Jury selection set to begin in Daniel Penny subway chokehold trial
NEW YORK -- Jury selection begins Monday in the trial of Daniel Penny, who is accused of choking Jordan Neely to death on the subway in 2023.
Jury selection could take up to a week, and Penny's trial is expected to last six weeks. Twelve jurors will decide if the Marine veteran is guilty of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in Neely's death.
Protests are planned outside the courthouse for the duration of trial, beginning Monday at 8 a.m.
Jordan Neely's death
The deadly encounter happened on board an F train in SoHo on May 1, 2023.
Court documents say Neely, a 30-year-old street performer who struggled with homelessness and mental illness, boarded the subway at Broadway-Lafayette Street and began threatening passengers. Witnesses said he was shouting, throwing things and acting erratically when Penny approached him and put in him a chokehold for several minutes.
Neely's death sparked days of protests and intense debate in the city. Some accused Penny of being a racist vigilante, while others praised him for being a good Samaritan.
Penny's lawyers have argued he only intended to hold Neely down until police arrived, as he was concerned for the safety of others. But prosecutors argued in court filings that Penny's actions were reckless and negligent, regardless of his intentions.
If found guilty on both counts, Penny faces up to 19 years in prison.
Daniel Penny charged in Jordan Neely's death
Penny was charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, and released on $100,000 bail. He pleaded not guilty to the charges in June 2023.
A judge later denied a motion to dismiss the charges.
Earlier this month, a judge ruled that comments Penny made to officers at the scene and during a videotaped station house interview can be used as evidence in his trial. His attorneys tried to argue Penny made the statements after being illegally detained, but the judge disagreed.
At that hearing, several officers testified Neely had a faint pulse when they arrived, so they did not perform CPR right away. Neely was given Narcan and eventually first responders did administer CPR, but he died at the scene. The medical examiner later ruled his death a homicide.
