEW YORK — Daniel Penny and his attorneys spoke out Tuesday after a jury found Penny not guilty for the chokehold death of Jordan Neely.
Penny sat down with FOX News one day after the verdict.
"The guilt I would have felt, if someone did get hurt, if [Neely] did do what we was threatening to do, I would never be able to live with myself," Penny said.
Attorney says Daniel Penny was "scared" before verdict was read
Steven Raiser, one of Penny's defense attorneys, spoke to CBS News New York's Alice Gainer.
"When they came back so quickly Monday morning with their verdict, what was going through everyone's minds?" Gainer asked.
"Danny was scared. We all were scared for him," Raiser said.
On Friday, the jury sent notes they were deadlocked on the top charge of second-degree manslaughter. The judge dismissed the charge, sent them home early and instructed them to begin deliberating on the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide Monday morning.
"Was he prepared to go to prison?" Gainer asked.
"He knew it was on the table. Of course, when that top count was dismissed, that became less of a possibility, but it was still a possibility and one in which he was concerned with, but he understood that was a consequence of going to trial and he was willing to accept that," Raiser said.
The jury deliberated for about an hour or less, unanimously finding the 26-year-old Marine veteran not guilty in the chokehold death of 30-year-old Neely on board the subway last year.
Prosecutors told jurors Penny's intentions were good in wanting to protect others from an erratic and threatening Neely, but argued he held the chokehold for too long.
"There was a lack of proof that he continually applied pressure sufficient to render him unconscious and then continue that pressure until he died," Raiser said.
Daniel Penny plans to work, continue with school, attorney says
Penny's attorneys, also military veterans, understood Penny's actions.
"Why he stepped up the way that he did, why he was able to overcome that kind of sense of fear and be able to put himself in danger," Raiser said.
Demonstrators outside the courthouse taunted Penny daily, shouting "justice for Jordan Neely" and "murderer."
"He does, of course, have remorse for any loss of life," Raiser said.
Gainer reached out to the Manhattan district attorney's office to request a sit-down interview and has not heard back.
Raiser said now that the trial is over, Penny plans to work full-time and continue with school, where he is studying architecture.
Demonstrators protest Daniel Penny verdict
Dozens of people, including community activists, gathered at Union Square on Tuesday night to protest the verdict.
Organizers said the city is also to blame for failing to address the homelessness crisis and not providing sufficient mental health care to vulnerable New Yorkers.
"This is a callous and inhuman way of looking at the situation. Daniel Penny is not a good Samaritan, he's a murderer, and he was protected by the same system that failed Jordan Neely," activist Sean Blackmon said.
Neely's father has filed a civil lawsuit against Penny.
